Silver Christmas Art
 

Anybody else giving/receiving any interesting designs this year? I just got a neat piece in the mail from someone I know.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

I did find some interesting silver art bar designs locally at my coin dealer but none that are Christmas Art. '70's SABs are always interesting silver art bars to me. Some of the '70's SAB Christmas Art is IMO better than some of the modern SAB stuff.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Ok, Outlaw, help me ID my new piece.

It is Santa Claus on the front;

Merry Christmas on the back with the mint id G.S.M.

What is it?

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

I apologize for not getting back with you any earlier than this. I am just now getting out of bed. It will be hard to tell since there are no pics but I can still help you.

G.S.M. stands for Golden State Mint. The only reason I know this is because I used to have a Golden State Mint silver art round that was minted in 1987 and it also had the G.S.M initials on it.

The Santa Clause silver art bar that you have is more than likely also a Golden State Mint bar since it has the G.S.M initials. I believe that the Golden State Mint silver art bars and art rounds were minted through out the 1980's.

Without pics, it is hard for me to know what year this Santa Claus silver art bar was minted in because I think that there were probably some other G.S.M Santa Clause silver art bars that were minted but I am not completely sure about that. The only G.S.M Santa Claus silver art bar that I saw was a picture of one in a 4th edition Archie Kidd guidebook called the "Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars".

I hope this helps a little. I do not see many G.S.M silver art bars and G.S.M. silver art rounds on ebay and I did not think that I saw one locally.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

It is a round, not a bar per se. The shape is like two circles overlapping as it rounds the face of Santa.

I'd be more than happy to post a pic from I have no friggin clue how to do that on here.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

You do not have to post the pic. I think I know what you are talking about. I believe that I have seen those. It is indeed a Golden State Mint silver round and it was minted in 1982. The year 1982 should be above the "G.S.M." initials. I have seen one on ebay. As far as I know, there is no other mint with the G.S.M. initials and I double checked my silver art bar guide book on that.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

I'm sorry to tell you this but there ain't no date.:confused_m:

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Ok. I guess some of them have the 1982 date on them and some of them do not. The one that I saw on ebay had the 1982 year mint on the reverse side. Those Santa silver pieces might have different reverse types that I am not very familiar with. It is common for silver art bars that were minted in the 1970's and the early 1980's to have different reverse types.

As I mentioned earlier, it is a Golden State Mint silver piece since it has the G.S.M. initials on it.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Wow, guess the silver without the picture. That is good! Maybe we should start a new thread, stump the Outlaw.

Here is one that I just picked up for you to guess:

One ounce '70s' SAB, Ethan Allen (signature) Hero of Ticonderoga

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Hmmmmmmm..........I am going to say that it is a Mount Everest Mint '70's silver art bar. Probably a 1973 or 1974 mint year. This is a guess since I do not have a pic to go by. I might be wrong on this.

There were some Mount Everest Mint '70's SABs that had a "signature". One of those signatures was a 1973 Sheryl Winter "Freedom" '70's SAB that was minted by the Mount Everest Mint in 1973.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Dated 1976. I am looking for my camera and will post soon.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Honestly I do not know Hydro. It was a WAG. I do not believe that I have seen that '70's SAB before. Congrats on stumping me Hydro. :Surrender:

I am still learning this hobby and I still have a long way to go in increasing my knowledge of '70's SABs. I am still studying the 4th edition of the Archie Kidd book called "An Indexed Guide Book of Silver Art Bars".

Thank goodness for my "disclaimer" signature line. :111:

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

josie, I take it that you are partial to 70's (cool decade) Art Bars? Merry Christmas you old fart. My first bar was a late 70's bar that I bought from the back of a comic book, sold it 4 years later for the same price that I got it for.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

This was a first for me too. Picked this one up a few weeks ago.

From the Madison Mint.

Here it is:

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

WOW!!!! I was way off the mark on that. There were some signature '70's SABs from Mount Everest Mint but they were not Bi-Centennial themes.

I would have never guessed that it was a Madison Mint bar. I believe that there were several Bi-Centennial silver art bars minted in the '70's by Madison Mint and other private mints back then but this is the first time that I have seen this Madison Mint "Ethan Allen" '70's SAB.

I learn something new everyday on GIM. Beautiful bar and thanks for posting that pic Hydro. I have a long way to go in terms of increasing my knowledge of '70's SABs. There were a lot of silver art bars that were minted in the decade of the 1970's.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Thanks, looked like a cool bar so I picked it up. I am gong to hold on to this one.

Thanks for the heads up on the Mount Everest Mint. Never heard of them, but then again, I never kept an eye out for their bars. Now I will. Something new for me too.

I plan on hitting some dealers over the Christmas break, I will let you know if I come across anything new.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

I also plan to go to my local dealer sometime during the remainder of this year. I have not had much luck in finding many '70's SABs at my local dealer. My local dealer did not have much silver during the last time I came to his shop. There were some modern Silver Christmas Art but I passed on it because I was not interested in it. I plan to go back to his shop in the near future.

I have been lurking on ebay as well but so far no luck in finding any '70's SABs that I want to get at a decent price. With current spot price at about $17, the ebay premiums on '70's SAB have not go down at all. There are some deals to be had on '70's SABs on ebay but there are very few of them.
There are also a lot of Silver Christmas Art bars on ebay but most of it is "modern" Christmas silver art based on what I have seen so far.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

I'm not a fan of holiday bars. I prefer refiners or bullion minted bars.

Re: Silver Christmas Art
 

Why is this in the Numismatic blog?

There is nothing Numismatic about Art Bars.

:smile: