Silver Ingot Info

Company Name: Chovanak family name before incorporation, then Chovanak, Inc

Company Location: Helena, Montana

Information put together from Helena, MT locals and history buffs, and The Helena Historical Society:

Records for the Chovanak family in Helena aren't found prior to 1885, so it is thought that they arrived in this time period, in the territorial days before Montana was a US state. It is said that they came searching for silver, and found it – not enough to get rich, but enough to barter with, and supplement their income. The Chovanaks made Helena their home for the next 5 generations. They had two mines West of the city, and one to the South. They abandoned the mines to the West in the silver crash of 1893, but had amassed a huge amount of ore that lasted for decades due to their small batch operation, and kept working the mine in the South hills.

1916 City Tax Department map, held by the Montana Historical Society, in Helena: 1916 Tax map showing Chovanak claim (white arrow): 1916 Close-up of one of the Chovanak Mine claims:

The 1916 Helena City Directory shows that Joseph Chovanak was working at ASARCO in East Helena as a “wheeler”, and he is said to have started working there in 1905. A “wheeler” was someone in charge of ensuring that the machinery condition, in terms of banded iron and rubber wheels was maintained and changed – part mechanic, part blacksmith. By 1918, Joseph was working in the refinery proper. During this period Joseph's brother John, the engineer, was working with their father on the weekends as a miner from time to time. Their father Emeril was the first Chovanak to make bars, according to the research, and it is said that they made them after hours at the ASARCO test lab until they developed their methods, after which they built their own small shopworks.

1916 Helena City Directory, showing Joseph working as a “wheeler” at ASARCO:

An interesting fact is that the Chovanak ingots thought to have been produced quite early are marked “999 FINE SILVER”. Early ingots produced from other Western mines and assay offices are typically of lower purity. Helena, being the “richest city in America” for 11 years in a row, and a center of the mining industry, was quite unique, and had the resources to use the most advanced refining methods early on. The town was one of the few places in America that produced .999 silver in the early days, and the World Museum of Mining in Butte, Montana confirms .999 fine silver being produced at the refineries in East Helena and Helena back to 1889.

There were 3 brothers who did the mining and refining part time after WWII, so the story is that there are 3 separate cast forms of ingots from that era. In 1947, one brother started working for Westinghouse as a dental film tech, and began extracting silver from used film. So, at that point, there were two sources of silver for the ingots. The family sold their ingots, and also used them to barter for goods in town during hard times.

It appears that as the price of silver rose in the late 1970's, family members incorporated their small operation. Chovanak Corporation was formed on 5/16/1979, and the locals say that ingots from the 1960's through this era can be recognized by the unique “TR O” weight designation, as well as other slightly differing fonts. The local knowledge and research says that some of the ingots with the “OZ” weight designation date as far back as 1905-1916 or before, but more study should be done with an attempt at classification and time periods.

An interesting thing to note is that there are two types of Chovanak hallmarks, an earlier version, and a later:

As seen above, the older hallmark is the easiest to recognize by the distinct difference in the “999” font, but in fact, most of the lettering is different as well. The earlier version stamping displays vertically “taller” “999 FINE SILVER”, but vertically “shorter” “Chovanak” fonts. The “Helena Montana” lower portion of the gang stamp remains almost identical, with just minute differences. Compare the letter “O” in Chovanak between the two hallmarks.

Known sizes:

Gallery: