Precious Metals News & Analysis - Gold News, Silver News from Money Metals Exchange

Central Bank Summer Gold Spree Continued in August

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

The central bank gold spree continued unabated in August, with global gold reserves increasing by a net 39 tonnes.

Year to date, central banks globally have reportedly added approximately 170 tonnes of gold.

The Gold Buyers

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The People’s Bank of China ranked as the top gold buyer in August, increasing its official reserves by another 20 tonnes. That followed on the heels of a 20-tonne reported purchase in July.

It was the 22nd straight month of reported gold buying, raising official Chinese reserves to 2,387 tonnes. That makes up about 9 percent of the country’s official total reserves.

Year-to-date, the People’s Bank of China has reported 80 additional tonnes added to its gold holdings.

Notice the emphasis on “reported” and "official."

China is among the central banks likely holding significantly more gold than publicly disclosed. As Jan Nieuwenhuijs reported, the People's Bank of China is secretly buying large amounts of gold off the books. According to https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2025/04/02/chinas-gold-reserves-going-through-the-roof-003956";>data parsed by the renowned Money Metals researcher, the Chinese central bank currently sits on more than 5,000 tonnes of monetary gold in Beijing – more than TWICE what Chinese officials publicly admit.

The mainstream is finally taking notice. https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/07/25/goldman-sachs-picks-up-on-chinas-secret-gold-reserve-expansion-005095";>Goldman Sachs picked up on China’s undisclosed purchases earlier this summer, and BMO Capital analysts estimated that https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/07/30/could-chinas-gold-reserves-surpass-the-us-within-five-years-005101";>Chinese gold reserves could surpass the U.S.’s within five years.

Poland still ranks as the top gold buyer so far this year, after adding another 8 tonnes to its holdings in August. So far in 2026, the National Bank of Poland has increased its gold reserves by 98 tonnes. It now holds 648 tonnes of the yellow metal, making up roughly 28 percent of its total reserves.

After selling one tonne of gold in July, Uzbekistan pivoted back to buying in August, adding 8 tonnes to its reserves. So far this year, the Uzbek central bank has increased its gold holdings by a net 50 tonnes.

The Uzbek central bank holds about 90 percent of its reserves in gold.

It is not unusual for central banks that buy from domestic sources, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, to pivot back and forth between buying and selling.

Speaking of Kazakhstan, its central bank reported a 7-tonne increase in its gold reserves in August. It has expanded its gold holdings by just under 39 tonnes this year.

The Czech Republic has been one of the most consistent gold buyers over the last few years. The trend continued in August with yet another 2-tonne purchase.

The Czechs have adopted a slow, steady approach, buying gold for 42 straight months. The country added 20 tonnes to its reserves last year and now holds 86 tonnes of gold. Czech officials say they plan to increase gold reserves to 100 tonnes by 2028.

Turkey flipped back to buying in August after three straight months of sales. The Turkish central bank reported a 3-tonne increase to its gold reserves. Before the August purchase, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey had divested 85 tonnes of gold as it coped with a weak currency and rising oil price pressure.

Turkey https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/03/27/turkey-sells-60-tonnes-of-gold-to-backstop-lira-004792";>sold a large amount of gold earlier this year to backstop the lira.

Bolivia and Ghana both reported 1-tonne increases to their gold holdings.

The Gold Sellers

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Russia was the only notable seller in August, shrinking its gold reserves by another 6 tonnes. Russia has sold 56 tonnes of gold year-to-date, leaving its official gold reserves at 2,271 tonnes.

Russia is https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/07/23/russia-continues-to-sell-gold-to-support-its-economy-005087";>tapping its gold reserves to cope with economic sanctions and a wartime economy.

Jordan also sold gold in August, decreasing its reserves by 3 tonnes. This followed a 1-tonne sale in July.

The Big Picture

Looking at the trends, central bank gold buying moderated in 2025 but remained far above the recent historical average. Official net full-year buying came in at 863.3 tonnes. That was down 21 percent year-on-year, charting the lowest level since 2021.

However, although central bank gold purchases declined last year, they remained well above the 2010-2021 annual average of 473 tonnes.

