X

SIMMONS REFINING COMPANY


ALL
 ENGELHARD
 
is pleased to welcome visitors to our Simmons Refining Company Definitive Page.  While our focus is clearly Engelhard, we recognize that many Engelhard bullion collectors also collect other bars and ingots. As such, we appreciate the opportunity to present additional collections and look forward to your thoughts and input!

Simmons Refining Company was located in Chicago, Illinois and earned a reputation as an accurate and trusted refiner in the 1960s and 1970’s.  Their early ingots displayed an industrial looking “S” inside a crucible hallmark.  These ingots were serialized and are very hard to come by today, as they were recognized as junk bars and only a few survived the great Silver Melts of 1980 and 2011.  1970’s ingots displayed the SIMMONS large “S” hallmark, and late 1970’s to early 1980’s ingots displayed the SIMMONS REFCO hallmark.  While one might assume  the “REFCO” designation would represent “Refining Company”, the acronym was in reality derived from Raymond Earl Friedman & Co. in New York, a financial services company specializing in commodities and futures contracts.  Simmons also made many sizes of pressed bars, in weight class varying from small ‘gram’ sizes to 1oz and 10oz bars.  Simmons Refining Company was absorbed by Mid-States Recycling & Refining in 1982.  Our passion at AE is for vintage ingots, and it is these examples we are including on our Definitive Page.


EXAMPLEOBVERSEREVERSECOMMENTARYSAMPLE
SERIAL
NUMBERS
ESTIMATED
MINTAGE
unnamed-2[999+ FINE SILVER] [Simmons Refining Company Industrial ‘S’ Hallmark] [APPROX 1/2LB TROY]Cast FinishApproximate 6oz weight class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.Serial Absent<100
Untitled[999 FINE] [Serial Number] [Simmons Refining Company Industrial ‘S’ Hallmark]Cast FinishApproximate 9oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  The ingot displayed is an 8.95oz example.0 421<50
Untitled1[999 FINE] [SILVER] [10 TR. OZ.] [Simmons Refining Industrial Company ‘S’ Hallmark]Cast Finish10oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.Serial Absent<1,000
Untitled3[999] [Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [10 TR. OZ.]Cast Finish10oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.Serial Absent<500
Untitled4[Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [SIMMONS REFCO] [999] [10 TR. OZ.]Cast Finish10oz class ‘Type A’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.Serial Absent<500
Untitled5[Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [SIMMONS REFCO] [999] [10 TR. OZ.]Cast Finish10oz class ‘Type B’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  Similar to our ‘Type A’ example above, though demonstrates an updated weight class font.Serial Absent<5,000
Screen Shot 2023-09-29 at 4.30.33 PM[Simmons Refining Company ‘S’ Hallmark] [REFCO METALS] [FINE SILVER 999] [1 TROY OUNCE] [Serial Number][SIMMONS/REFCO][[Simmons Refining Company ‘S’ Hallmark] [SIMMONS/REFCO][[Simmons Refining Company ‘S’ Hallmark] [SIMMONS/REFCO][[Simmons Refining Company ‘S’ Hallmark] 10oz class pressed bar produced by Simmons Refining Company006295<500
unnamed[999 FINE] [14.5 TR. OZ.] [Simmons Refining Company Industrial ‘S’ Hallmark]Cast Finish14.50oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  This is an early production variety that does not include serial number assignment.  N/A<50
Untitled6[999 FINE] [Serial Number] [14.5 TR. OZ.] [Simmons Refining Company Industrial ‘S’ Hallmark]Cast Finish14.50oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  This is an early production variety that includes serial number assignment.  This serial number run is shared with the 50oz, 100oz and odd sized ingots.   Ingot 559 demonstrates a double ‘5’ error stamp on the weight class, pictured below. Ingot 756 sold at eBay auction for $1000 BIN on 2/8/23. Ingot 4 sold privately on 4/4/23 for $1250.  
20170710_110602
4
17

18
24
219
279
460
559
597
749
860
1125
1204
1352
1678
1831
<1,500
s-l1600-1[999 FINE SILVER] [Serial Number] [14.5 TR. OZ.] [Simmons Refining Company Industrial ‘S’ Hallmark]Cast Finish14.50oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  We believe this rare variety was issued on a wood platform in a presentation box, as pictured below.  
s-l1600
1817
3725
3737
3820
<50
IMG_1189-2IMG_1190[S.R.C.] [.999 FINE SILVER] [WEIGHT CLASS] [TR.OZ.] [Serial Number]Cast Finish25oz weight class produced by Simmons Refining Company.409<100
50-troy-ounce-simmons-999-silver-bar_1_4f05037ccb4ffa2b3c3e5d350c1d58f9[Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [Serial Number] [50 OZ.] [999 FINE]Cast Finish50oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  1519<100
IMG_1526[9993 F] [Serial Number] [Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [50.28 TR. OZ.]Cast Finish50oz class ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  Note the unique ‘9993’ Fineness stamp in the top left corner.2431<50
s-l1600[999 FINE SILVER] [SERIAL NUMBER] [Simmons Refining Company Industrial ‘S’ Hallmark] [101.990 TR. OZ.]Cast Finish100oz class ‘Type A’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.  This serial number run was shared with 9oz, 14.5oz, 50oz and 100oz class ingots.166
377
378
379
<50
IMG_7140 IMG_7141[999 FINE] [Serial Number] [Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [100.050 TR. OZ.]Cast Finish100oz class ‘Type B’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.   1246
1633
1828
2295
2324
<100
Untitled8[999] [Serial Number] [Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [100 TR OZ]Cast Finish100oz class ‘Type C’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.   182881
182997

<100
Untitled9[100 TR. OZ.] [999+] [Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark]  [SIMMONS REFCO] [Serial Number]Cast Finish100oz class ‘Type D’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.   183082
183150
184231
184363

184515
184563
184615
184626
184632
184640
184662
184679
184686
<500
Screen Shot 2022-09-20 at 11.28.01 AM[Simmons Refining Company Large ‘S’ Hallmark] [REFCO METALS] [999+] [100 OUNCES TROY] [Serial Number] [ASSAYERS] [Simmons Refining Company Small ‘S’ Hallmark]  [REFINERS]Cast Finish100oz class ‘Type E’ ingot produced by Simmons Refining Company.   This example was produced from a 100oz Johnson Matthey casting mould and includes the JM style serial number font stamping.A000701<100