Update: Vollmer Poured Silver is now defunct.
I was browsing eBay a few months ago looking for unusual and exceptional tangible assets when I found something truly breathtaking. Purely by chance, I stumbled across a magnificent hand-poured silver bullion bar emblazoned with the image of a kraken – a mythological sea monster in the form of a giant octopus. I was enthralled.
I know my way around silver bullion, having written about bullion bars that have a component of collector’s value in the past. And while I like a good vintage silver bar, I have also come to appreciate the investment potential of modern hand-poured silver bullion bars.
And the silver bar I had just found – with its high-relief sculptural elements and oxidized surfaces – was the absolute finest example I had ever laid my eyes on. The angry kraken seemed almost alive, as if it was writhing across the bar’s slightly roughened surface. A small skull and crossbones punched into the bar’s lower corner (along with the maker’s initials, VPS) lent a buccaneer air, completing the masterpiece.
It was utterly unlike any silver art bar I had ever seen before.
There was a catch, though. It was made by a firm I had never heard of: Vollmer Poured Silver. I realized immediately that I had to find out as much as I could about this extraordinary company.
Vollmer Poured Silver, also known by the acronym VPS, is a precious metal micro-foundry launched by Devin Vollmer in 2016. Devin personally designs and hand-pours every art bar that leaves his studio, which is located in the rugged Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts.
And what gorgeous silver bars they are!
Devin skillfully weaves skull, dragon and pirate themes into a fantastical tapestry of precious metal delight. In fact, I cringe a little at the use of the vanilla term “silver bar” to describe some of Devin’s work, which really borders on 3-dimensional sculpture. Indeed, ultra high relief is one of the hallmarks of Vollmer Poured Silver bars.
I am also quite certain that Vollmer Poured Silver’s Berkshire address is no accident. This achingly beautiful New England region, from the lush Housatonic River Valley to the imposing heights of Mount Greylock, has been a favorite haunt of artists for centuries. Many famous creatives – from the sculptor Daniel Chester French (creator of the monumental Lincoln statue in Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial), to the novelists Nathaniel Hawthorne (writer of The House of the Seven Gables) and Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick) – have called these picturesque rolling hills home. So it isn’t surprising to me that such a talented artist as Devin Vollmer decided to set up shop in the Berkshires.
And make no mistake, Devin is an artist in the classic sense of the word. He hand-sculpts and hand-carves the molds for every one of his works using mediums as varied as Petrobond, Delft Clay and graphite. He then employs the ancient lost wax method and various sand-casting techniques to forge his works. Simply put, Vollmer Poured Silver resides at that unique juncture between art and bullion.
Another factor that makes Vollmer Poured Silver bars so desirable is that fact that many of them are strictly limited in mintage. It isn’t uncommon for Devin to only produce 5, 10 or 15 specimens of his more complex silver bar designs. For example, the awe-inspiring kraken-themed bar pictured above was limited to a run of only 5 specimens.
Such small mintage numbers are highly unusual, even in the world of artisan hand-poured silver bullion bars. For instance, the well-known company Yeager’s Poured Silver (YPS) usually produces limited edition runs of 100, 200 or even 500 bars. And many YPS bars have uncapped mintages as well (although, to be fair, VPS has a few issues that are also unlimited).
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I love Yeager’s Poured Silver. I have happily purchased many of their products in the past, including a one kilo silver bar grab bag that hit all the right notes. But, mintages aside, there is still a considerable difference between the CNC-assisted graphite mold designs that YPS specializes in and the free-form, hand-sculpting that Vollmer Poured Silver embraces.
Fine art does come at a high price, though. You can expect to pay between $27 and $30 a troy ounce for VPS bars (with the price of silver hovering around $17) when purchasing directly from the VPS online shop. Discontinued designs available only on the secondary market can easily exceed $32 a troy ounce.
This represents a substantial premium over bullion value, but one that I feel is well-justified based on Vollmer’s ridiculously low mintages and tremendous artistic skill. Due to this unique combination of desirable attributes, Vollmer Poured Silver bars typically hold their value in the secondary market quite well. And there is every probability that they will appreciate in value over time.
I also want to make a clear distinction between VPS hand-poured silver and the so-called silver art bars of the 1970s. Although sometimes touted as a desirable vintage alternative by shady promoters, 1970s “art” bars really don’t have anything to do with art at all. They often memorialized random or inconsequential themes, such as the Shriners, signs of the zodiac or go-go dancers, just to name a few. And they were invariably machine struck via dies, which allowed for unlimited, mass-production runs.
In other words, Vollmer Poured Silver bars are handcrafted works of true art, while 1970s “art” bars are just bullion (and often ugly bullion at that).
Of course, there are other modern hand-poured artisan bar manufacturers out there besides VPS. Mutiny Metals, MK Barz, Pit Bullion and Backyard Bullion are some of the better known micro-studios currently producing exceptionally beautiful work. Much like Devin Vollmer, the owners of these companies strive to create unique and alluring hand-cast silver bars. And while they all succeed in this endeavor, I believe that Vollmer Poured Silver bars stand out as being truly superb.
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