Last year was the fourth-largest expansion of central bank gold reserves on record. The all-time high was set in 2022 (1,136 tonnes). It was the highest level of net purchases on record, dating to 1950, including since the suspension of dollar convertibility into gold in 1971.

The surging gold price likely factored into slowing central bank gold accumulation. As the World Gold Council put it, the higher price prompted “a more cautious approach.”

“This highlights that central banks are not insensitive to price dynamics, even as their long-term strategic interest in gold remains firmly intact.”

In the latest https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/06/25/survey-central-bankers-plan-to-keep-stacking-gold-005007";>World Gold Council survey, central bankers overwhelmingly said they expect global gold reserves will continue growing over the next 12 months. They seem to be putting their money where their mouths are. With prices moderating, it appears that several central banks are taking advantage of the recent correction to accumulate gold more quickly.

The World Gold Council said central bank gold activity “suggests that central bank activity continues to reflect longer-term reserve objectives, while monthly fluctuations are more likely to capture differences in implementation, market conditions and country-specific liquidity requirements.”

Ghana Develops Yuan-Based Payment System to Bypass Dollar

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Ghana has developed a yuan-based system to pay for eligible Chinese imports using Ghanaian cedis, bypassing the U.S. dollar.

Officials say Stanbic Bank Ghana is piloting a cedi-to-yuan payment system. Ghana Commercial Bank is reportedly developing a similar service.

China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) is processing the payments. https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/africas-gold-powerhouse-bypasses-us-dollar-to-clear-trade-with-china-as-beijing/vnhhj5x"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Business Insider Africa, it enables “direct yuan payments from cedi accounts.”

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Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama unveiled the new payment system at a recent press briefing, saying it is already up and running.

“As we speak, if you want to buy anything from China, just go to Stanbic Bank with your cedis. You are able to do that.”

China accounted for about 22 percent of Ghanaian imports in 2024.

Notably, Ghana ranks as Africa's top gold producer. Business Insider Africa headlined its report on the new yuan payment system, "Africa's gold powerhouse bypasses US dollar to clear trade with China."

Asiama said the central bank wants to facilitate payments between Ghanaian importers and Chinese suppliers without requiring local businesses to source dollars first.

Stanbic Bank Ghana CEO Kwamina Asomaning said CIPS provides a “more direct payment route to Chinese counterparties.”

“With CIPS, businesses can access a more direct payment route to Chinese counterparties, reducing the need for U.S. correspondent or intermediary banks.”

As Business Insider Africa described the system, “Businesses can initiate eligible yuan payments from their Ghana cedi accounts, meaning they do not necessarily need to maintain a yuan-denominated account. Customers select Chinese yuan as the payment currency and submit the required documentation.”

Central bank officials emphasized the new payment mechanism will not replace the dollar-based SWIFT system. SWIFT will continue to facilitate payments in dollars, euros, and pounds. However, it does open a yuan-based alternative.

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Many countries are looking for ways to minimize their dependence on the dollar. U.S. https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/02/29/could-weaponization-of-the-dollar-as-a-foreign-policy-billy-club-accelerate-de-dollarization-003013";>weaponization of the dollar as a foreign policy tool has made them wary of relying solely on greenbacks. They saw how the U.S. and its Western allies locked Russia out of SWIFT after the invasion of Ukraine and took that as a warning.

While the new payment system will only process a small number of transactions and won't threaten dollar dominance, it reflects accelerating global https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2025/03/11/de-dollarization-gold-and-a-shift-to-a-multipolar-world-003898";>de-dollarization. And even a modest drop in demand for dollars could become very problematic for the United States.

The United States depends on the global demand to underpin its bloated government. De-dollarization threatens an inflation tsunami as those unwanted dollars make their way back to the U.S.

The dollar’s role as the world's reserve currency is the only reason the U.S. can borrow, spend, and run massive budget deficits to the extent it does. It creates a built-in global demand for dollars and dollar-denominated assets. This absorbs the Federal Reserve’s money creation and helps maintain dollar strength despite the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies.

