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I got a china panda today, nicest coin by far imo. I would recommend getting one for your collection if you haven't got one.

Great coin, but I think the Australian Kookaburras, Koalas and Chinese Year Animal ones are on a par (at least on the animal side).

 

Some general questions for any experts:

 

What's the term for the dark grey and silver effect of these coins due to the raised surfaces? (Depends on the angle of the light, of course.)

 

My Australian coins all have a "P" on them. Does this refer to the Perth Mint?

 

Under the Queen's head is "IRB". Is this the artist's initials?

 

The Koala has "SB" as do my Silver Maples at the base of the Queen's head. Again is this the artist's initials?

 

How many coins do not have milled edges? My silver Philharmonikers have none.

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But I gave my wife a Panda pendant some time ago.

Gold or silver?!!

 

I like the panda from a design and engineering point of veiw. The the contrasts between the polished and frosted areas works very well and the detail and layout is excellent. The diagonal edge milling is different too. My previous favorite coin was a Brittania.

 

 

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Here is a chart showing the daily distribution of gold-to-silver ratio for each day since Jan 1 2000.

 

The ratio currently favours buying silver instead of gold.

 

I believe this to be a more imporant chart. It shows the amount of above ground gold and silver in ounces since 1900.

 

silver-shortage.jpg

 

Use the chart to extrapolate the amount of above ground silver in 2020 and then tell me what you believe is going to happen to the price of silver.

 

image from

 

http://www.bullionmark.com/2008/12/how-muc...r-is-there.html

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I believe this to be a more imporant chart. It shows the amount of above ground gold and silver in ounces since 1900.

 

silver-shortage.jpg

 

Use the chart to extrapolate the amount of above ground silver in 2020 and then tell me what you believe is going to happen to the price of silver.

 

image from

 

http://www.bullionmark.com/2008/12/how-muc...r-is-there.html

 

I guess that chart is not including recoverable silver in old / unused / broken / dumped equipment.

 

Silver is not destroyed industrial use (?).

 

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I guess that chart is not including recoverable silver in old / unused / broken / dumped equipment.

 

Silver is not destroyed industrial use (?).

 

A lot of silver is used in photography, most of which is recovered, so I think that this graph does include that.

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A lot of silver is used in photography, most of which is recovered, so I think that this graph does include that.

 

A roll of photographic film contains about 1/100 of an ounce of silver. Film is not recycled after use. The low price of silver makes recycling uneconomic, so much of the silver used in industry is lost forever. From the same web page I took the chart -

 

'The first chart shows that 1 billion ounces of gold existed in 1900 versus 5 billion ounces today in 2008. This makes sense. Gold is valuable, therefore hoarded and its industrial uses are largely reclaimed through recycling. Roughly new mine supply adds to the ounces in existence.

However 12 billion ounces of silver existed in 1900 but only 1 billion remain in 2008. Yes thats right less than 1 billion ounces and there is 5 times more gold available than silver! Why is this so? Well silver has far more industrial uses than gold. It is critical to electronics, whitegoods, medical technology, solar technology, industrial equipment, water purification, photography, nano technology, military weapons etc etc. Silver is critical in our daily lives. However the low price of silver makes recycling uneconomic, so silver used is silver consumed and lost forever. Secondly, silver is mined as a bi product of other metals such as zinc, lead, copper and gold. Silver is scarce in the earth and very expensive to mine. World silver mine supply could decline substantially in the next 2 years as economic conditions worsen around the globe. Silver mines themselves are going bust (ie Macmin silver in Australia) but also the base metal miners who mine some silver as a bi product have now become uneconomic and closing at an accelerated pace. Peak silver is with us!'

 

Some facts about silver -

 

 

'# Silver has superior bactericidal qualities. Small concentrations of silver or silver salts kill bacteria by chemically affecting the cell membranes, causing them to break down. Bacteria do not develop resistance to silver, as they do to many antibiotics.

 

# Silver is the best conductor of heat of all elements. Its uses in solar panels and automobile rear window defoggers take advantage of this quality.

 

# Silver is the best conductor of electricity of all elements. In fact, silver defines conductivity - all other metals are compared against it. On a scale of 0 to 100, silver ranks 100, with copper at 97 and gold at 76. Silver is commonly used in electrical circuits and contacts. Silver is also utilized in batteries where dependability is mandatory and weight restrictions apply, such as those for portable surgical tools, hearing aids, pacemakers and space travel.

 

# Silver has the highest degree of optical reflectivity of all elements. A silver mirror can reflect about 95% of the visible light spectrum. (most mirrors are silver). Besides vanity uses, mirrors are important components in telescopes, microscopes and solar panels.

 

# Silver is more ductile than any element except gold. One ounce of silver can be drawn into 8,000 feet of thin wire.

 

# Silver is more malleability than any element except gold. One grain of silver can be made into a sheet one hundred and fifty times thinner than a piece of paper.'

 

From http://www.silverusersassociation.org/silver/facts.shtml

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A roll of photographic film contains about 1/100 of an ounce of silver. Film is not recycled after use. The low price of silver makes recycling uneconomic, so much of the silver used in industry is lost forever. From the same web page I took the chart -

 

I am a professional photographer so know a bit about this.

 

The silver in the film is removed into the photographic processing chemicals while the film is being developed. Professional labs all have the waste chemicals collected as the silver can be recovered out of them. I know this is the case as I am in daily contact with a professional film developer, he tells me that he gets paid for the waste chemicals as the silver can be recovered from them. These chemicals are picked up by the barrel load, so it is economical.

