The price of silver

When you buy silver jewelry, you probably never think about what goes into the price, and you probably have never thought about how silver is priced.

Basically, silver is traded as a commodity on the international markets. The metal is used extensively in industry, with only about a third of silver used in jewelry. Currently at approximately $10 an ounce, silver has increased in value very sharply over the past eighteen months, and recently reached a twenty year high of almost $15 an ounce.

Prior to the fall of 2004, silver hoovered at the $5-$6 an ounce range for two decades.

This rise in price effects the end price of the jewelry, and it effects the valule of the jewelry you previously purchased. While there is not a one-to-one increase, silver jewelry costs more when the silversmith has to pay more for the raw product.

Silver, as gold, has historically been used as a store of value. Think of all of those Spanish galleons sailing the Spanish main. You can track the price of silver online through various sites, including www.kitco.com.