Seeing as I was only young at the time I've got a question for those who can remember the silver spike in 1980. I'm interested to know how much public participation did you hear about during the last silver boom. A lot of stackers are gauging how many people talk about silver as a sign of which stage the market is at. Many seem to be expecting the same public involvement that the property and sharemarket booms generate. Obviously at the moment public knowledge of what's going on with silver is very low. But then again nobody that I've spoken to remembers widespread public knowledge or participation during 1980. So, what was it like in 1980? Did your neighbor talk about silver over the fence? Checkout chick's telling you to buy silver? People lined up down the street at coin stores? How widespread was public knowledge and participation in silver during the last boom? C
Remember the 80's? No........... To many drinks, drugs, surfing, travel & women & parties. I was in my prime having FUN! Vague memories of pot @ $30 an ounce. I " think" gold was around the same price? The joys of insight. A weeks pay was around $100-$200.
that doesnt add up. From what i can see, pot price has stayed much the same in 20 years in terms of fiat, which goes to show how much they have in common
There was the odd article on the TV/newspapers about antique silver being cashed in, and that was about it. No great lines outside of coin stores that I can recall, however there may have been small ques. To be honest I was not into stacking then and may have been myopic in my own little world.
same here except motorbikes were in the equation for me & pot was called "a deal " not an ounce no one weighed anything it was either a good deal when the bag was full or a bad deal if it was a bit light i was getting about $90 a week Didnt know anything about bullion silver only jewelry Life was simple back then no mobile phones .08 alcohol limits random breath tests were only just beginning & were rarely given you were told to get out & walk & pick your car up the next day .Coppers would smack you in the ear for being smart There was no such thing as AIDS you used to go to watch bands like the angels & cold chisel the radiators among others at the pub for $2 to $5 ......Ahhh those were the days
Yes, I remember 1980 ! Used to go to the pub after work, with a couple mates... with a dollar in my pocket ! A pot was 33 cents, 3 rounds each, a dollar... the only spike we knew about was going home with a copper cent to show the wife !
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Fekete/printerfriendly/may252006p.html In January, 1980, I happened to be in Geneva, Switzerland. I was visiting a private bank in the banking district. An unlikely number of banks were lining either side of the river Rhone. The office of my banker was on the first floor with a view of the river and several bridges spanning it. He looked out: "See those uniform trucks crossing the bridge underneath?" I said: "Yes, but I also see trucks crossing the river in the opposite direction through the next bridge. They are similar to those ugly armored vans of Brink's which are ubiquitous in the streets of New York and other large American cities." My banker continued: "That's exactly what they are, making bank-to-bank deliveries. But you don't often see two convoys simultaneously moving in both directions! After all, bankers have learned how to cross out liabilities at the clearing house a long time ago. It doesn't take more than one convoy to settle the difference." I innocently asked: "Actually what is it that those vans carry?" My man smiled: "I knew you would ask that. They carry silver." Bring home the bacon and the steak It took some time before the message sank in. COMEX had just declared "liquidation-only" on its silver contract. This had the immediate effect around the world that banks, traditionally accepting each others' promise to deliver, refused to honor them and went into cash-and-carry mode. The finely woven fabric of credit, at least as far as the silken metal was concerned, had been blown away in Geneva and elsewhere by a local storm brewing in New York. The laconic pronouncement at COMEX paralyzed the normal workings of finance. In less time than the blink of an eye promises to deliver have become worthless. The bulk of trading instruments disappeared, leaving cash silver to do work cut out for a widely-based credit system. Exchanges do not often have recourse to such an extreme measure, because it dilutes the potency of their paper instruments. It has not been used for twenty-six years. Watch out for a dress-rehearsal.
What do I remember ? Not much , just out of interest tho there is this little tidbit of Info on the Hunt brothers myth. http://forums.silverstackers.com/message-108758.html It would seem that there is a whole lot more to the story than just the Hunt brothers trying to corner the market.
Well, this is certainly a slow thread. Everyone was either too young or too stoned to remember. Or maybe participation by the general public wont be as widespread as we think. C
Nup I remember it, my dad had a plumbing business, for years he had steadily been accumulating 15% Silver Solder from standard material housing supply contracts & he wound up with about 200Lb's of the stuff. So when the price of Silver shot through the roof he made a really nice profit from it. I remember the flipside too, he was suddenly saying it wasn't worth much anymore & I never really understood why until recently.
check out this site it was written by National Geographic back in the 80's when Silver was kicking ass http://silverporkchops.web44.net/page9.html it may not be what you are really looking for but it will give you a picture of what this journalist was trying to find out about silver simply because it was the buzz metal of the day back then
I remember watching TV and seeing queue's of people lined up at stalls that had been set up in shopping areas. They were handing over antique and heirloom silver, and the stall staff were smashing the items with a hammer in front of the seller to prove that the silver was to be melted rather than to be re-sold as antiques. There was a strong public awareness of the spike.
I remember it being a big deal on TV ect and even when young it was like how do you get a piece of this. It was the most incredible spike of anything in living memory and it took your breath away ,invested or not. Its a lot different today and silver really deserves its place in the sun.
