Company Name: Tri-State Refining / Tri-State Refining Company / Tri-State Refining and Investment Company, Inc.
Company Location: Hawarden (Iowa) & Hudson (South Dakota)
Company Information: Tri-State Refining was a small business established in 1973 by Lorentz Opdahl in Hawarden, Iowa to extract silver from X-Ray and other film products. In the same year, Linda Opdahl, daughter of Lorentz Opdahl, married Robert Hoff and Hoff helped managing the silver refining business. The business was running successfully and in 1976, Opdah purchased a gas-fired smelting unit and moved it to his farm near Hudson, South Dakota. In 1978, Opdahl placed his properties into three trusts and he was named as the trustee in all three. The silver refining business was placed in the second trust known as Tri-State Refining Company. A couple of years later, Hoff and Opdahl signed an agreement on August 28, 1980 for the sale of this refining business to Hoff. Later that year, Hoffs relationship with Opdahl and his daughter deteriorated. Hoff moved the refining business to Sioux Falls, Iowa and incorporated this business as Tri-State Refining and Investment Company, Inc. Tri-State started facing financial difficulties in 1981 and Hoff hired a private investigator to find the cause as he believed that these difficulties stemmed from internal problems. This investigation ultimately led to many disputes & lawsuits between Hoff and Opdahl with cases being registered in 1988, 1990(1), 1990(2) and 1991.
Going by the information in these court cases, one can arrive at a rough estimate of the years during which a specific stamp was used on silver bars.
| Stamp | Years used | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tri-State Refining | 1973 - 1978 | Established in 1973 as Tri-State Refining |
| TSRC | 1978 - 1981 | A trust named Tri-State Refining Company was created |
| Tri-State Refining & Investment Co. | 1981 - | Incorporated as Tri-State Refining and Investment Company, Inc |
(Accessed from The Sioux Center News, January 23, 1947) on March 27, 2021.
(Accessed from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7304472/lorentz-opdahl on March 27, 2021)
Known sizes: 1, 5, 10, 25, 100
Gallery:
| Obverse | Reverse | Additional | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 oz kit-kat bar with the TRI-STATE REFINING stamp | |||
| 10 oz kit-kat bar with the TRI-STATE REFINING stamp | |||
| 10 oz poured bar with the TRI-STATE REFINING stamp | |||
| 10 oz poured bar with the TSRC stamp (T.O. 999 variety) | |||
| Same stamps as above but there's a gap between T.O. and 999 stamps | |||
| 10 oz poured bar with the TSRC stamp (TROY OUNCES .999+ FINE variety) | |||
| 10 oz bar with the TRI-STATE REFINING & INVESTMENT CO. stamp | |||
| 25 oz poured bar with the TRI-STATE REFINING stamp | |||
| 25 oz poured bar with the TSRC stamp | |||
| 100 oz poured bar with the TRI-STATE REFINING stamp |