Sunshine Minting Silver Bars
Sunshine Mint silver bars - made from 99.9% pure American-mined silver
Sunshine Minting Inc. (SMI), a.k.a. Sunshine Mint, is a privately owned American refiner/mint of precious metals that is based in the state of Idaho. More and more precious metal investors that buy silver bars choose SMI as their preferred brand. That is because of SMI's stellar reputation in the bullion market due to the advanced anti-counterfeiting measures it has adopted and some of which it pioneered. The Sunshine Mint is especially famous for its silver bullion products since its headquarters is located in a silver mining region of the USA.
All Sunshine Minting silver bars have unique serial numbers and are packaged in Tamper Evident Packaging (TEP). Additionally, the reverse of the bars have SMI's patented Mint Mark SI™ security feature which uses micro-engraving that is only visible through a special Mint Mark SI™ decoding lens. The word VALID becomes visible when holding this decoder lens above the circle in the middle of the reverse side.
All Sunshine Mint silver bars are made out of 99.9% pure silver and the fineness and weight of each bar is guaranteed. SMI silver bars are instantly recognizable due to the soaring eagle design that appears on the front side of the bars. The selection of available bar sizes ranges from the smallest 1/2 oz silver bar all the way up to big 100 oz silver bars. American consumers that are investing in silver for their retirements can of course include Sunshine Minting bars in their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA's).
Manufactured Sizes
| Weight | Purity | Width | Height | Thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2oz | 99.9% | ?? | ?? | ?? |
| 1oz | 99.9% | 29mm | 5mm | 2.70mm |
| 5oz | 99.9% | 35mm | 61mm | 8mm |
| 10oz | 99.9% | 51.9mm | 90mm | 6.70mm |
| 1kg | 99.9% | 76.2mm | 130mm | 10.79mm |
| 50oz | 99.9% | 76.2mm | 130mm | 15.47mm |
| 100oz | 99.9% | 80mm | 130mm | 30.40mm |
Why buy SMI Silver Bars?
The Sunshine Mint is perhaps the most well-known private producer of precious metal bullion in America. It produces silver bullion bars in sizes ranging from 1/2 oz up to 100 oz (see table above). SMI bullion is generally easy to recognize since the new frontal design of the bars shows a soaring eagle. There are various types of older frontal designs that are described in the paragraphs below. These older bars will generally only be encountered on the secondary market (if at all) these days. Almost all nowadays traded Sunshine Mint silver bars already have the new frontal design in combination with the Mint Mark SI™ security mark on the reverse.
Sunshine Minting Silver distinguishes itself through its unique security featues. All bars contain a unique serial number but that is just the beginning. The perhaps most unique security and authentication feature of Sunshine Minting silver bars is the micro-engraved Mint Mark SI™ security mark. It only becomes visible when using the Sunshine Minting Decoder Lens. When holding this decoder lens above the circle in the middle of the reverse side, the word VALID becomes visible.
Another important security measure that is used to protect each Sunshine Minting bar is Tamper Evident Packaging (TEP). The bars are fully enclosed within this packaging along with the assay card that serves as the mint's guarantee. The guaranteed purity and weight of each bar is both written on the assay card as well as stamped into each SMI silver bar itself.
The larger Sunshine Mint silver bars (that are cheaper to produce) are generally available for lower premiums over the spot price of the metal. All SMI silver bars are eligible to be included in precious metal Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA's).
Frontal Design
The new frontal design of Sunshine Mint Silver shows a soaring bald eagle within a circle at the top. The eagle is shown in full flight with outstretched wings and extended talons as if getting ready to strike some prey. A blazing sun sending out its powerful rays appears in the background, partially obstructed by the eagle. The words SUNSHINE and MINTING appear within the circle above and below the eagle & sun design. Underneath the circular logo appears the purity information .999 FINE SILVER and bar weight (for example: 1 OUNCE). A unique serial number appears all the way at the bottom of the front side of each Sunshine Minting silver bar.
There exist various older frontal designs of Sunshine Minting silver bars. One such older type already has the eagle & sun logo on the top but shows the words SILVER EAGLE inside it instead of the now commonplace SUNSHINE MINTING. On these older bars, SUNSHINE MINTING INC. appears in the middle part underneath the logo followed by the silver purity, bar weight and serial number at the bottom. Another similar older design doesn't say the name of the mint in the middle. The silver purity, weight and serial number fill out all the space underneath the SILVER EAGLE logo on those bars. Another third type has the words SUNSHINE SILVER within the logo followed by the purity and weight in the middle and SUNSHINE MINING within a rectangular box at the bottom. Some of these older bars already have a serial number at the bottom while others do not.
The older types of silver bars that are described in the preceding paragraph are still occasionally found on the secondary market. Minted bars from a time when the Sunshine Mint was still officially named Sunshine Bullion Co. are true rarities now.
Besides the minted silver bars, vintage poured silver bars exist from the Sunshine Mint as well and are occasionally traded on the secondary market. These bars have the Sunshine name appear along with a shovel and a pickaxe in the top middle part of the bar. The serial number appears directly below and the year of mintage to the right. The weight of the bar and the 99.95% silver purity is engraved at the bottom of the bar (to the left and right repectively).
Reverse Design
On the reverse side of a new Sunshine Mint silver bar, you will see a repeating pattern of rising suns as well as the Mint Mark SI™ security feature within a circle at the center. The Mint Mark SI™ feature contains micro-engraving that only becomes visible with a special decoding lens. When looking at the center through this decoding lense, the word VALID will be visible.
The older SILVER EAGLE silver bars don't have the Mint Mark SI™ security feature yet but already showed the repeating diagonal pattern of rising suns on the reverse. The SUNSHINE SILVER bars have the words SUNSHINE BULLION at the bottom of the reverse side. The second word BULLION has a dot to each side and appears within a rectangular box with rounded edges.
Sunshine Minting Gold Bars
Sunshine Minting Inc. (SMI) is an American company that has made a name for itself in the bullion market due to the advanced anti-counterfeiting measures it has adopted and some of which it pioneered. Especially SMI's patented Mint Mark SI™security feature has won the respect of investors worldwide. It uses micro-engraving that is only visible through a special Mint Mark SI™ decoding lens. All Sunshine Mint gold bars are made of 99.99% pure gold. The bars are issued in a wide variety of weights ranging from 1 gram up to 1 kg. SMI's gold bullion bars are instantly recognizable due to the soaring eagle design that appears on the front side of the bars. Unique serial numbers and Tamper Evident Packaging (TEP) add further security against counterfeiting. All Sunshine Minting gold bars are eligible for inclusion in a Precious Metals IRA.
The Sunshine Minting Gold Bar page gives more information about the gold bars that the Sunshine Mint produces and allows you to compare current prices.