A Fact Sheet on Silver Bullion
Silver bullion is often placed behind gold bullion due to its lesser value, no doubt, but what most people do not know is the fact that traders and investors who trade on silver bullion often make a lot of money from their dealings compared to those who trade on gold bullion and as a matter of fact, silver traders make more on price fluctuations of silver that is largely more stable than gold compared to gold which has become highly volatile in recent years. Silver has always been considered as gold’s sidekick, and the extended history silver has that is side by side to that of gold goes back to the same period of time when the barter system was still in use and as commerce progressed and money came into existence, gold, silver and even copper in the form of coins were introduced to the trade world and their remained intact without changing until about a hundred years ago.
From a wider perspective, silver was used as money more than gold was due to its smaller denomination and in some parts of the world a few hundred years ago, silver was more readily accepted than gold and it was due to this ‘smaller denomination factor’ that caused silver coins to get circulated far and wide in Europe and the Americas overtime (this circulation started way before the time of Alexander the Great conquests right up to the doorstep of the swinging 60s). Dwelling deeper into the subject, one would find that between the 16th and 19th centuries among the more prominent factors that was significant or had a strong impact on commerce were the establishment of time zones around the globe and the introduction and acceptance of silver crowns the world over as it became ‘universal money’ that was accepted everywhere.
The more popular silver crown was the Spanish Dollar or more popularly known as the Mexican 8 that which were not only minted in Spain or Mexico, but almost everywhere else on the planet, but that was not a problem due to the fact, the establishments or agencies that minted the Mexican 8 maintained uniform size and dimensions which gave the Spanish dollar a standardized rate in trade and although the variations were minor depending on the issuing nations they played the critical role of supporting commerce to what it was until the end of the 19th when secure paper currency printing was introduced to the world. Since it was easier to carry a small bundle of paper instead of sacks of coins paper money quickly became more popular and those with Spanish dollars could opt to deposit their silver coins in a bank and receive certificates of deposit that carried the equivalent value which could be used to pay for goods and services.
After the 30’s alloyed coins were introduced into circulation from different nations and silver’s role as ‘trade money’ stopped completely. Now, both gold and silver are considered as store value and regarded as ‘real money’ by most people despite the fact that it is not used as money.