World Mint Corp. operated out of Phoenix, Arizona in the early to mid 1970s. They made a little bit of everything — pressed, extruded, and poured bars, plus coins — in sizes from 1 oz up to 100 oz. Some of their bars carry an “MFR” stamp, short for Metals, Fabrication & Refining. Their 5 oz kit kat variety is extremely scarce, and World Mint pieces that used to trade at modest premiums are very hot with collectors right now.

Finishing out the “W” box with a handful of old refiners, some better known than others. First up is WEM, Wechsler Manufacturing Enterprises (owner Dave Wechsler). Some of these appear polished and others not. There are also a few varieties of molds and variations of Serial/Lot #s. See pics below.

Next up is Western Pacific Coin & Silver Exchange. These bars come out of Nevada circa early 70s. The company was shut down in 1974 after being sued by numerous investors for failing to deliver on silver contracts that were called in. They had a sister company, Western Pacific Gold and Silver Exchange that was also shut down at that time.

Next up is World Wide Coin Investments Limited. This is a really nice looking bar from Brian R’s collection.

Lastly, is another “W” bar from Brian R’s collection. WESCAN is one I’ve come across several times, but have not been able to find any information about them.

The Windmill Mine was located in Clark County, NV and operated until the early nineteen hundreds. These ingots were most certainly commemorative pieces of some sort, but hugely popular and very scarce. They came in two types, a flat pour and a chunky pour. Below are bars that I still own or have previously owned.

Another collector shared a type 1 piece on 2/6/21 that is larger in size. I very rare piece to come across. Thanks to Josh C. for sharing this!

Some really great information has been discovered on Wilkinson over the last few years. The company operated out of Santa Monica CA in the late 60s through 70’s era. They went by the name The Wilkinson Dental Manufacturing Company and were a large supplier of metal castings at the time. Years later they moved to Post Falls, ID. They are still in business today as The Wilkinson Company. Here are a few pieces from my collection. These were purchased from a coin shop in Southern California about 4-5 years back, along with a third button that I no longer own. Makes sense that they survived close to their original home in Santa Monica. Pretty cool history! They also made traditional old pour style bars in 5 and 10 oz class, of which I have come across a few. It’s a special day when you come across a Wilkinson piece. Very rare. Here are the two that I still own today.

W.G. Buschmeyer & Son was a Louisville, Kentucky refiner pouring bars in sizes from about 2 oz up to 100 oz. They used three different stamps — the full “Buschmeyer” name, “W.G.B” initials, and a lone “B” — and collectors only figured out later that all three came from the same firm, which made the W.G.B and B bars more collectible overnight. Like a lot of old pourers they didn’t fuss over exact weights, so odd-weight examples turn up.

Here are some great pieces from Brian R’s collection. Awesome!

Check out the big boy below, shared by Prashant K.

There was a time not so many years ago that you could scoop up World Mint pieces for reasonable premiums, but no longer. These have gotten very hot among vintage collectors. World Mint is among the more well know of the old refiners having operated for many years, coupled with the wide variety of bars they made from pressed to extruded and poured styles. They operated out of Phoenix, AZ until 1975 from what I have discovered through research. I’m a big fan of these. Here are a few from my collection.

Big fan of this old refiner out of Fontana, CA. They operated from 1975-1983 and have quite a following among vintage collectors. They made vintage silver rounds in 1 oz, as well as poured bars ranging from 5 oz up to 100 oz class. Below are some examples.

I recently discovered something crazy while reviewing WSR on Allengelhard.com. They had a rare 10 oz piece that had a logo that I’m quite familiar with, but never associated with WSR. The bar I’m going to show is a unicorn in that I’ve never seen another like it. It was made no doubt by WSR for another Southern California company called Western Bancorp Data Processing Company (WBDPC) that operated in El Segundo, CA. They operated from 1972-1981.

Brian R. has an amazing WSR collection that he was nice enough to share. Enjoy.

Had to kick off the “W” box with this old refiner. I’m a huge fan of these bars and they have really come into their own, as collectors are aggressively buying these up when they come up, which is seldom. These ingots came in 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 oz size. Here are my two 10 oz which have slight differences in stamping.

Here’s another beautiful 10 oz class from Brian R’s collection.

Lastly, a family photo of my West Coast Refining pieces.

Where to begin with Foster ingots. All I can say is they have been on fire these last 3-4 years. I regret selling several of my more rare Foster pieces, but happy to say I still have several that I plan on keeping! The company was started in the 60’s and started making pieces in the late 60’s era. They came in all sizes from 1 oz up to over 100 oz. The company operated out of Walla Walla, Washington. Enjoy the images of some various pieces that I have previously owned and some that I still own today.

On the 3 oz pieces, there is a first generation with only the Deak Triangle and second generation, which has the Deak and Star on reverse. Below are pictures of both pieces I own.

Reverse pic.

Note the toned second gen below. It appears to be slightly shorter and thicker than the first gen at top.

I was going to save these for my upcoming “silver smalls” blog posts, but decided to include them here. I have a type 1 and type 2 one oz class Foster/Comstock Mines pieces. Sources estimate mintage at <1000, but honestly these rarely come up. Not many have survived. Premiums on these are exceptionally high. The top example is estimated at <1000, but the bottom example is one of only a handful known and has tested at a lower purity. This one has not been tested, but one featured on allengelhard has tested at 83.631% silver and 16.985% copper. Very interesting.

Here’s some images of Foster pieces I owned previously. These are all my pictures, by the way.

My good buddy Brian R. was nice enough to share a great pic of a 3 and 10 oz class poured Foster below.