History of Silver

Often considered the “poor man’s gold” silver has been climbing the investment and demand charts since its discovery thousands of years ago in Anatolia, now modern day Turkey. Silver’s unique properties make it ideal for thousands of applications found in every day life.

Silver is:

• The best conductor of electricity of all metals
• The best conductor of heat of all metals
• The most reflective of metals
• A powerful anti-bacterial & anti-viral agent
• Malleable and ductile
• Valued for its beauty

Silver is found today in mines around the world; the top producing mining countries are Peru, Mexico and China.

HISTORY OF SILVER AS CURRENCY
CA 2500 BC  

Silver first introduced into Egypt and was considered more valuable than gold.

475 BC  

China was the first country to monetize silver. 

775 AD  

“British Pounds Sterling”: in approximately 775 AD the Saxon kingdoms issued silver coins known as “sterlings”, 240 of them being minted out of one pound of silver. Large

payments were reckoned in “pounds of sterling” later shortened to “pounds sterling.”

1072  

After the Norman Conquest, the pound was divided for simplicity of accounting into 20 shillings and 240 pence or pennies.

1497  

Spanish “Pieces of Eight” were coins first struck in 1497 containing a high silver purity and weight. They were the basis of the monetary system of the Spanish Empire and were widely circulated around the world. They were accepted as legal tender in the US until 1857.

1600’s - 1900’s  

The Mexican Peso evolved into one of the world’s strongest and most widely accepted currencies due to its silver content.

1800s  

By the mid 1800s, China through trade and mercantilism, was in possession of 50% of the world’s above ground silver. The British sold opium to China in exchange for tea, silk and silver – a factor in the Opium Wars between Great Britain and China during the mid -1800s.

1930s  

Silver was used as China’s official currency until the 1930s.

SILVER APPLICATIONS

Industrial

• As the best conductor of electricity, silver has a multiple of uses in switches, contacts and fuses in electrical appliances, automobiles and electronics such as computers, TV’s, DVD + CD players and cell phones.
• Chemical reactions use silver as a catalyst; approximately 700 tons of silver are consumed annually in the production of plastics.
• Mitsui of Japan is developing a catalytic converter for diesel engines using silver as opposed to platinum or palladium.
• Billions of silver oxide-zinc batteries are produced annually for use in watches, cameras and small electronic devices.
• Invisible silver is a thin coating of silver on double thermal windows. This coating not only rejects the heat from the sun, but also reflects internal heat inward.
• As the most reflective of metals, silver is used in specialized optical devices, automobile windshields and for both commercial and household mirrors.
• Very little silver used in industrial applications is re-cycled, it is consumed.

Health

• Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote that silver had beneficial, anti-disease properties.
• Wealthy, ancient Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians stored their wine, water and oil in silver jugs to maintain their freshness and prevent spoiling.
• Silver compounds show a toxic effect on some bacteria, viruses, algae and fungi. Health and medical applications of silver are wide ranging and its uses include dressings and ointments for burns and wounds, anti-bacterial pharmaceuticals, coatings on hospital implements and surfaces, to name a few.
• Silver is being used to treat wastewater and to treat streams containing radioactive and biological contaminants.
• Silver is increasingly being used for water purification and as an anti-bacterial agent in swimming pools.
• Clothing is being manufactured with silver impregnated fabric to kill bacteria and fungi in order to reduce disease and odour. Military uniforms, sporting wear and everyday clothing are now produced that contain this special fabric.
• Recent research shows that silver also promotes the production of new cells, increasing the rate of healing wounds and bone.

Source from edrsilver.com

History of Gold

Gold has a long and complex history. From gold’s first discovery, it has symbolized wealth and guaranteed power. Gold has caused obsession in men and nations, destroyed some cultures and gave power to others.

Archaeological digs suggest the use of Gold began in the Middle East where the first known civilizations began. The oldest pieces of gold jewelry Egyptian jewelry were found in the tomb of Queen Zer and that of Queen Pu-abi of Ur in Sumeria and are the oldest examples found of any kind of jewelry in a find from the third millennium BC. Over the centuries, most of the Egyptian tombs were raided, but the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered undisturbed by modern archaeologists. Inside the largest collection of gold and jewelry in the world was found and included a gold coffin whose quality showed the advanced state of Egyptian craftsmanship and goldworking (second millennium BC).

The Persian Empire, in what is now Iran, made frequent use of Gold in artwork as part of the religion of Zoroastrianism. Persian goldwork is most famous for its animal art, which was modified after the Arabs conquered the area in the 7th century AD.

When Rome began to flourish, the city attracted talented Gold artisans who created gold jewelry of wide variety. The use of gold in Rome later expanded into household items and furniture in the homes of the higher classes. By the third century AD, the citizens of Rome wore necklaces that contained coins with the image of the emperor. As Christianity spread through the European continent, Europeans ceased burying their dead with their jewelry. As a result, few gold items survive from the Middle Ages, except those of royalty and from church hoards.

In the Americas, the skill of Pre-Columbian cultures in the use of Gold was highly advanced long before the arrival of the Spanish. Indian goldsmiths had mastered most of the techniques known by their European contemporaries when the Spanish arrived. They were adept at filigree, granulation, pressing and hammering, inlay and lost-wax methods. The Spanish conquerors melted down most of the gold that they took from the peoples of this region and most of the remaining examples have come from modern excavations of grave sites. The greatest deposits of gold from these times were in the Andes and in Columbia.

During the frontier days of the United States news of the discovery of gold in a region could result in thousands of new settlers, many risking their lives to find gold. Gold rushes occurred in many of the Western States, the most famous occurring in California at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. Elsewhere, gold rushes happened in Australia in 1851, South Africa in 1884 and in Canada in 1897.  

The rise of a gold standard was meant to stabilize the global economy, dictating that a nation must limit its issued currency to the amount of gold it held in reserve. Great Britain was the first to adopt the gold standard in 1821, followed, in the 1870s, by the rest of Europe followed. The system remained in effect until the end of the first world war, after which the US was the only country still honoring the Gold Standard. After the war, other countries were allowed to keep reserves of major currencies instead of gold. The arrival of the great depression marked the end of the U.S. export of gold in the 1930s. By mid 20th century, the US dollar had replaced gold in international trade.

Courtesy of www.bullion.nwtmint.com