Engelhard

Engelhard Gold and Silver Bullion

Sovereign government mints around the globe serve a dual role of producing national currency for everyday use, as well as bullion and proof coins designed to attract the attention of investors and collectors who prefer precious metals to the modern stock market. If there’s one thing that sets sovereign and private mints apart, it is the variety and pricing of precious metal products. Private mints often produce precious metals with the greatest level of variety, and lower premiums over the spot price of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

There are private mints located around the globe. Some, such as many of those in the United States, focus intently on both rounds and bars, while many foreign private mints predominantly manufacture bars. In the following sections you’ll learn more about the Engelhard precious metal products offered on Silver.com from this private American mint.

About Engelhard

The history of Engelhard and their silver bars began in 1902 when Charles Engelhard purchased the company in Newark, New Jersey. At the time of its purchase, Engelhard was known as the Charles F. Croselmire Company. Throughout the early 1900s, the Engelhard company was the main fabricator of gold, silver, platinum in North America. Since its inception, Engelhard’s main business practices focused on precious metals, especially silver.

As the 20th century continued, Engelhard’s successes mounted and the company was able to acquire other organizations in an effort to expand their impact on the precious metals industry. In 2006, however, Engelhard was purchased by a German chemicals company known as BASF. BASF has since dissolved the Engelhard name which is why brand new Engelhard silver bars are almost impossible to find. Due to their storied history and large product offering throughout the 20th century, Engelhard remains one of the most trusted names in the production of silver bars.

Engelhard Silver Bars

Engelhard produces both minted ingot silver bars and cast silver bars, with varying weights available in each design. In the creation of minted ingots, refiners will start by manufacturing long, flat cast bars to serve as the blanks upon which minted ingots will eventually be formed. Traditionally this was done by creating a long mold that was used in the production of cast bars. These molds made it possible to create cast blanks with the precise width, thickness, and length required to make minted ingots.

To speed up the process, modern refiners will often use a continuous casting process instead. This produces bar stock of the required width and thickness on a continuous basis that is then fed into a continuous casting machine. Throughout a very complex process, the cast blanks are melted under induction heating or resistance heating to form minted ingot shapes that match exact specifications.

The new bars are then broken down in a rolling mill to reduce the larger batches down to the required thickness, and an interstage annealing process occurs that recrystallizes the grain structure of the metals and improves the surface finish of the bar. The rolling mill, combined with a strip annealing furnace help refine the bars to their required thickness. Further exposure to a gauging mill refines the bars even more, before they are eventually sent to the blanking press where each individual bar is punched out of the strip to prepare for striking process, at which point mint marks and designs are added to the finished product.

Conversely, cast silver bars are produced through a much simpler process. The most common approach to this production process is to first melt the precious metal in question in a bulk “holding” crucible to prepare it for pouring into molds. Typically an induction furnace is used to heat the metal to its melting point, at which time the holding crucible is tilted to transfer the molten metals through a soft gas flame and into a pre-heated and dressed bar mold to create the bar’s specific size and weight.

To ensure proper weights are reached, the molds are typically positioned on a balance to record the weight of the metal as it is poured so that pouring can cease when the right weight is reached. At this point in the process, one of two steps is taken. Some refiners will drop the bar out of the mold into a tank of water within seconds of pouring the mold to quickly cool the bar in a process known as “quenching.” Alternatively, the bars may be left in the molds to air cool over time.

Either way, once cooling is complete the bars are cleaned with soft cloths to remove any stains and then weighed to ensure the stated weight was achieved in the process. Approved bars are then marked with a refiner’s official stamp, a serial number, and the assayed purity of the batch.

Why are Silver Bars So Popular?

Silver bars are popular for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, they are struck by private mints rather than sovereign mints, and often come with much lower premiums over the spot price of silver. Additionally, silver bars are available without mintage limits, which means that there are more products out there for investors and collectors. The combination of these factors not only makes silver bars more popular but also more available to investors and collectors of any wealth level.

Examples of Engelhard Bars

The 10 oz Silver Engelhard Bar is one of the examples of the company’s former top selling products. Modern silver bars are minted in a variety of finishes and designs, with many private mints across the US and around the world striking bullion bars with corporate-branded designs. Engelhard Corporation has a long tradition of minting some of the best silver bars available.

On the obverse face of this 10 oz Silver Engelhard Bar you’ll find the corporate logo and identifying information for the bar. The bar’s design starts with the corporate logo, an “E” inside an image of the globe. The following engravings identify the weight, metal content, and purity of the bar, with the company name again minted below as “Engelhard” and an individual serial number.

The reverse face of the bar has a repeating image of the text block from the front of the bar containing the name “Engelhard.” Each bar’s surface has a matte background with mirror-like finishes on the design sets. These bars are minted ingots.

Additionally, there is the 100 oz Silver Engelhard Bar which is cast, rather than a minted ingot. This striking 100 oz bar is among one of the few that were made by the prestigious Engelhard company before they stopped producing precious metals in the 1980s. With its limited availability, the 100 oz Engelhard silver bar is considered a highly valuable piece among investors. Because these bars have not been made in over two decades, they are offered in secondhand condition and contain scratches, dents and dings. No matter the condition, all bars are guaranteed to contain at least 100 troy ounces of .999 fine silver.

Purchase Engelhard Products Online at Silver.com

When you purchase Engelhard products online at Silver.com, you’ll find a number of payment methods available to complete your transaction. We accept Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards, as well as paper checks, Pay Pal transfers, and bank wire transfers. Credit and debit cards have a maximum purchase of $5,000 and generally take one business day to process.

Paper checks have a 4% discount relative to credit and debit cards, as well as a higher maximum of $40,000, but take four to six business days to process. Pay Pal transfers are capped at $60,000 and process instantaneously. Bank wire transfers have the only minimum purchase, at $2,000, but also have the highest maximum at $100,000 and process instantaneously.

Silver.com offers an affordable, tiered shipping schedule. All purchases in excess of $3,000 qualify for free standard shipping and insurance. With any purchase, expedited shipping is available for an extra fee. The United States Postal Service or UPS will handle shipping of all goods.

All Silver.com products are packaged in discreet boxes for shipping to conceal the identity of your products while in transit. Should your packages suffer damage or become lost/stolen, Silver.com will work to correct the situation. For lost or stolen products, we work with the carriers to try and locate the packages. If your products are damaged, we try to provide replacement products, but are often limited to available supplies. If all else fails, Silver.com will file an insurance claim on your behalf to recover your purchase price.

If you have any further questions about Engelhard products, please don’t hesitate to ask Silver.com. Our associates are available on the phone at 888-989-7223, or you can connect with us online using our live web chat and email features. Remember, new products are no longer in production from Engelhard so get your silver bars now while they’re still available!