It seems Hand poured silver shops are opening and soon closing afterwards. It must not be a profitable trade. I wanted to compile a more recent list. Have I missed any?? Please Add.. Why do some thrive and other die off quickly? 9 Fine Mint: www.9finemint.com Ant Bullion: www.antbullion.com Atlantis Mint: www.atlantismint.com Beaver Bullion: www.beaverbullion.com Bunker Bullion (HiHo Silver): www.tastysilver.com Bison Bullion: www.bisonbullion.com Backyard Bullion www.backyardbullion.com Ericson Mint: www.ericsonmint.com MK Barz: www.mkbarzandbullion.com Monarch Precious Metals: www.monarchpreciousmetals.com Mutiny Metals: www.mutiny-metals.myshopify.com Pit Bullion: www.pitbullionlv.com Polar Bear Pours: www.polarbearpours.com Prospectors Gold and Gems: www.prospectorsgoldandgems.com Red Carpet Poured Metals: www.pinball2199.wix.com/redcarpethandpoured Redwood Poured: www.redwoodpoured.bigcartel.com Rix Metal Works: www.facebook.com/rixmetalworx Scottsdale Mint: www.scottsdalesilver.com Shiny Bars: www.shinybars.com SilverTowne: www.silvertowne.com Smithys Bullion: https://www.facebook.com/handpouredsilver/ Vollmer Poured Silver: www.poursilver.com Vulture peak mines: www.vulturepeakmines.com Yeagers Poured Silver (YPS): www.yeagerspouredsilver.com CLOSED DOWN LISTED BELOW HAC PRECIOUS METALS: https://hacmint.com/ (Closed) SILVERFOX REFINING (AUS): http://www.silverfoxrefining.com/ (Closed) SILVERSTAN (UK): http://silverstan.com/ (Closed) Ryans Rust Mint: http://www.ryansrustmint.com/ (Closed)
Maggie (RIP) lists some here https://www.silverstackers.com/forums/index.php?threads/hand-poured-silver-bars.31245/
One to add: newmitsmutits: https://www.ebay.com/str/newmitsmutits One to subtract: Atlantis Mint: www.atlantismint.com
Another to add: Silver Arts Bullion: https://www.ebay.com/usr/silverspiral_arts_bullion? and https://www.facebook.com/SilverSpiralArts/
I'm always bothered by how secretive these businesses are. It comes off as needlessly shady. They generally don't provide an address. In many cases, not even a state or province. And in some cases, I'm not even clear on what country they're in. They also never have any kind of introduction by the founders or owners – there are no humans named, no About Us page that tells you anything about who runs this business. I would take a much more open and transparent approach to such a business. Who we were, where we were, what we're all about, etc. There's no need for secrecy, and a lot of reasons to go in the opposite direction. This is an industry that tends to have trust concerns because of the nature of the product, its cost, the online and mail order aspect, and all the examples of scams and bankruptcies. I've thought about starting a dealer and/or refinery business, so I've given this issue some thought. I always find it awkward that these dealers and mints don't identify themselves as people. You just have no idea who you're doing business with. If the idea is that they don't want to disclose their addresses for security reasons, I think that's dumb. A heist of a refinery is extremely unlikely, and easy to defend against. The risk/reward wouldn't be there for most criminals of the sort who could dream of pulling it off. And most heists of places like armored truck cash handling depots involve an insider, an employee, so concealing one's address from the world won't accomplish anything in the modal case, since your employees obviously already know where you are / where they work. The weirdest thing from some of these mints are the completely generic, anonymous silver bars and rounds. We have tons of "Buffalo" bars and rounds circulating in the US. They have no markings other than the weight and 999 fineness – no mint mark. I don't understand the motivation there, to make bullion without identifying yourself as the mint.
Can add the following (No Longer Operational): Australian Bullion & Coin. (AC&B) 888 Refining. No public website but more info available here: https://www.silverstackers.com/forums/index.php?threads/ac-b-story.74290/
Also the Golden State Mint in the USA: https://www.goldenstatemint.com "Golden State" is the nickname for California, so I assumed they were based there, but it turns out they're in Florida. Maybe they moved – California's government makes it an awful place to have a business. They make their own poured bars, as well as not-poured bars and rounds. (They also sell a bunch of other bullion products from other mints.) p.s. What is the term for the not-poured sleek products? Minted? PAMP contrasts "Cast Bars" against "Minted Ingots", where cast bars are synonymous with poured and minted ingots are the normal bars, but I don't know if the industry as a whole uses these terms the same way.