A silver bar is worth its silver weight times the spot price, and with silver at about $58 a troy ounce as of late 2026, that makes a 1 oz bar worth about $58, a 10 oz bar about $580, a kilo bar about $1,865 and a 100 oz bar about $5,800. A dealer buying a common bar from a known refiner usually pays close to that melt value, typically a few percent under spot, and less for an unbranded or hard-to-verify bar. Vintage bars from Engelhard and Johnson Matthey, which collectors seek out, often sell for a few dollars to $20 or more per ounce above spot, and scarce varieties for far more.
So the first job is the weight and purity stamped on the bar, the second is the maker, and the third is making sure it is solid silver at all. Fake bars are common, and a silver-plated piece of copper or brass looks the same as the real thing in a photo.
Quick answer
- Melt value at $58 silver: 1 oz about $58, 10 oz about $580, kilo (32.15 oz) about $1,865, 100 oz about $5,800.
- Dealers typically pay about 2-8 percent under spot for well-known bars, and more under that for unbranded or poured bars from unknown makers.
- Vintage Engelhard and Johnson Matthey bars often bring a few dollars to $20+ per ounce over spot; rare varieties much more.
- Check weight on a gram scale, dimensions, and a magnet before you count on the stamped figures.
How to value a silver bar, step by step
- Read the stamp. A genuine bullion bar carries at least the weight, the fineness and the maker's name. Look for "1 OZ", "10 TROY OZ", "1 KILO" or "100 OZ", and "999 FINE SILVER" or ".999". Most also carry a serial number.
- Check the fineness. Bullion bars are .999 or .9999 silver. Some 1970s commemorative ingots are sterling, .925, which means 7.5 percent less silver per ounce of weight. A few are marked in grains: 1,000 grains is about 2.08 troy ounces.
- Weigh it on a gram scale. One troy ounce is 31.10 grams. A 1 oz bar should weigh 31.1 grams, a 10 oz bar 311 grams, a kilo bar 1,000 grams and a 100 oz bar 3,110 grams. Poured bars are often a little over their stated weight; none should be under.
- Measure it. Silver is lighter than lead and heavier than copper. A bar of the right weight with the wrong dimensions, too thick or too large, is the classic sign of a plated base metal fake. Compare against the maker's published size if you can find it.
- Try a strong magnet. Silver is not magnetic. If the bar sticks, it is not silver. A strong neodymium magnet held at a slope should slide down a silver bar slowly, because silver's conductivity drags on it.
- Identify the maker. Engelhard, Johnson Matthey, Sunshine Minting, PAMP Suisse, Royal Canadian Mint, Valcambi and the US refiners such as Academy, Mother Lode and A-Mark are well known. Bars from these sell easily. A bar with no maker, or a name nobody recognizes, is worth melt at best and sells at a discount.
- Tell poured from minted. A poured bar is cast in a mold: rough, slightly uneven, rounded edges, with stamped lettering. A minted bar is struck from a blank: flat, crisp, mirror-like or with a design, often sealed in an assay card. Both are bullion; poured bars from old-line refiners carry the collector premium.
- Price from the spot price on the day times the silver content, then adjust for the maker and the buyer's spread.
What silver bars are worth
Melt values use silver at $58 a troy ounce, close to spot as of late 2026. Dealer bids and collector premiums are typical ranges seen from US dealers and sold listings and move with the market; get two or three written quotes before you sell anything large.
| Bar | Silver content | Melt at $58 | Typical dealer bid, common branded bar |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 oz bar, .999 | 1.00 oz | About $58 | About $53-57 |
| 5 oz bar, .999 | 5.00 oz | About $290 | About $270-285 |
| 10 oz bar, .999 | 10.00 oz | About $580 | About $540-570 |
| Kilo bar, .999 | 32.15 oz | About $1,865 | About $1,740-1,830 |
| 100 oz bar, .999 | 100.00 oz | About $5,800 | About $5,400-5,700 |
| 1 oz sterling art bar, .925 | 0.925 oz | About $54 | About $45-52 |
| 1,000 grain sterling ingot, .925 | About 1.93 oz | About $112 | About $95-110 |
Retail prices run above melt by a premium that shrinks as the bar gets bigger: 1 oz bars carry the highest premium per ounce, 100 oz bars the lowest, often only a dollar or two per ounce over spot. When you sell, the dealer's bid sits a little under spot instead.
