Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 10/26/2009

Question
Could you tell me how much the Danbury Mint Benjamin Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, Chester Arthur, James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses Grant, William McKinley, Rutherford Hayes, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and William Harrison 5000 grain proof ingots are worth?  Also, New Jersey, Massachusetts Connecticut, and Delaware 5000 Grain Proof ignots are worth?   They are all silver and minted in England.

Answer
Hi Theresa,
These are certainly nice looking items. However, bars and ingots are purely bullion items. As such, their value lies in the metal. It's quite unfortunate, but there are few people that actually collect these beautiful pieces. Most people buy them to melt down or hold on to in the hope of rising silver prices.
Looking at the auction record I see that plenty of dealers offer these 5000 grain ingots, as well as sets of 1 ounce bars. Many of them ask up to 25% above silver bullion value, but I have never seen them sell like that. The people who do buy them look to pay silver value or a little less, as an investment purchase.
The 5000 grain bars each contain around 11 ounces of pure silver. On the current market (which is the highest silver has been in a long time), these would be worth around $175-$180 per each bar.
For comparison, you may be familiar with Engelhard silver bars/ingots? This is another well known English assayer. They have bars that were made 100 years ago and bars that were made 10 years ago. However, on the auction market both bars sell for the same price.
Thanks for the question! =)