All Time Lowest Silver Price £0.07 Per Troy Ounce - OK It Was 1931 But Hey!

[LawrenceChard]

All Time Lowest Silver Price £0.07 Per Troy Ounce - OK It Was 1931 But Hey!

People often ask about the highest silver prices (or gold), but hardly ever about the lowest prices.

Although I have often noted and commented on "low" prices, some recent research surprised me.

Of course, I had long been aware that silver prices were lower before about 1947 and 1965, but I had never noticed prices as low as 7 (decimal) pence per ounce.

This page of my / our website:

https://www.chards.co.uk/silver-price/silver-price-history

Shows silver spot prices from 1797 to date. (Select the "All Time" tab). My colleague Ian Davis had compiled some of the earlier price data included.

From 1797 to about 1960, the yearly average price had mainly been between 26p and 29p, with the occasional blip, to 36p in 1812, and from 1950 to 1960.

It dipped below that range by 1887, when it hit 20p, and remained below 20p until 1946, except for another blip to 30p in 1919. From 1930 to 1932, it remained at just 7p per ounce.

I found this hard to believe, so I did some, admittedly lightweight, cross-checking.

According to MacroTrends https://www.macrotrends.net/1470/historical-silver-prices-100-year-chart it ranged between US $0.28 an $0.29 for most of 1931 and 1932.

According to a graph on this page https://www.exchangerates.org.uk/articles/1325/the-200-year-pound-to-dollar-exchange-rate-history-from-5-in-1800s-to-todays.html, the GBP:USD exchange rate dipped below £1:$5 around this time, although the graph is static and somewhat imprecise, this would tie in with an exchange rate of about $4 to £1 one pound sterling. British crowns (coins) were often called a dollar, and halfcrowns even more frequently called half a dollar, partly because that would have been their US dollar equivalent at a 4:1 exchange rate, but also because crown-sized coins and silver dollars owe their common heritage to the Joachimsthaler originally minted in 1519 at Jáchymov in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic.

I naturally found myself wondering what the Gold:Silver ratio was around that time. Again, using a Gold Prices chart on the Chard website, I found £3.76 in January 1931, the G:S ratio worked out at approximately 53.71, this must have been close to an all-time high, so I took a further look.

In January 1833, the first year on the chart, gold was £4.26, while silver was £0.27; giving a G:S ratio of 15.77 approximately.

I am aware that there are sources of historical prices, some of which I have previously read, but the further back we go in time, the less relevant the prices are to modern day collectors, investors, stackers, and dealers.

The 7p and 28¢ prices stopped me in my tracks, and I thought the least I could do was to share the information with you.

😎

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

All Time Lowest Silver Price £0.07 Per Troy Ounce - OK It Was 1931 But Hey!

People often ask about the highest silver prices (or gold), but hardly ever about the lowest prices.

Although I have often noted and commented on "low" prices, some recent research surprised me.

Of course, I had long been aware that silver prices were lower before about 1947 and 1965, but I had never noticed prices as low as 7 (decimal) pence per ounce.

This page of my / our website:

https://www.chards.co.uk/silver-price/silver-price-history

Shows silver spot prices from 1797 to date. (Select the "All Time" tab). My colleague Ian Davis had compiled some of the earlier price data included.

From 1797 to about 1960, the yearly average price had mainly been between 26p and 29p, with the occasional blip, to 36p in 1812, and from 1950 to 1960.

It dipped below that range by 1887, when it hit 20p, and remained below 20p until 1946, except for another blip to 30p in 1919. From 1930 to 1932, it remained at just 7p per ounce.

I found this hard to believe, so I did some, admittedly lightweight, cross-checking.

According to MacroTrends https://www.macrotrends.net/1470/historical-silver-prices-100-year-chart it ranged between US $0.28 an $0.29 for most of 1931 and 1932.

According to a graph on this page https://www.exchangerates.org.uk/articles/1325/the-200-year-pound-to-dollar-exchange-rate-history-from-5-in-1800s-to-todays.html, the GBP:USD exchange rate dipped below £1:$5 around this time, although the graph is static and somewhat imprecise, this would tie in with an exchange rate of about $4 to £1 one pound sterling. British crowns (coins) were often called a dollar, and halfcrowns even more frequently called half a dollar, partly because that would have been their US dollar equivalent at a 4:1 exchange rate, but also because crown-sized coins and silver dollars owe their common heritage to the Joachimsthaler originally minted in 1519 at Jáchymov in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic.

I naturally found myself wondering what the Gold:Silver ratio was around that time. Again, using a Gold Prices chart on the Chard website, I found £3.76 in January 1931, the G:S ratio worked out at approximately 53.71, this must have been close to an all-time high, so I took a further look.

In January 1833, the first year on the chart, gold was £4.26, while silver was £0.27; giving a G:S ratio of 15.77 approximately.

I am aware that there are sources of historical prices, some of which I have previously read, but the further back we go in time, the less relevant the prices are to modern day collectors, investors, stackers, and dealers.

The 7p and 28¢ prices stopped me in my tracks, and I thought the least I could do was to share the information with you.

😎

While searching for information, I came across some misinformation:

Q: When was silver at its lowest price?

Looking back over the past 100 years, the lowest price for silver (on an inflation-adjusted basis) occurred in January of 1931 during the Great Depression. The price of silver fell to just 29 cents per ounce.

This was on the website of Gainesville Coins of Lutz Florida, who I don't hold in high regard. I doubted that the information or the statement about being on an inflation-adjusted basis, was correct. I was right to be suspicious. As I discovered elsewhere, it was actually 28¢ in 1931, and according to MacroTrends, it was $5.40 on an on an inflation-adjusted basis.

I do wish dealers such as Gainesville would stop publishing incorrect and misleading information on their websites. They probably do it to impress potential custoers, and sound like they are knowledgeable and expert. 

I must check sometime to see if Gainesville are still using my / our coin photographs in breach of our copyright!

😎

Edited August 7, 2022 by LawrenceChard

[HillWalkerDundee]

Why did I not know about silver in the 60s. I was a teenager with far more money than I knew what to do with.