Vintage Engelhard and Johnson Matthey bars
Engelhard and Johnson Matthey were two of the great refiners of the 20th century, and their retail bars are no longer made. Collectors seek out the older pieces by size, shape, logo style, serial number format and whether they were poured or struck. A whole collector community catalogs the Engelhard varieties alone.
| Bar | What to look for | Typical price, as of late 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Engelhard 1 oz, common struck types | Name, weight, fineness, serial | About spot plus $5-25 |
| Johnson Matthey 1 oz, older types | Name, JM, weight, fineness, serial | About spot plus $5-25 |
| Engelhard 10 oz, common struck or poured | "ENGELHARD" stamped, serial number | About $600-750 |
| Engelhard 10 oz, scarce types such as wide poured bull logo bars | Logo and style matched to the collector catalogs | About $850-1,500, sales thin |
| Johnson Matthey 10 oz, poured | Rough cast surface, JM stamp, serial | About $600-800 |
| Engelhard or JM 100 oz, poured | Large cast bar, serial number | Near spot to a few percent over |
| Later JM-branded bars made under license | Clean modern look | Close to generic bars |
Treat the higher figures as a starting point for research, not a promise. A specific variety can be worth less than the table if the market is quiet and much more if it is a scarce one. The 100 oz bars are a special case: their collector premium is small, and they are the bars counterfeiters have drilled, filled with lead and plugged, so buyers check them with care.
Say you find a rough, cast-looking bar in a drawer stamped ENGELHARD, 10 TROY OZ, .999 FINE SILVER and a six-digit serial number. It weighs 312 grams, does not stick to a magnet, and its size matches published Engelhard poured 10 oz bars. At $58 silver, its melt is about $580. A bullion dealer will bid near melt, perhaps $550-580. A buyer who collects Engelhard bars might pay about $600-750 for a common poured type, more if the logo and stamp style match a scarce variety in the collector catalogs. Selling it to a dealer who handles vintage bars, or listing it with clear photos of both sides and the serial number, captures the premium; walking into a shop that buys by weight does not.
Fakes and how to catch them
Counterfeit silver bars, usually silver-plated copper or brass, are sold online in large numbers and often copy well-known names such as Engelhard, Johnson Matthey, PAMP and Sunshine. Some are honest replicas stamped COPY; many are not.
| Check | Genuine .999 silver bar | Common fake |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | Matches stated weight, poured bars a little over | Light, or right weight with wrong size |
| Size | Matches the maker's dimensions | Too thick or too large for the weight |
| Magnet | No attraction; slow slide on a slope | Sticks, or slides fast |
| Ice test | Ice melts fast on the bar | Melts slowly, like on steel or plated metal |
| Sound | High ring when tapped or balanced on a finger | Dull thud |
| Edges and wear | Silver throughout | Copper or brass color showing on worn edges |
| Electronic test | Passes a dealer's conductivity tester or XRF | Fails |
| Drilled 100 oz bars | Smooth ends | Signs of plugged holes on the ends or underside |
None of the home tests is conclusive on its own; together they catch most fakes. A dealer can test a bar with a conductivity tester or an XRF analyzer in minutes, and that is the reliable answer. For more on testing silver in general, see our guide on how to tell if silver is real.
Common mistakes
- Pricing at retail when selling. A dealer's ask, the price you would pay, is above spot; the bid, what you will be paid, is a little below it.
- Counting a sterling ingot as pure silver. Many 1970s art bars and ingots are .925 and carry less silver than their weight suggests.
- Assuming every vintage bar carries a big premium. Most common Engelhard and JM types sell for a modest premium; the big money is in specific scarce varieties.
- Skipping the scale. A gram scale and a ruler catch more fakes than anything else.
- Cleaning or polishing a vintage bar. Collectors prefer original surfaces, and polishing can wipe out a premium.
- Selling a vintage bar to a buyer who prices by weight. You give away the collector premium.
- Buying a bar far below spot. Genuine silver does not sell below melt; a bar offered that way is almost certainly fake.
How WorthPic reads silver bar photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From clear photos of both sides and the edges it reads the maker, the stated weight and fineness, the serial number and the bar's style, poured or minted, which places a vintage Engelhard or Johnson Matthey bar among its known types and separates a sterling art bar from a .999 bullion bar. It works out the melt value at the current silver price and gives an honest range for what dealers and collectors pay for that bar. What it cannot know from a photo is the bar's real weight, its real dimensions, or whether it is solid silver rather than plated base metal, and it asks for the scale reading and measurements. It identifies and estimates. It does not test metal, authenticate, grade or appraise.
What to photograph
- Both faces flat and straight on, in daylight, with all stamped text readable.
- The serial number close up, and any logo.
- The edges, to show poured or minted form and any wear or plating.
- The bar on a gram scale with the reading visible.
- The bar beside a ruler, length and thickness.
- The assay card front and back if the bar is still sealed.
When to get it looked at in person
Any bar you plan to sell should be tested by the buyer, and every reputable bullion dealer will do that for you in a few minutes with a conductivity tester or XRF, at no cost to the sale. For a 10 oz or 100 oz bar, ask two or three dealers for a written bid on the same day; spreads differ. For a vintage Engelhard or Johnson Matthey bar that might be a scarce variety, a dealer who specializes in vintage bars or the collector community will price it better than a counter that buys by weight. If you are comparing bars with coins, our guide to the American Silver Eagle shows how the premium works on the most common silver coin, and the companion gold bar value guide covers gold.