Bar-shaped silver ingot, from Clatchard Craig, Fife, 500 - 800 AD

Ingot of silver, for economic transactions or raw material, part of Viking Age silver hoard found at Skaill, Sandwick, Orkney, deposited 950 - 970 AD

Ingot of silver, for economic transactions or raw material, part of Viking Age silver hoard found at Skaill, Sandwick, Orkney, deposited 950 - 970 AD

Bar or ingot of silver with one end tapered like a bracelet, bent into a pointed oval, 986 - 990, found in 1951 with a hoard of 10th century Anglo-Saxon coins at Iona Abbey, Iona, Argyll, Scotland

Ingot of silver, from a hoard found at Cuerdale, Lancashire

Portion of a silver ingot from a hoard found at Cuerdale, near Preston, Lancashire

Portion of a silver ingot from a hoard found at Cuerdale, near Preston, Lancashire

Ingot of Scottish silver smelted from vein ore from a trial prospect at the Calliachar Burn, Bolfracks Estate, near Aberfeldy, Perthshire.

Gold - an ingot of Scottish gold smelted from vein ore from a trial prospect at the Calliachar Burn, Bolfracks Estate, near Aberfeldy, Perthshire.

Nickel - an ingot - dark grey metallic - inscribed with the number 34 - from Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire.

Silver - bright metallic melted ingot - extracted from galena - from Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire.

Copper ingot currency in x-shaped form, locally sourced from a copper mine: Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Katanga, early 20th century

Early historic or viking cast silver ingot comprising an irregular tapered rod with rounded ends, from Whitmuirhaugh, Kelso, Roxburghshire

Silicon ingot, 150 mm in diameter, processed by SEH Europe in Livingston and manufactured by Shin Etsu Handotai, Tokyo, 2007

Silicon ingot, 200 mm in diameter, processed by SEH Europe in Livingston and manufactured by Shin Etsu Handotai, Tokyo, 2007

Silver ingot fragment, probably early Medieval, Branxholme, Borders