How Much Silver Do I Need For That Loaf Of Bread?

Yes, I also have thought of that. A few months ago, I started getting Social Security benefits. That amounted to $1630 per month. When SS started, the first person to collect it got about $35 a month. That kind of rung a bell with me and I thought about gold being $35 an oz. back in 1935 (not that citizens could get it, of course, but jewelers and goldsmiths could). Hmmm... whaddya know? Last October, gold was averaging around $1650 an oz. SS benefits are not so very different after all these years after all.

I'm happy if you average that out over 50 year periods using the last 2000 years. That's a fairly even approach and allows for the bumps of wars and invasions and economic emergencies to mostly be leveled out.

Pretty much, Europeans were still chasing goats through the mountains but other cultures have written records. Egypt, Greece, Persia, etc.. bread wasn't big in China or Korea but they probably had an equivalent. Primary commodities for humans have been specific sizes of food, salt, charcoal etc.. so there's a broad range to draw from. What you'll find I think is that people on average time spans have placed relatively the same value on their PM's over the centuries as they relate to commodity acquisitions. Of course some things are no longer commodities... salt for example and we have some new ones, like crude oil. The lowest denominator remains food and booze.

Get the texts out :)