The Price of Silver: Six Centuries of History

[Libertytree]

I'm sure many of you know this already but maybe it's new to others as well as myself? All time high anyone? ;D


1344 - Price of silver @ ~$400.00 per ounce

1477 - Silver value reaches ~$806.00 per ounce ( all time high )

1545 - Potosl mines open in North America ( silver value begins a gradual decline )

1780's - Silver value falls below $100.00 per ounce

1890's - Silver prices fall below $50.00 per ounce

1980 - Price of silver @ $68.00 per ounce (Hunt Brothers attempt to corner silver market)

1998 - Silver valued @ $6.24 per ounce

2003 - $4.07 per ounce

http://www.silvermedicine.org/silver-value.html

[horseshoe3]

Compared to what??? Are we looking at the GSR or Silver/food basket and then backing out values in terms of 2011 FRNs? As I'm sure you are aware, the US dollar didn't preexist the US, and silver was tied to the USD (or vice versa) from 1792 - 1964. So the numbers from 1780s and 1890s are completely wrong and befor that, there is no data.

This guy may be trying to make a valid point about the purchasing power of silver compared to other goods, but he needs to make clear what he is using for comparison and not make bogus references to a currency that either didn't exist, or was tied to silver for almost the entire length of his summary.

[Libertytree]

I don't know all the macro/micro dynamics of the silver market through history and without doing any research on it I found the numbers provocative. Is the person whom presented these numbers full of shit? IDK. We do know that our current silver standard is based on the Spanish milled pieces of 8 and if they valued silver in this high of a regard just as a currency then surely in this modern age of silvers many uses would the worth not be on par or not greater?

I do realize that there's a huge difference between 1477 and 2011 and it's hard to gauge but it's still great food for thought.

[Fullpower]

The author, while pretty much full of shit with his historical reference of 800 dollar silver, does make a valid argument for the utter futility of using a national
FIAT currency as a measure of value.
As noted previous, the unit ( $) did NOT exist prior to the late 18th century

[nunaem]

I'd be interested to see the historical value of silver in terms of how much food it could buy. Food was far more expensive pre-industrial revolution but it's probably the most stable measure of value.

[Libertytree]

I'd be interested to see the historical value of silver in terms of how much food it could buy. Food was far more expensive pre-industrial revolution but it's probably the most stable measure of value.
''

Maybe that's the key, not judging silver in US dollars but rather what can be obtained for X amount of silver.