Recently I heard that the gold price had gone over US$1000 per ounce.
As I haven’t made anything for a few years now, I was wondering how the prices for silver and gold have changed in the last five years. I found the following links for gold and silver prices, and have the graphs below.
5 year gold price, per ounce, in US$; as at 11th Sept 2009
Gold is now at the same price as it was early last year when the GFC was just being realised; and the same price it hit later last year. I wonder whether that is a portent? The Age recently had an article dampening the excitement of the price, looking more at the price in Australian dollars after accounting for the exchange rate etc [for the more financially minded], here.
5 year silver price, in $US; as at 11th Sept 2009
A couple of other observations:
- silver moved in parallel with gold until mid-last year when it fell much heavier than gold did;
- it looks like silver now costs more than double what it did (in $US) when I was at university;
- we should have stockpiled silver (and gold, if you can afford it!) late last year;
- and though I didn’t use a lot of gold (though she is just lovely to work with), it is now over two-and-a-half times more expensive than five years ago;
The comparison of silver and gold reminded me of something my very first teacher once told me – silver is the bitch of metals, gold is the queen (if you’ve made with both, you’ll know what she meant!).
Hi Karen
Always great to read your blog…
Recently on Radio National there was a BBC doco about Gold that might be of interest
“… the allure of gold has lasted throughout the millenia but the price of gold can be measured in many ways…”
it was broadcast on Sunday 13 September – here is a link -
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/
In 2002 I was fortunate to be part of the exhibition “Foundations of Gold” organised in part by RMIT and Asialink. I collaborated with Makiko Mitsunari, a Japanese jeweller who studied at RMIT and who now lives in Osaka. Maki makes beautiful jewellery, and also works in her father’s business. The business reclaims gold from ewaste and supplies gold for use in electronics and computers. In the work we used computer parts like semi conductors, chips and motherboard – existing computer parts that contained gold, combined with gold provided for use in the project.
Did you know that mobile phones, computers ect contain gold?
A material essential for our information technology obsessed society as well as a traditional jewellery material … the price of gold will keep climbing!
Happy listening
Blanche
Hi Blanche … fabulous information, I look forward to listening to the recording!
Thank you Karen, this is great info.
Cheers
IK
why is silver the bitch? is it her firescaleyness? go fine, I say!
Fine silver does have it over sterling silver for the absence of firescale …
To me though, gold feels easier than either silvers to file and solder.
Do you find that? Do you have a preference in terms of working with them?
Gold! it is like everything you’d want in a good friend; , – so forgiving, so generous, non-reactive ; stays constant, knows how to be heavy, yet not gloomy; is ever-bright, always comes to the party when you say ‘lets meet up?’
, will stretch itself thin for you, will go flat-out for you. I could go on…
gorgeous David!