By CONECA ……
The Combined Organizations Of Numismatic Error Collectors Of America (CONECA) is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel overdate on a one-ounce silver bar offered in three versions!
If it sounds like we are a year late – well, we are – but for good reason. In trying to decide which of the two to make last year; the 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel or the 1918/7-S Standing Liberty quarter, we ultimately decided to have both minted. However, we felt that offering two bars at one time could break the bank for some potential buyers.
So we have been sitting here with the 1918/7-D Buffalos for about a year and decided to offer them for sale now so that those who want them in time for holiday gift-giving have plenty of time to order.
The bars feature the obverse of the 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel to the left and a view of the Buffalo motif found on the reverse of the coin to the right. This bar also marks the 35th Anniversary of the club as noted on the lower right side of the bar. All bars are serial numbered and marked “One Ounce .999 Fine Silver” on the reverse.
The bars are available in three options including a regular 1oz silver bar with a very low mintage of 125, an enameled 1oz silver bar with black background enhanced with 24-karat gold on the coin designs (gold-select) with a mintage of 35 and a Canceled Die 1oz silver bar with a mintage of 35. The enameled/gold-select option was struck with a different reverse die to make it even more special. All bars are serial numbered with the lowest numbers distributed first. Those who bought the 1955/55 Doubled Die silver bars and/or the 1918/7-S Standing Liberty quarter bar in 2015 or 2018 may obtain the same serial number(s) for this one if requested within the first few weeks of the offering.
CONECA’s Medals Program (which now includes bars) was the brainchild of its 2003 Board of Directors not only to celebrate its anniversaries and other events but as a way of raising funds for the club with the specific purpose of preventing a rise in membership dues.
In 2003 CONECA’s annual dues were $20 and it was demonstrated that they needed to be raised to $30 if the club was going to continue to exist. A compromise was hammered out with annual dues only raised to $25 with several Board Members committing themselves to projects to help defer the necessary funds to keep the club running without raising dues again the next year. To date, CONECA has never had to raise dues again, in large part due to the profits made from medals and/or bars sold in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2015.
They will be available to members and nonmembers alike but members will get first grabs at the enameled/gold-select and canceled die bars (which sold out in 11 days for the 1955/55 silver bar program three years ago and after a couple of weeks for the Standing Liberty last year). All these bars are of very low mintages and highly sought after by die-hard silver bar collectors so do not wait to order!
Prices are as follows: 1oz silver $65.00 to members or non-members; 1oz silver black-enameled background/gold-select $75.00 ($100.00 to non-members); 1oz Canceled Die $75.00 ($100.00 to non-member). Prices are postpaid for US orders. Foreign buyers should check with program coordinator James Motley at [email protected] for postage costs.
Non-members may join CONECA for $25 annual dues ($50 for two-years) and buy bars at member prices. There will be a limit of one bar per person on the enameled/gold-select and canceled die bars until after December 1, 2019, in order to give all members a chance to get one. Please advise the medals program coordinator if you will want more that one and he will contact you after December 1 if any are left over.
There are no quantity restrictions on the purchase of regular silver bars but note that all 125 of the 1955/55 Doubled Die cent bars minted in 2015 sold out within 31 days of the offering so order early.
The purchases of these bars are technically a donation to the club and as such may be tax deductible. Check with your accountant.
Checks and Money Orders for the bars and/or membership dues should be made out to “CONECA” and sent to:
CONECA Medals Offer
c/o James Motley
P.O. Box 1471
Highland, MI 38357-1471
See the offering on CONECA’s Website at www.ConecaOnLine.org to order using PayPal.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone make a silver bar. They were big back in the 1970’s but died out with the arrival of the Silver Eagle coins.