Silver Trading Company (Shreveport, LA)

Silver Trading Company Overview

Silver Trading Company is a precious metals dealer in Shreveport, Louisiana, founded in 2001 by Larry Wayne LaBorde. It began as a bullion brokerage serving a worldwide customer base, dealing in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, with depository storage and precious metals IRA services alongside retail and wholesale sales. Through the 2000s it operated by mail and phone from its website, silvertrading.net, first from P.O. Box 876, Shreveport, and later from a Youree Drive address in the same city.

LaBorde was born in Shreveport on August 8, 1958. He earned a civil engineering degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1979 and spent his early career in his father’s firm, Continental Drilling & Service, Inc., becoming its president and serving as a past president of both the Louisiana Ground Water Association and the National Ground Water Association. He founded Silver Trading Company as a separate venture and became a widely published voice in the sound-money community, writing on monetary history, the gold and silver markets, and Southern history for outlets including Gold-Eagle and SilverSeek. He died on August 30, 2022. His son, Christopher LaBorde, has continued writing on precious metals under the Silver Trading Company name.

The company’s place in this archive comes through the Southern Hero series, the only privately issued silver rounds known to carry its program. LaBorde’s interest in history, especially the Civil War era, led him to design and commission a set of one troy ounce .999 fine silver rounds honoring Confederate leaders, each pairing a portrait bust with the Great Seal of the Confederate States of America on the reverse. The busts were adapted from well-known period photographs. Three generals came first: Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Robert E. Lee, whose coin was first promoted as a tribute to his 200th birthday. A fourth round, honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, was announced as coming soon in June 2008 and offered by July 2010.

Each design was sold in two forms. A proof edition limited to 200 coins per subject was struck from the original dies, with each coin serial-numbered on the edge and sold in a blue velvet presentation box with an Airtite capsule, priced at $24.50 on the original mail-in order form. Unnumbered bullion strikes of the same designs were sold in bulk through the company’s catalog at a small premium over the silver spot price, alongside bullion rounds from A-Mark, Northwest Territorial Mint, and Pan American Silver.

No mark on any Southern Hero round identifies its manufacturer. Marketplace listings from 2009 describe the series as struck by Northwest Territorial Mint for a southern-based organization, and the company’s own catalog shows it resold Northwest Territorial Mint rounds in the same period. Northwest Territorial Mint is recorded as the attributed manufacturer for the series, pending primary documentation. The full series is gathered on the Southern Hero Silver Coin Collection page.

Silver Trading Company Issues

  • 2009 Robert E. Lee Southern Hero Silver Round
  • Stonewall Jackson Southern Hero Silver Round (proof and bullion strikes)
  • Nathan Bedford Forrest Southern Hero Silver Round (proof and bullion strikes)
  • Jefferson Davis Southern Hero Silver Round (offered by July 2010; no photographed example located)

Silver Trading Company Notes

  • Founded 2001 in Shreveport, Louisiana, by Larry Wayne LaBorde (1958–2022).
  • Mailing addresses in the Southern Hero era: P.O. Box 876, Shreveport, LA 71162 (proof order form) and 6658 Youree Dr., Suite 180, PMB #181, Shreveport, LA 71105 (site footer, 2008–2010).
  • Southern Hero proofs: 200 per subject, edge serial-numbered, blue velvet presentation box. Bullion strikes: unnumbered, mintage not documented.
  • LaBorde is credited as designer of the series on the company’s own site; no engraver is named.
  • Manufacturer attributed to Northwest Territorial Mint; no struck mark or invoice has been located.
  • The company’s published specifications (39 mm, 2.87 mm) were shared across every round in its catalog and are not measurements of the Southern Hero rounds.

Silver Trading Company References

Coins from Silver Trading Company (Shreveport, LA) (1)