The Rise of Silver

Many questions concerning the worth of silver and gold have come about since India’s lack of the purchase of gold and possible sales of the precious metal. India has been one of the world’s largest buyers of gold in the past. One main obvious cause for the slouch in sales is the world’s declining economy; it is expected that other countries will soon follow India’s lead.

Silver is utilized for much more than gold has ever been used for. This is including but not limited to the circuit boards in electronics, coins, heated windscreens for cars, photography and jewelry. A relatively new and surprising use for silver is that silver is also being used in clothing textiles because of its ability to fight off natural body odors due to an antimicrobial agent it naturally contains. The antibacterial uses of silver were even known in ancient Greece and Rome, where silver was used to disinfect water and food, treatment for burns and wounds, and in the 19th century sailors would place silver coins in the supply of water and wine to prevent it from spoiling.

Silver has been referred to as the “poor mans gold” for many years. Now with all the uses for silver, the supply is having a hard time keeping up, which in effect is helping to drive up the worth of silver. This rise in prices because of the shortage of silver in the economy is good for silver investors but bad for the silver industry. There is only about 1 billion ounces of mined silver left compared with the 5 billion mined ounces of gold left, making silver more rare than gold.