But what happens if that demand drops?

A de-dollarization of the world economy could cause a dollar glut. The U.S. currency could further depreciate. At the extreme, global de-dollarization could spark a currency crisis. You and I would feel the impact through higher price inflation, eating away at the dollar's purchasing power. In the worst-case scenario, it could lead to hyperinflation.

How Much Is the Stanley Cup Worth - Silver and Nickel Content, 34.5 lb Weight, and Melt Value of the NHL Trophy - Original 1892 Bowl Cost, the $650,000 Estimate, and Why the Cup Has No Market Price - Money Metals

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Editor's note: Updated October 5, 2026, with the 2026 Stanley Cup and World Cup results, current metal prices, a full melt-value method, and corrections to several facts in the original version.

Quick Answer

How much is the Stanley Cup trophy worth?

The Stanley Cup has no market price. It isn't bought or sold, and no public appraisal exists. What can be measured is its metal. The trophy weighs 34.5 pounds and is made of a silver and nickel alloy, so at the October 5, 2026 silver price of $60.94 an ounce, its silver is worth no more than about $30,700, and less in practice because part of that weight is nickel. The $650,000 figure repeated online has no documented source.

The Stanley Cup is the greatest trophy in the world.

It's also one of the most valuable. It's made of a silver alloy, and there's a lot of it.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the latest team to hoist it. They beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 on June 15, 2026, winning the https://www.nhl.com/news/carolina-hurricanes-win-2026-stanley-cup-final";>Stanley Cup Final four games to two for the franchise's second Cup.

Now, you might be thinking, what's so great about the Stanley Cup?

Well, in the first place, it's a hockey trophy. Hockey is the greatest sport. So, the Cup gets a certain amount of cred just by virtue of association.

It's also one of the most difficult trophies to earn. A Stanley Cup champion has to win four best-of-seven series. That means the winner could play as many as 28 playoff games before hoisting the Cup.

And have you watched an NHL playoff game?

It's not for the meek.

Once the series is over, teams reveal injuries. I can almost guarantee you will learn that somebody played with a broken bone, and you'll think, no way.

I'll give you an example. In 2023, Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone went into the playoffs on a back that had needed https://www.clickorlando.com/sports/2023/06/14/fresh-off-2nd-back-surgery-in-13-months-mark-stone-captains-vegas-to-stanley-cup/";>two surgeries in 13 months. In the Cup-clinching Game 5, he scored three goals, the first hat trick in a Cup-clinching win since Babe Dye in 1922, according to the Associated Press. Then he got to hoist that heavy silver trophy over his head.

Now, you might be thinking, "You're wrong, Mike! Hockey is dumb."

You're entitled to your opinion. But be warned: I will fight you on this. I am a hockey player.

I also analyze the gold and silver markets for a living. So I look at the Cup two ways. As a hockey player, I'll tell you it's priceless. As a precious metals analyst, I'll tell you it's 34.5 pounds of silver and nickel alloy, and that part has a price we can calculate. Both answers are true. They just measure different things.

How Much Is the Stanley Cup Worth?

Ask any hockey player, and they'll tell you the Cup is priceless. Winning a championship and being immortalized on the iconic trophy is the ultimate dream of every kid who laces up the skates and picks up a hockey stick.

The NHL more or less agrees. In its history marking the trophy's 125th anniversary, the league called the Cup priceless and said https://www.nhl.com/news/stanley-cup-has-incredible-125-years-of-history-287633638";>"its value is not measured through traditional currency units."

That's not a dodge. The Cup has no market price because there's no market. It isn't owned by a team or a player, it's never offered for sale, and no appraisal has been published. So any dollar figure you see is really one of several different numbers. Here's how they stack up.

