Buying & Selling Silver

• Peru and Mexico are the largest producers of silver
• Catalytic action of silver with oxygen provides a powerful sanitizer
• The words for silver and money are the same in 14 different languages
• When silver nano particles contact bacteria and viruses they disrupt their structure and inhibit cell growth
• In 1933, gold coins were confiscated in the U.S. but the US Mint continued to circulate silver coins until 1965
• ‘Born with a silver spoon in their mouth’ has to do with health rather than wealth – children fed with silver utensils were believed to be healthier
• Silver production and secondary recovery have failed to meet demands for the past 15 years
• Silver is a great heat conductor – it is used in solar panels and car rear window defoggers
• More gold rests in the world’s central banks than there is above-ground silver
• A silver mirror can reflect about 95% of the visible light spectrum.
• 2/3 of silver bullion produced world-wide is a by-product of lead, copper and zinc mining
• According to Egyptian records, silver was thought to be more precious than gold
• The country’s name, Argentina, came from the Latin word, Argentum, the element of silver’s Latin name
• Silver originates from the Old English Anglo-Saxon word ‘seolfor’ meaning Silver
• One out of 7 pairs of prescription glasses sold in the U.S. uses silver
• Silver has more industrial applications than gold and, in most applications, cannot be substituted by any other metal
• 95% of annual silver consumption is for industrial and decorative uses of silver including photography, jewelry and silverware
• Nearly every electrical action in the modern car today is activated with silver coated contacts

The founder of the first Egyptian dynasty, Menes, in 3100 B.C. in his Code of Menes (a gold-to-silver ratio), stated that “one part of gold is equal to two and one half parts of silver in value.”  This was history’s earliest relationship between gold and silver.  Gold was considered the glory of the immortals by Homer in the “Iliad and the Odyssey.”  And, some of the oldest pieces of gold Egyptian jewelry were found in Sumeria in the third millennium B.C. in the tombs of Queen Zer and Queen Pu-abi of Ur.

Gold was coined more than 3,000 years ago in 50 B.C. by the Romans, and is still known as a symbol for wealth and power.  Talented gold artisans in Rome created gold jewelry and later the use of gold expanded into household items and furniture in the homes of the wealthy.  The Romans even wore necklaces that contained coins with images of the emperor in the third century A.D.  When Christianity spread throughout Europe, the dead were no longer buried with their jewelry; so, much of the gold jewelry from the Middle Ages does not exist today, except from royalty and the churches of that era.

Pre-Columbian cultures used gold long before the arrival of the Spanish.  They mastered most of the artisan’s techniques known by Europeans and were very adept in filigree, granulation, pressing and hammering, inlay and lost wax methods.  The Spaniard’s melted down most of their jewelry so very little remains today except for those removed from modern excavations and gravesites and most of the gold deposits from that time period are found in the Andes and in Columbia.

During America’s gold rush days, the discovery of gold brought thousands of settlers to the western states.  Many prospectors settled in California at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.  Gold rushes also occurred in Alaska, Australia in 1951, South Africa in 1884 and Canada in 1897.

London has been considered the metals trading center of the world, beginning in the late 17th century, and the birthplace of the official gold price.  Other nations became important gold market participants in the 19th century with the California gold rush, the Australian and South African gold rushes as well and there became a significant increase in the global supply.  The gold trade bypassed London for the first time.

Several countries adopted the gold standard in the 1800’s which caused London to lose some of its authority as the world’s gold ‘center.’  The gold standard stabilized our global economy by dictating that all the world’s currencies had to hold a corresponding amount of gold in its reserves.  Great Britain was the first to adopt a gold standard in 1821 and in the 1870’s, Europe followed and remained in effect until the end of WWI.  The U.S. was the only country that still honored the Gold Standard after the war but with the arrival of the great depression the end of the U.S. export of gold came to an end in the 1930’s.

The Bank of England signed an agreement with seven South African mining houses in 1919 promising to refine their gold after the mining houses agreed to sell all of their gold to the Rothschild’s.  Five members agreed on a price and London fixing was established.

The trading of physical gold and gold derivatives on several exchanges in today’s market determines daily gold prices with the traditional gold fix still serving as the benchmark price.  The fix is set twice daily at 10am and 3pm.  In 1968, N.M Rothschild introduced the latter fix to coincide with the opening of the U.S. markets now considered to be the more important of the two.  Today, none of the original member’s banks remain and Rothschild resigned its chairmanship in 2004.  The current members are the Bank of Nova Scotia-Scotia Mocatta, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Bank US and Societe Generale with a chairmanship that rotates annually.  The fix reports the gold price per troy ounce in three currencies: US dollars, Sterling and Euros.