History of Silver as Precious Metal - Brief history of silver as precious metal and “crisis proof investment”

Next to gold, silver has been the most desired and highly valued precious metal since the ancient times. Its Latin name argentum can be also translated as money and clearly indicates the importance of silver as precious metal in history, while common saying “to be born with a silver spoon in mouth” which refers to individuals born in a very wealthy family also says a lot about perception of silver in history.

Silver was primarily used for currency coin, jewelry and tableware and utensils in ancient and medieval times. Silver coins and later circulating coins alloyed with silver have been in use until the mid 20th century when keeping silver as alloy to circulating coins became uneconomical. In the 1960’s started the mint of the modern crown sized silver commemorative coins, while modern silver bullion coins containing one ounce of pure silver date to the 1980’s.

Silver has a long history in the financial sector and is traditionally considered as one of the top “crisis proof” investments as well as saving options. Silver price tracks gold price although the ratio between both precious metals can greatly vary. In history, ratio between one ounce of gold and one ounce of silver was about 15:1 but today it is almost 60:1. For that reason many financial experts consider value silver greatly underestimated and predict significant increase of silver price in the future.