Why should I buy Silver? > watch the video ->

Silver has long been prized as a precious metal, and was used as currency in the form of coins, and to make jewelry, ornaments and high-value tableware (silverware).

Silver, like other precious metals, may be used as an investment.

For more than four thousand years, silver has been used as a form of money and store of value. However, since the end of the silver standard, silver has lost its role as legal tender in the United States. (It continued to be used in coinage until 1964, when the intrinsic value of the silver overtook the coins’ face values.)

Today, Silver is also used in industry, for making electrical contacts and conductors, in mirrors and in the catalysis of various chemical reactions.

Silver is a very ductile and malleable metal, only slightly harder than gold. It is a traditional  coinage metal with a brilliant white metallic luster. It has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper, but its greater cost and tendency to tarnish has prevented it from being widely used in place of copper for electrical purposes.

Silver as Money

Silver (in the form of electrum -a gold-silver alloy) was first coined to produce money in around 700 BC by the Lydians. Later, silver was refined and coined in its pure form.

Many nations used silver as the basic unit of monetary value. In the modern world, silver bullion has the ISO currency code XAG.

The name of the United Kingdom monetary unit “pound” (£) reflects the fact that it originally represented the value of one troy pound of sterling silver.

(Try working that out at today’s silver prices as a guide to how investing in Silver over the years might have treated you   )

Silver is now approaching £30 GBP per Oz, x 12 Troy Oz (One Troy Pound – lb)

In the 1800s, many nations, such as the United States and Great Britain, switched from silver to a gold standard of monetary value, then in the 20th century to fiat currency. Ever since then the paper “money” has been continually devaluing against Silver the same as against Gold.

Many would argue that Silver is poised for an even greater rise proportionally than Gold, because of the current  Gold / Silver ratio that implies silver is undervalued in today’s market on a pure supply / demand basis and has potentially very large upside potential.

Put yourself back on the Silver Standard Now! – get a free Ounce of Silver here

Or check out our Silver coins