Johnson Matthey 10 oz Question

[ADK]

Hello! This is my first post here... what a great forum! I've been reading through a lot of it in the past few days.

Anyhow, here's my question - I would really appreciate any comments anyone can offer.

I just found a JM 10 oz bar for sale at a bit below spot ($30-ish per oz), which isn't uncommon in my area --- it's a bit of a depressed area in the boonies. It is sealed (which may not mean much) and serial numbered, but each of the four corners of the bar is pressed, or rounded down. This is the case, say, 3/4 to 1-inch from each corner.

I've been a buyer of Scottsdale bars, and have some old Eng. bars, but never bought or seen a JM bar in person. I just never had the opportunity.

Should I be concerned about that bar, or is that typical?

It's a pressed bar, newer style, and nice and clean otherwise.

Anything else I should look for to verify that it is authentic?

Thanks!

ADK

 

[pmbug]

Hi ADK, welcome to the forum. :wave:

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying with regards to the corners. Any chance you took a picture that you could share? Perhaps contact Johnson Matthey directly and inquire about it (using the serial number)?

 

[ADK]

Thanks for the kind welcome!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo. I should have though.

The corners look worn, or as if the bar was squashed at the corners, as if they were bearing some load.

I'll probably take a trip back tomorrow and consider buying the bar. It's a heck of a good price for a JM bar from what I see. I'm a little shy of buying anything but new silver and gold with all of the scare of fakes out there.

Thanks for the note --- if anyone else has any info, i.e., if this is typical, please let me know!

Thanks!

ADK

 

[pmbug]

You might ask the vendor to weigh the bar for you so you can see how much silver is missing. Sounds like the bar is damaged and that's the reason for the discount.

 

[DSAbug]

You might ask the vendor to weigh the bar for you so you can see how much silver is missing. Sounds like the bar is damaged and that's the reason for the discount.

That was what I was going to say.

I would ask the guy why it's crushed too..

 

[white&yellow999]

Dude, below spot... thats awesome. What area do you live in I think I need to take a road trip?

Anyway, there are a few ways to test your silver we have a couple threads on the site that will show you how to test silver bars that you purchase. I'm not clear on what you mean by rounded down. Anyway to get a pic of that? Sometimes thats how they look... just make sure that is wieghs a full 10 troy oz when you buy it.

 

[ADK]

Well, I may take my chances with it tomorrow... but I will bring my scale and inspect it well, first! If I pick it up, and it's not gone (which has happened to me more than once at the LCS if I don't have paper in my pocket that day), I'll take a pic and upload it.

Maybe it's no big deal. I'm a little too used to looking at coins!

I'm located in a pretty rural area where most folks are not likely to have a good job let alone $300 cash for an investment. The LCS probably bought it well below spot, or at least $2/oz below and is happy to make a quick turnaround on it.

I'm also tempted to start buying into gold, but as soon as I see a stack of 50 silver vs. 1 oz of gold, I tend to want the quantity!

Thanks for the help!

ADK

 

[ancona]

Ditto that on quantity ADK.

I have a tiny amount of gold, but I don't seem to get a big charge over it. I quite enjoy my stacks of rounds and the substance of them.

 

[ADK]

Ok, so I went back and the bar was still there... paid $0.50/oz under spot. :loco:

On closer inspection the bar looks uniform and you can see the corners in the attached photos. It looks as though the rounding and rough surface in the corners is from the pressing and not from alteration.

The bar has a nice and sharp, clean, and shiny edge along the center of the front face, and then transitions to a rough looking, rounded corner.

I guess I am used to those sharp edged IRA-type bars. Thanks for the comments though, they encouraged me to take the bar out and weight it along with looking very closely at the details of the bar. It's probably something that I should always do anyhow!

Needless to say, since this bar was a JM just under spot across the table, I put in a request for a call if more come in.

I actually kinda like the size and feel of these bars better than the Scottsdale stackers. But, silver is silver either way!

ADK

 

[pmbug]

Nice pics. Looks like it may have been crushed at some point (while shipping perhaps).

Congrats on the pickup. Looks like you got a good deal.

 

[ancona]

ADK,
I agree with Bug on that. It simply looks like it got schwacked or dropped. I have a couple of small bars that someone bent in half, then straightened out for some unknown reason, and I got them for fifteen percent under spot. Sonetimes shit really does just happen.

 

[ADK]

We have to get lucky with deals once in a while, right?

 

[ancona]

Dude, you got it under spot and it is a JM bar, how lucky can a guy get?

 

[dontdeBasemebro]

I wouldn't worry about that at all, especially not for 50c under spot!

 

[white&yellow999]

Nice buy dude!!!! Awesome pics....

Don't worry at all about the corners looking like that, a couple of my Englehard 10 oz's have the same thing, and thats what I was trying to tell you in my above post, it's from the manufacturing (at least thats what my LCS owner told me). It's not uncommon, wait until you get some hand poured bars.... they often have lots of "deformities", holes, uneven bumps and little drip marks, but as long as they wiegh what you pay for then it's all good.