The the copper bars weigh far too much to be worthwhile to take. I've found them in looted chests, and laying on the floor in the open next to the chest they spawned in. 10.5 lbs, for 2-3 gold is not worth lugging it around. There has been a lot of back and forth based off my first post. I agree that a crafted silver ring, with engravings and gems, is worth far greater than just the silver it's made out of. However, I was not talking about engraved or gem encrusted silver rings. I was talking about the standard silver ring, with nothing about engravings or gems added to it in the description of the ring. These plain silver rings are 0.1 lbs of silver. Nothing more. Using weight math, the silver in this ring should be worth 0.15% of the price of a solid 10.5 lbs bar of the same material. I at this point though no longer care what the prices are I'll leave silver bars where I find them, and instead get far richer dragging back loads of tiny silver rings.
I do however wonder why silver rings, bars and whatever else, can't be smelted down to make ingots for the craft system. Metal melts and can be reformed regardless of the form it is in, as long as it is heated to the proper temperature.