1 oz Jerusalem Silver Bar

The Jerusalem Design in 1 oz Bar Form

The Jerusalem range comes from the Holy Land Mint, officially the Israel Coins and Medals Corporation (ICMC), the institution established in 1958 by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion as the official mint and medal producer for the State of Israel. The series is best known as an annual 1 oz silver round carrying the mint's signature Dove of Peace imagery, and the same design family extends to bar formats: a 1 kilo silver bar is part of the documented line-up, and dealers also list the design at the 1 oz bar size covered on this page. Whatever the format, the metal content is consistent: .999 fine silver from Israel's national mint.

The case for picking a Jerusalem bar over a generic 1 oz bar rests on provenance. Most 1 oz silver bars come from private refiners with no government connection. The Holy Land Mint's institutional pedigree, founded as a state body and privatised only in 2008, gives it more credibility than most private mints, even though its bullion products are not legal tender. Buyers get a recognisable, story-driven design, the Old City of Jerusalem beneath a dove carrying an olive branch, rather than a plain stamped rectangle.

The case for the bar format itself is cost. Bars carry the lowest premiums of any silver form, which makes them the most efficient way to accumulate silver weight per dollar. At the 1 oz size the per-unit handling cost is higher than for larger bars, so this format suits buyers who want divisibility and the Jerusalem design in small, tradeable units rather than maximum premium efficiency. Those prioritising the lowest per-ounce cost in this series should look at the silver Jerusalem series kilo bar instead.

Jerusalem 1 oz Silver Bar Specifications

The Jerusalem design centres on an artistic rendition of the Old City of Jerusalem skyline with its walls, domes, and towers, with a dove in flight above the city carrying an olive branch in its beak and the word JERUSALEM worked into the imagery. Across the series, Holy Land Mint products are stamped with the mint's hallmark logo alongside inscriptions stating the weight, purity, and year of issue. The dove and olive branch motif draws on the biblical account of Noah, where a dove returning with an olive branch signalled the receding of the flood waters, and symbolises hope for peace in Jerusalem and the wider region.

Holy Land Mint bullion carries no hologram, serial number, or edge lettering, so authentication rests on the standard checks used for any 1 oz silver bar: precise weight and dimension measurement, the magnet slide test, and specific gravity testing. The mint's official status as Israel's national coin and medal producer provides institutional backing, though the bar itself has no government-guaranteed denomination.

Tax Treatment of the Jerusalem Silver Bar by Country

Silver bars receive the same headline tax treatment as silver coins in most jurisdictions. The key divide is between gold, which is widely exempt, and silver, which is often taxed at purchase.

• UK: 20% VAT on purchase. As a bar with no legal tender status, it is also liable to capital gains tax on sale, unlike a CGT-exempt legal tender coin such as the 1 oz silver Britannia. That combination makes silver bars the least tax-efficient silver form for UK investors.
• EU: Full national VAT applies to new silver, ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. Margin schemes in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands apply to pre-owned silver, not new bars from the mint.
• US: No federal sales tax; state rules vary, and most states exempt bullion bars. Long-term gains are taxed at the IRS collectibles rate of up to 28%. IRA eligibility for silver bars requires 99.9%+ purity from accredited refiners, so confirm with your custodian before assuming this product qualifies.
• Canada: 0% GST/HST, since the bar meets the 99.9% purity threshold for refined bullion.
• Australia: 0% GST on investment-grade silver at 99.9%+ purity.
• New Zealand: GST-exempt at 99.9%+ silver purity, and no formal capital gains tax.
• Singapore and Hong Kong: Singapore exempts qualifying investment precious metals from GST and levies no capital gains tax; Hong Kong has no sales tax, no import duty, and no CGT at all.
• South Africa: 15% VAT applies to silver; only gold Krugerrands are zero-rated.

The Holy Land Mint and the Jerusalem Series

The Holy Land Mint is one of the oldest national minting institutions still operating. It was founded in 1958, just ten years after Israeli independence, when Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion established the Israel Coins and Medals Corporation as the official mint and medal producer for the State of Israel. For fifty years it remained fully government-owned, until a 2008 privatisation saw it purchased by G.R.A.S. Design Combinations Ltd. following a government selection process. The new owners continued the mint's traditional product lines while expanding into bullion rounds, and the mint still issues around five new commemorative coins annually for the Bank of Israel across series including Biblical Art, UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Israel, and Views of Israel.

The Jerusalem bullion series is closely associated with the Dove of Peace motif, which became the mint's signature bullion design after its introduction in 2014. Each annual issue keeps the same core elements, the Old City skyline and the dove with its olive branch, with the year updated. The 2024 issue marked the tenth anniversary of the Dove of Peace bullion series and was celebrated with a special privy-mark edition limited to 10,000 pieces carrying additional DOVE OF PEACE and 10TH ANNIVERSARY inscriptions.

The design family has spread across formats: 1 oz silver rounds, 1 kilo silver bars, and gold versions in 1/10 oz and 1 oz sizes. The mint also produces a separate Holy Land Sites numismatic series featuring specific Jerusalem landmarks, and the name echoes wider culture too: Jerusalem of Gold is the title of a famous 1967 Israeli song by Naomi Shemer, written just weeks before the Six-Day War.

Jerusalem 1 oz Bar vs Round, Kilo Bar, and Generic Bars

The closest alternative is the mint's own 1 oz Jerusalem silver round, the format in which the series made its name. Both deliver 1 troy oz of .999 fine silver with the same Jerusalem imagery. The round is the annual, year-dated flagship of the Dove of Peace programme, including collector-oriented editions like the 2024 anniversary issue, while the bar format competes on cost: across the market, 1 oz silver bars typically run 3-8% over spot against 5-10% for rounds. Buyers chasing the dated annual release pattern should favour the round; buyers treating the design as a vehicle for silver weight should favour the bar.

Within the series, the 1 kilo Jerusalem silver bar is the alternative for larger purchases. It represents a substantial entry point at a lower per-ounce premium than the 1 oz pieces, the standard trade-off across silver bars: the biggest premium savings come from moving up in size, at the cost of divisibility when it is time to sell.

Against generic 1 oz bars from private refiners such as Sunshine Minting or SilverTowne, the Jerusalem bar trades a little premium efficiency for provenance. Generic and lesser-known-refiner bars typically resell at melt value only, with no brand premium recovered, whereas the Holy Land Mint's history as Israel's official mint gives its products more credibility than most private mints. Note that the mint's products carry no serial numbers or assay certificates, so unlike bars from LBMA-accredited refiners there is no chain-of-custody documentation; resale rests on the brand and on standard authentication checks.