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Silver has 5000 years of history as a precious metal, hand in hand with Gold. I have some in physical storage, it is also an industrial metal, here are some of properties...

Properties: The melting point of silver is 961.93°C, boiling point is 2212°C, specific gravity is 10.50 (20°C), with a valence of 1 or 2. Pure silver has a brilliant white metallic luster. Silver is slightly harder than gold. It is very ductile and malleable, exceeded in these properties by gold and palladium. Pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals. Silver possesses the lowest contact resistance of all metals. Silver is stable in pure air and water, although it tarnishes upon exposure to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air containing sulfur.

Here

So it generally has a fair amount of industrial use as compared to Gold.

I, much like you, did not like the idea of spending my relatively low income to amass a few Gold coins which are highly indivisible, but there are advantages to both. Personally I chose Silver. It has been clobbered recently, but that has made my purchasing of it all that much more tantalizing. Yes it could go down, but I cannot recall a time in history where individuals have ran into the street and dumped their Precious Metals because they have been rendered worthless. On the other hand, many times has this happened with fiat currencies.

One of the biggest reasons silver has under performed is that the integrated circuit manufactures have gotten away from using silver on the leads because of the tarnish effect that make it for a bad connection, thus constant failures during operating. So I believe the manufacturers have started using platinum over silver.

That is why platinum has performed better then silver. I am an engineer who works in the field that integrated circuits are used so I have a bit of understanding as to the value of silver at least for manufacturing purposes.

However all precious metal worth is effected by what it can be used for. Gold and platinum may eventually ware out under constant use, but it does not tarnish. So they are still in high demand, where silver has lost its luster for manufacturing purpose though time

Thanks for that. I’ve heard of silver being used in computer components (contacts and such). Dunno if they’ll have that specific use, but hey, if the world doesn’t end, nothing lost eh? Thanks for reminding me it’s been around in cultures for basically forever.

I just hope O can’t change human nature for wanting shiny stuff.