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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,413 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
Why is such a huge preference made more to gold than to silver?
Why was there a gold rush and not a silver rush?
Why is gold stored at Fort Knox and not silver?
This is not a quiz, just a topic of discussion.
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Moderator
 United States
6563 Posts |
I'd say that it's cause Gold is 55X the value of silver right now.
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
Why is such a huge preference made more to gold than to silver?Historically? I believe it was seen a prettier, more powerful (colour of the sun), and did not tarnish. Why was there a gold rush and not a silver rush?There was a silver rush, in Nevada I believe. Why is gold stored at Fort Knox and not silver?The US was at one time on a Gold Standard, not a silver standard (despite the best efforts of Populists and William Jennings Bryan) This is not a quiz, just a topic of discussion.But I treated it like one because it's all Good fun! Answered off the top of my head and look forward to the comments of others! 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
quote:
Why was there a gold rush and not a silver rush?
Because they were called silver strikes. There are plenty of boom/bust silver towns in Colorado, Nevada, Montana and elsewhere. A bit of trivia--does anyone recall the Georgia gold rush of 1829? I found this an interesting piece of history. |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
quote:
does anyone recall the Georgia gold rush of 1829?
Back in the day, I spent a lot of my summertime on Lake Lanier in Georgia. Dahlonega is not far from the end of the lake I was at so I visited there a couple of times. I wish the actual Mint could have been preserved as a museum or something, but all that remains is a historical marker. NGCSU has an admin building on the old site. |
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Valued Member
United States
473 Posts |
I never knew that Kurt...fascinating!
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Valued Member
United States
62 Posts |
A report from the USGS, which can be found at this web site, claims that silver is 19 times more abundant than gold: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1251/2004-1251.pdfSo the relative scarcity alone makes it more valuable. Also, gold is higher on the periodic table of elements, so a gold coin or ring of a given size is heavier than a silver coin or ring of the identical size. I'm sure that contributes to its desirability. - Sam |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Silver comes out of the Earth in much greater quantities than gold but is needed in many applications where it can not be recovered. Despite the huge amount produced there is probably less silver in the world than gold and it's spread out a great deal more.
Gold is so much more valuable than silver only because it has been much more valuable than silver.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Member
United States
3242 Posts |
Silver is a good buy at melt or less
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
A big part of the answer is volume. If you want to put $10,000 away in your safe/safety deposit box, do you want almost 600 ounces of silver or about 12 ounces of gold. Storage space, weight and concealment are so much more accommodating with gold, not even taking into consideration availability and demand.
Jim
Edited by Jim1953
02/01/2008 12:14 pm
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
The Hunt brothers attempted to corner the silver market by hoarding it some years back. They lost their shirts.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Gold rush was important because: Gold works better for teeth. Silver in your teeth can and has received radio stations but not Gold. Women like Gold presents more than Silver ones. Many companies give Gold watches when people retire but never a Silver one. Gold plated electrical contacts on cables sell better and for more.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Gold is traditionally a more valued metal than silver since the ancient times simply due to rarity. This has been going on for generation and hence, the term "gold" is rarer than "silver". Of course that still applies to current termologies such as the "Golden" Brass dollar coins against "Silver" Nicupro or Niclad coins.
My partial coin collection http://www.omnicoin.com/collection/gxseriesMy numismatics articles and collection: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/numis_index.htmRegularly updated at least once a month. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,413 |
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Posted 01/31/2008 1:08 pm