 

BTW it is not only film, it is also a lot of the print technology used. I think about 90% of the silver used in photography is recovered.

 

Things have been massively changing in the photographic industry over the last few years, these days the silver use is decreasing a lot, with digital photography and inkjet prints.

 

I am a silver bull (see avatar), so please don't take this as me trying to put a downer on silver, just trying to correct your statement.

 

 

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However the low price of silver makes recycling uneconomic, so silver used is silver consumed and lost forever.

 

# Silver is the best conductor of heat of all elements. Its uses in solar panels and automobile rear window defoggers take advantage of this quality.

 

Icarus, your knowledge of silver is astounding. I really look forward to you posts.

 

A couple of points.

 

Recycling will become viable as the silver price increases. This will slow the price rises.

 

Rear heated windows do not use silver (because it’s too good a conductor). Rear heated windows are resistors. They get hot when you pass a current down them.

 

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A roll of photographic film contains about 1/100 of an ounce of silver. Film is not recycled after use. The low price of silver makes recycling uneconomic, so much of the silver used in industry is lost forever. From the same web page I took the chart -

 

To back up what I mentioned above you might want to have a look at this link;

 

"The largest component of recycled silver comes from spent photographic film, paper, and solutions."

 

Silver Recycling in the United States in 2000

 

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To back up what I mentioned above you might want to have a look at this link;

 

"The largest component of recycled silver comes from spent photographic film, paper, and solutions."

 

Silver Recycling in the United States in 2000

 

That is a good paper, thank you. As this is your area of expertise, your knowledge is bound to be greater than mine.

 

The article you provided says that a roll of film contains, on average, 0.254 grams of silver, which is silghtly less than 1/10 of an ounce (troy). Furthermore, as you correctly pointed out, some of this is recovered -

 

'On the basis of the above figures, about 630 t of silver was contained in photographic products in the pipeline for delivery to consumers, on the shelf, or in the cameras of consumers. An estimated 420 t of silver was retained on negatives and photographic papers and was irretrievably lost.'

 

 

 

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Icarus, your knowledge of silver is astounding. I really look forward to you posts.

 

A couple of points.

 

Recycling will become viable as the silver price increases. This will slow the price rises.

 

I hope so. It is a shame that we waste so much of such a valuable commodity.

 

Rear heated windows do not use silver (because it’s too good a conductor). Rear heated windows are resistors. They get hot when you pass a current down them.

 

Maybe the site is out of date. It was refering to the old fashioned strips, described on wikipedia this way

 

'...electrically conductive lines are composed of a silver-ceramic material which when fired on glass becomes bonded to the glass and is highly resistant to abrasion. There is no danger of electric shock, because of the low voltage, and no danger of burns as the elements are only heated slightly.'

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defroster

 

rather than the forced air type of defogger.

 

 

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Maybe the site is out of date. It was refering to the old fashioned strips, described on wikipedia this way

 

'...electrically conductive lines are composed of a silver-ceramic material which when fired on glass becomes bonded to the glass and is highly resistant to abrasion. There is no danger of electric shock, because of the low voltage, and no danger of burns as the elements are only heated slightly.'

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defroster

 

rather than the forced air type of defogger.

 

Aha, it would work when mixed with a ceramic (resistor)

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That is a good paper, thank you. As this is your area of expertise, your knowledge is bound to be greater than mine.

 

The article you provided says that a roll of film contains, on average, 0.254 grams of silver, which is silghtly less than 1/10 of an ounce (troy). Furthermore, as you correctly pointed out, some of this is recovered -

 

'On the basis of the above figures, about 630 t of silver was contained in photographic products in the pipeline for delivery to consumers, on the shelf, or in the cameras of consumers. An estimated 420 t of silver was retained on negatives and photographic papers and was irretrievably lost.'

 

I agree that the amounts aren't great per roll of film, but processors put thousands through their chemicals, so in the end it works out economical. It seems I was quite a bit out on my 90% recovery rate :)

 

These days there is a massive switch over to digital going on in photography. The new digital cameras I am sure contain a lot more silver, on their circuits, which will never be recovered.

 

 

 

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Can anyone recommend a silver bullionvault equivalent? I am only interested in silver measured in GBP and to be able to change the time frame of the graph, not too difficult a request, but I can't find one. Can anyone suggest a site I might have missed? netdania.com is close, but no GBP...

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Can anyone recommend a silver bullionvault equivalent? I am only interested in silver measured in GBP and to be able to change the time frame of the graph, not too difficult a request, but I can't find one. Can anyone suggest a site I might have missed? netdania.com is close, but no GBP...

 

Goldprice

 

http://goldprice.org/live-gold-price.html

 

you can pick Silver in GBP from the instruments list.

 

Note: It doesn't use the LBMA fixes, it calculates it's own data using GBP/USD and USD Spot silver so the old data is always changing (with the new GBP/USD).

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Thanks! I haven't decided which one I will use on a daily basis yet, both seem quite good.

 

Goldprice

 

http://goldprice.org/live-gold-price.html

 

you can pick Silver in GBP from the instruments list.

 

Note: It doesn't use the LBMA fixes, it calculates it's own data using GBP/USD and USD Spot silver so the old data is always changing (with the new GBP/USD).

 

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