What the Stanley Cup is worth, by type of value

Type of value	Figure	What it's based on	How reliable
Original cost (1892)	10 guineas, about $50 at the time	Lord Stanley's purchase price, per the Hockey Hall of Fame	High: documented
Silver melt value (Oct. 5, 2026)	Up to about $30,700	34.5 pounds at $60.94 per ounce, if the whole trophy were pure silver	High as a ceiling; the real figure is lower
Parks Canada estimate (2017)	About $75,000	A Government of Canada backgrounder; no method or currency stated	Low to medium
Popular online estimate	About $650,000	Repeated across many websites	Low: no original appraisal found
Insured value	Not published	The NHL agreed in 1947 to insure the Cup for its "full insurable value"	Unknown
Market value	None	The Cup isn't bought or sold	Not applicable

Is the Stanley Cup Really Worth $650,000?

In the original version of this article, I wrote that the best estimate was about $650,000, then admitted that figure was basically pulled out of thin air. I stand by the second half of that sentence.

The $650,000 number shows up on site after site, usually phrased as "estimated to be worth around $650,000" or "according to various sources." We traced it as far as we could and didn't find an appraisal, an insurer's figure, or a statement from the NHL or the Hockey Hall of Fame behind it. Until someone produces one, treat $650,000 as an internet estimate, not a valuation.

The official sources that do mention value don't back it up. A 2017 https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2017/03/the_stanley_cup.html";>Parks Canada backgrounder put the Cup's worth at an estimated $75,000. The NHL calls it priceless. Other sites float figures as high as half a million pounds, also without a published method.

Why Stanley Cup Value Estimates Vary So Much

There are three reasons the numbers are all over the map.

Nobody agrees on what's being valued. The metal, the object, and the history are three different things. Most articles blend them into one figure.
The composition isn't published in detail. Even a melt estimate rests on an assumption about how much of the alloy is silver.
There's more than one Stanley Cup. The original 1892 bowl, the Cup awarded today, and the Hall of Fame replica are different objects with different histories.

The only valuation method that doesn't depend on guesswork about sentiment is the value of the metal. So let's start there.

How Much Is the Stanley Cup Worth in Silver?

This is where a precious metals company can add something. Unlike history, silver has a price.

How Much Does the Stanley Cup Weigh?

According to the https://www.hhof.com/thecollection/stanleycup_factsfirstsfauxpaus.html";>Hockey Hall of Fame, the Stanley Cup weighs 34.5 pounds and stands 35.25 inches (89.54 cm) tall. The bowl on top is 7.5 inches tall and 11.25 inches across, and the base is 17.25 inches in diameter.

The trophy is built from a bowl, three tiered bands, a collar, and a five-band barrel. Precious metals are priced in troy ounces, and 34.5 pounds works out to about 503 troy ounces.

Is the Stanley Cup Pure Silver?

No. The Hockey Hall of Fame, the NHL, and Parks Canada all describe the current Cup as a silver and nickel alloy. None of them publishes the ratio, and none says how much silver is in the bowl versus the barrel.

In the original version of this article, I said the Cup on top was pure silver and the base was a silver-nickel alloy. I couldn't find a primary source that splits it that way, so I'm not going to repeat it.

One more wrinkle worth knowing: a "silver and nickel alloy" is not the same thing as "nickel silver." Nickel silver, also called German silver, is a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy that contains no silver at all. Taking the official description at face value, the Cup contains real silver. How much is the open question.

How We Calculated the Stanley Cup's Melt Value

Formula: melt value = ounces of pure silver × silver spot price

What we know

Weight: 34.5 pounds, or 503.1 troy ounces (Hockey Hall of Fame)
Material: silver and nickel alloy (Hockey Hall of Fame, NHL, Parks Canada)
Silver spot price: $60.94 per troy ounce on October 5, 2026

What we don't know

The silver percentage of the alloy, or how it varies from the bowl to the barrel

What can't be valued this way

The history, the names, and the fact that there's only one. Those are why the Cup is priceless to hockey fans, and none of it shows up in a melt calculation.

Stanley Cup melt value at $60.94 silver (October 5, 2026)

If the Cup's metal is...	Pure silver content	Melt value
100% silver (theoretical ceiling)	503.1 oz	$30,661
92.5% silver (the sterling standard)	465.4 oz	$28,362
75% silver	377.3 oz	$22,996
50% silver	251.6 oz	$15,331

Every 10 percentage points of nickel in the alloy takes about 50 ounces of silver, or roughly $3,070, off the total.

