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Standard

Standard.  A designation of precious metal content; a legally fixed fineness for coinage, often with the required weight and tolerance. Standards set for coins often carried over into the manufacture of gold and silver objects; a country with a coinage standard of .925 (like Great Britain) or .900 (like U.S.) would most often issued coins and medals in that fineness.  See sterling, fineness.

     Standard gold bars. Two types of bars are issued by the U.S. Mints and assay offices – certificate bars and commercial bars. Certificate bars are large, valued at about $8,000 or more, and are seldom desired by industrial users; while commercial bars range in value from $100 to $5,000. Commercial bars are manufactured for the gold industrial trade, and are, generally speaking, bought entirely for such purpose.

Reference:                                                                                                                               

B23 {1982} Kettell, chapter 3, p 42-70.

Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1930. p.129, note 10.

6850-(006)01             Illus: Photo

excerpted with permission from

An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology

For Artists, Makers, Collectors and Curators

COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY D. WAYNE JOHNSON

Roger W. Burdette, Editor


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