I am continuing with my dive into some vintage rounds for now. There are a couple that are giving me issues finding any information on them at all. These look to be more custom rounds made for an event and have no mint markings on them and no reference to them being made especially considering it's going on close to 40 years now. But the round I wanted to share today has a little bit of information out there so let's dig in and see what we can find.
Today's post is going to highlight the western states refining round. I was able to find some information on a site I have used before which is allengelhard.com, and was very pleased to find it. This is another vintage mint that looks like it was in operation for somewhere between 7:00 and 8 years.
Western States Refining, Inc., Silver Division was incorporated in the State of California on December 30, 1975 and operated out of Fontana, California. Information from the State of California corporate records suggest the company was active until 1983.
They made several versions of this round all with the same obverse. The reverse changed slightly between the first two, with the more rare being the version I have which shows a CCM on reverse. The other reverse drastically changed its design and is much simpler.
While the first design is a bit more common, they estimate the mintage at 1,000 or less. The round that I am showcasing, supposedly has an estimated vintage of less than 100. That is a shockingly low number in all honesty but I have no idea how accurate that estimate is. The only difference between this round and the other version is the counter stamp of CCM which stands for California crown mint on the reverse just to the left of the Bell.
Not sure if I really have one of 100, or one of much less given how many have survived but given how hard it is to find this round for sale in eBay, and the fact that all 10 search results I click through did not showcase a CCM left to the bell I am starting to feel like this one might be pretty good
A simple and clean design that I am a big fan of. I like the fact that the company logo of wsr is very clean and they left a lot of the round open to be a Clearfield. Unfortunately it appears as if my round has had some fairly heavy scratching or hazing or other actions to cloud up the otherwise very reflective field. The best part is that they very clearly identified the mint that made this round which did make the search a little bit easier even with a limited information
This reverse is a home run for me. First of all the reverse looks amazing and doesn't have any issues that the front has. It's strangely says America America across the top while stating it's 1 oz of 0.99 fine silver. Much like the rarities mint round from last time, this also features an eagle and the Liberty Bell but the engraving on this one is so much better. That eagle is a complete badass eagle, and the detail on the Liberty Bell is quite impressive. You can clearly see to the left of Liberty Bell I happen to have around that says CCM. Hopefully it is as rare as they claim it is and I will eventually find a way to sell it to a collector for the appropriate amount.
