I started collecting silver ingots from the US and Canada primarily, but as I went down the rabbit hold of collecting vintage silver ingots, I began venturing outside my immediate market and started seeking out collectible pieces from other parts of the world. I’m fortunate to own a few Irrawaddy pieces, which were believed to have been produced from the 1950s to the 1970s. These are designated in Taels, which is common in many parts of Asia. For those not familiar with a this measurement, one tael equates to 1.21528 troy ounces. Rangoon is in the country of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma at the time these ingots were produced). They have a very nice shape and thickness an great in hand. There are several varieties of these with various purity differences ranging from .90 fine to .999 fine. I have seen these in 5 Tael and 10 Tael class. Here are a few from my collection.

Brian R. was nice enough to share a trio from his collection, including the “Star”variety.

Today, we are going to finish up the “I” box with pictures of other notable refiners from this letter. Enjoy.

First up, we have The International Silver Exchange. This is the only one I have see like it, and very reminiscent of the 10 oz URI with similar pigtail characteristic. This is a really cool piece. I was able to find an example of an assay paper from this company that I will share below that shows the company operations in Provo, UT circa mid 1970’s.

Next up is a 5 oz class ICI which stands for International Coin Incorporated. I found some limited information on this company, which operated out of Minnesota in the early 1980s. I’ve only see this bar in 1 oz commercial art bar variety and the 5 oz pictured here.

Next is International Silver LTD Inc., which was spun out of International Silver Company, which operated from 1893 until 1983. The company had HQ location in Connecticut, but had affiliates across the US. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia.

‘In 1979 International Silver, Ltd. (Traded as “ISLOTC” on Vancouver Stock Exchange, and traded on the OTC market in the United States.) was created to bring the dormant International Silver Company back from a group of licenses, hallmarks and other assets into a trading company with buying centers for scrap precious metals in Cookeville, Tennessee, Waco, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada, a refinery operation was opened in Scottsdale, Arizona and mining purchase operations in Tucson, Arizona and Lake Tahoe, California. The firm also owned and operated a precious metals trading operation in Scottsdale, with a seat that took delivery of silver bullion and silver coin contracts off of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, The Mid America Commodity Exchange and COMEX in New York City.

Charles L. Long and Leslie D. Long were the Chairman and President of the new operation, while Larry Hovater was Secretary/Treasurer. At the height of the 1979/1980 silver boom where it traded above $50.00 per ounce, the firm was purchasing $2M a week in scrap, 1000 ounce delivery bars and contracts for 90% silver coins. The firm was also trading $1M to $5M per week in precious metals contracts, with delivery primarily in Chicago. The Floor Trader for these contracts was Long brother Larry E. Long.’

Here are a few seldom seen examples of other “I” ingots from Brian R’s collection. Thanks for sharing.

Close up shot of hallmark.

Really interesting piece.

Intermountain Precious Metals of Idaho poured 5, 10, and 25 oz ingots with an uppercase “IPM” hallmark — don’t confuse them with the 1960s–70s lowercase “ipm” ingots of the unrelated International Precious Metals of Las Vegas. The tell: Intermountain’s IPM bars have no serial numbers, while the Vegas ones do. Cascade Refining is documented as having produced at least one Intermountain ingot, including an example with an inverted IPM stamp.

Here are two nice examples, including a first generation example from Brian R’s collection.

International Vaults Refining are a collector favorite as far as “I” refiners go. These have the iconic hallmark of a “Vault” on the obverse of the bars. They came in 5, 10 and 25 oz. Premiums are very big on these, as they are incredibly scarce and very sought after. After doing some digging on the history, I got a hit from an old legal brief from 1983. One of the founder, William Johnson, helped create International Vaults LTD in 1977 as a California corporation to engage in trading gold and other precious metals. Long story short, they violated securities and exchange rules by issuing bogus promissory notes with investors and ultimately filed bankruptcy around 1980 timeframe.

The 5 oz came in two types, a first generation with the letters “IV” and a second generation with the hallmark of the vault on obverse.

Really pleased to share more International Vaults pieces from Brian R’s collection, including a really rare round from the maker. This one is high on my wish list.