I’m thinking here of the commonly mentioned ways to kill a werewolf, i.e. silver bullets. Why not, say, bronze?
I’m also interested in why rich folks are said to have a “silver spoon” in their mouth when they are born as opposed to, again, a gold spork?
I’m sure there are other instances where silver is mentioned as being special. I like it better than gold in jewelry myself.
I don’t know about the silver spoon reference, except that we had an old sterling silver mixing spoon when I was a kid and it looked ugly compared to the everyday stuff. 
As far as silver bullets – maybe because the moon high in the sky shines with a color vaguely similar to silver or steel, and because werewolves are associated with the moon, especially the full moon??
WAG - YMMV
OTTOMH, silver didn’t becomed link to werewolves until Universal Studios’ The Wolman. Before that, remedies including spilling three drops of the lycanthropes’ blood or calling them by their Christian name (why Europe was not over run by Jewish werewolves, I don’t know).
For warding off fairies and evil spirits, people used iron.
Semi WAG- Silver is rare enough to be viewed as a sign of status, but hard enough to be made into utensils, tea sets, etc. Gold is soft and heavy. The spork is a recent invention. But, putting anything with tines into the mouth of a newborn is extremely dangerous and will almost certainly result in injury. A spoon with a tiny bowl, thickened to prevent bending, and with a thickened edge to avoid scraping or cutting is the right tool to feed your baby pureed peas.
OTTOMH, mostly modern and following Universal’s lead. As I said before, for centuries in Europe, the metal for fighting the supernatural was iron.
However, I can think of two Jewish traditions that call for silver.
The first is strictly canonical. If the firstborn child of any family is male, he is obligated to a period of service at The Temple. However, you can get him released from service by paying a Kohain (the names Cohen, Cohn, and others derive from this) a fee in silver coins. There is no Temple at present. But some families still insist that the ceremony be performed. It doesn’t take much of the Cohen’s time, and he makes a few bucks.
The second is from a longstanding piece of unofficial Jewish folklore. Adam had a wife before Eve. Her name was Lilith. She was expelled from Eden (explanations vary. Jewish feminists often claim that Lilith’s only crime was demanding equal rights and refusing to submit to the patriarchy). These days, Lilith and her demon children stalk the world. They enjoy killing human infants. To prevent this, red ribbons should be tied to the crib and a special coin must be placed in the nursery windows. The coin must be silver and inscribed with the names of the three angels who drove Lilith from Eden- Sanvi, Sansavi, and Semangeleaf.
Acording to alchemy, every ancient metal was associated with a particular heavenly body.
Gold–Sun
Silver–Moon
Quicksilver–Mercury
Copper–Venus
Iron–Mars
Tin–Jupiter
Lead–Saturn
Since both silver and werewolves are associated with the moon, it makes sense that silver should have some special connection with werewolves.
Also, the peasants who came up with this folklore were much more likely to encounter silver than gold. A little bit of silver wouldn’t be too difficult to come up with for your little rituals, but a little bit of gold would be much harder.
Again, the peasants who came up with ‘silver kills werewolves’ worked for Universal Studios. Most folktales don’t mention werewolves being tied to the lunar cycle either.
Heh…there’s a Google ad for the Brunton Titanium Spork. Great. Now I can eat my KFC mashed potatoes in style.
As for the rest of the OP, you use silver bullets on werewolves because they work! Just kidding. That part of the legend started in 1935 in “The Werewolf of London.”(Universal Studios, as it turns out).
Evidently up until the early 20th Century you could kill a werewolf using any means you ould use to kill a normal dude. But you’d have to outsmart the damned thing, which was tough, and then you’d have to not chicken out when it was time to get in the ring.
Nope. It’s not a modern invention. During the many hunts of the infamous “Gevaudan beast”, in the mid 18th century, at least one of the hunters brought blessed silver bullets.
The idea that a silver bullet could kill things that go bump in the night predates the 1935 movie. I’ve not tried to research it extensively, but I can easily find a 1929 story where a voo doo doctor is said to be able to kill a supernatural being with a silver bullet.
Besides, why do you think the Lone Ranger carried silver bullets? To fight Indian werewolves, of course.
Incidentally, wasn’t silver used in a few of the various vampire myths? Not that this really proves anything; there was a different vampire myth for every square mile of Europe. You’d probably be hard pressed to find something that wouldn’t kill a vampire somewhere.
“Silver spoon” – alliteration. It sounds cool. “Golden spoon” – not quite so much.
Also, silver cutlery is a common status symbol of the moderately well off, gold cutlery isn’t (can you even get gold cutlery?)
What a coincidence! That’s the same story as Fraser and Lilith on “Cheers”! 
One reason that silver bullets are unlikely to be very useful is that the very high melting point of silver makes casting bullets troublesome as it destroys the molds. Here is someone who made some. http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/9d2a9aa138b84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
This page has many references to silver killing werewolves:
I don’t know how common the legend was prior to The Wolfman, but it appears to have been moderately widespread in Germany.
Daniel
RE Silver Bullets
I accept the cites given and admit my error. I’m actually very happy to be proven wrong in this case. I thought I had found the source of the silver myth. Now, I have a whole new wilderness to explore. This means that next time I see my father, we can have a long talk about German opera, German folksongs, and werewolves.
Sounds great! I’m still curious about the origin of the belief, or at least contemporaraneous speculation on why werewolves are susceptible to silver. Surely some church scholar or alchemist–maybe even a luminary like Newton or Dee–wrote on the subject?
Daniel
In fact, it was this hunter (and his blessed silber bullets) that finally killed the beast.