# What's Keeping The Price of Silver Up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 3, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034 "2006-11-03T23:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/1 "2006-11-03T23:12:18Z")
I mean, as film photography (MAJOR user of silver) is replaced by digital photography, I would expect the price of this metal to drop. Outside of jewelry and some electronics applications, I can’t think of a lot of uses for the stuff. So what is keeping the price up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/2 "2006-11-03T23:22:31Z")
What are the Hunt brothers up to these days? ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/3 "2006-11-04T02:31:45Z")
Actually, silver is in the paper you use to print those digital photos on photo-quality paper. 'Cause, you know, that’s what makes it photo-quality paper. Silver has quite a few industrial uses, and considering that the largest industrial nation on the planet, China, is still growing at 10% a year, the real question is, why is silver still so cheap? Check [The Silver Institute’s supply/demand page](http://www.silverinstitute.org/supply/index.php) out, and you’ll see that industrial applications have grown quickly enough to make up for the decline in photographic use. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/4 "2006-11-04T13:19:53Z")
Excellent question, good joke, sufficiently good answer to make it the wrong forum. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/5 "2006-11-04T16:41:44Z")
[QUOTE=pantom] Actually, silver is in the paper you use to print those digital photos on photo-quality paper. 'Cause, you know, that’s what makes it photo-quality paper. [/QUOTE] Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/6 "2006-11-04T16:54:54Z")
I think he was kidding. I hope he was kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/7 "2006-11-04T17:22:19Z")
[QUOTE=pantom] Silver has quite a few industrial uses, and considering that the largest industrial nation on the planet, China, is still growing at 10% a year, the real question is, why is silver still so cheap? Check [The Silver Institute’s supply/demand page](http://www.silverinstitute.org/supply/index.php) out, and you’ll see that industrial applications have grown quickly enough to make up for the decline in photographic use. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the link. That is interesting. I make jewelry and I have been watching the price of silver rise significantly over the past few years, from a spot price of about $4 a few years ago up to almost $13 over the past few days. But it is not just silver, all precious metals seem to have been climbing steadily. Here is a great site, you can view all kinds of maps of historical market data, going back hundreds of years in some cases. They also have current prices. > **[Gold Price Today | Price of Gold Per Ounce | 24 Hour Spot Chart | KITCO](http://www.kitco.com/charts/gold)** > > Live Gold Charts and Gold Spot Price from International Gold Markets, Prices from New York, London, Hong Kong and Sydney provided by Kitco. The ways of “The Market” have always been a complete mystery to me. But here are a few things I have heard that perhaps someone else can explain more clearly. One thing I have heard is that in times of war or general unrest and insecurity, people tend to put their money in precious metals, the idea being that there will always be a demand for them. If you look at the silver charts, there is a small spike after September 11, 2001, it fluctuates a bit for awhile and then it starts to climb pretty steadily from about 2003 (start of war in Iraq). The gold chart shows a small spike starting a couple days before September 11th, then seems to climb even more steadily than the silver price. I am the first one to admit, I really don’t know what I am looking at, so perhaps I am getting something wrong, but it seems like it could be relevant. I have also heard that as the real estate market is getting softer, a lot of people are putting their money “into precious metals” whatever that means. Somehow, all of this increased demand by investors drives the prices up. If anyone can explain this in more detail (or correct it) I would be interested. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/8 "2006-11-05T13:34:37Z")
Gold is neat stuff, but silver is practically indispensible. Silver is the best conductor of electricity, and so used in cell phones, batteries, laptops, etc albeit in small amounts required as a catalyst for making plastics, used for high speed bearings, the list is practically endless. The more-rabid “silverbugs” claim that silver is actually rarer than gold at this point in history, in terms of deliverable supply. Overall all commodities like lead, zinc, copper, aluminum, cement, lumber - have had significant runups in recent years. Everyone knows about oil, but some of the other, less sexy commodities have been rising stealthily. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/9 "2006-11-05T14:02:31Z")
I do not know if it is true any more, but at one time gold and silver were thought of as hedges against inflation. With a relatively finite supply ,their value would hold. At one time an investment portfolio might retain gold bars. It may still be a worldwide effect., but it has less stress on it in America. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-keeping-the-price-of-silver-up/379034/10 "2006-11-05T15:58:38Z")
That may be because it was illegal for Americans to hold gold in any significant quantity for a number of years, '33-'75 or thereabouts. That was the reason the Hunt brothers decided to target silver, as well. I read somewhere that the Hunt brothers didn’t try to corner the market, they _did_, but the government changed the rules, putting an end to their plan. Those meddling kids…