So the one number we can state with confidence is the ceiling. At today's price, the silver in the Stanley Cup can't be worth more than about $30,700. Several sites quote melt values that assume the Cup is solid pure silver. It isn't, so their numbers run high.

The silver price matters as much as the composition. When this article first ran on June 5, silver was about $73.50 an ounce, and the Cup's silver was worth roughly twice what it had been a year earlier. My original estimate of $25,000 to $30,000 was made at that higher price. Silver has since pulled back to about $61, which by itself lowers any melt estimate by about 17%. When the Hurricanes lifted the Cup on June 15, the ceiling was about $35,400. You can plug in today's number from our https://www.moneymetals.com/silver-price";>live silver price chart.

This is the same gap you see between https://www.moneymetals.com/bullion/bullion-vs-numismatic-coins";>bullion and numismatic coins. Metal value sets a floor. Rarity and history can push the market value far above it.

Which Stanley Cup Are We Talking About?

There isn't just one Stanley Cup. There are three, and they aren't worth the same.

The original bowl (1892). The bowl Lord Stanley bought was awarded to champions until 1970. It now sits in Lord Stanley's Vault in the Esso Great Hall at the https://www.hhof.com/thecollection/stanleycup_history.html";>Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. It measures 7.28 inches tall and 11.42 inches across.
The Presentation Cup (1963). Montreal silversmith Carl Petersen made the Cup awarded today. It was first presented in 1964, and it's the one players hoist. The melt math above describes this Cup.
The Replica Cup (1993). Montreal silversmith Louise St. Jacques made a replica for display at the Hall of Fame whenever the Presentation Cup is on the road.

If you're asking what the "original Stanley Cup" is worth, you're asking about the 1892 bowl. It's the most historically significant of the three and the least measurable. It's small, it's retired, and it isn't going anywhere.

Why the Stanley Cup Is Worth More Than Its Silver

Lord Stanley of Preston and the $50 Bowl

The Cup started as a modest purchase. Lord Stanley of Preston, then the Governor General of Canada, donated it in 1892 as a prize for the best hockey team in Canada. It was first called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup. He paid 10 guineas for it, about $50 at the time, according to the Hockey Hall of Fame. The bowl was made in Sheffield, England, and bought from London silversmith G.R. Collis and Company.

The Cup was first awarded in 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club. Since 1927, it has been the exclusive prize of the NHL's playoff champion. In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with the Cup's trustees that gave the league control of the competition.

A bowl that cost about $50 in 1892 now sits under glass as arguably the most important piece of silver in hockey. That's the clearest example of the gap between what something is made of and what it means.

The Names Engraved on the Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is the rare championship trophy that carries the names of the players, coaches, and staff of the teams that won it. The Montreal Wanderers were the first team to engrave their roster, in 1906-07, and engraving the roster became an annual tradition in 1924. By the Hockey Hall of Fame's count, more than 3,400 people have had their names engraved, including those on retired bands. Henri Richard's name appears 11 times as a player, more than anyone else's.

Players don't get on automatically. Under the NHL's engraving rules, a player must have played in at least half of the team's regular-season games or in at least one game of the Stanley Cup Final, and teams can petition for exceptions.

Obviously, the trophy would grow ridiculously tall if they kept adding rings. Since 1958, the barrel has held five bands, each with room for 13 championship teams. When the bottom band fills, the top band comes off and goes to the Hockey Hall of Fame. The most recent one https://nhl.com/news/stanley-cup-set-to-undergo-change-with-removal-of-ring-300116100";>came off in 2018, retiring the 1953-54 Detroit Red Wings through the 1964-65 Montreal Canadiens. The next is due in 2031.

Retired bands sit under glass in the Hall's vault. So nobody will ever forget that Erwin "Murph" Chamberlain won the Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1944 and 1946. His name is chiseled right into the silver, on the retired 1940-41 to 1952-53 band.

The Keeper of the Stanley Cup

But you might be wondering whether the Cup is treated like something valuable. It is. It has its own bodyguards.

The Hockey Hall of Fame assigns "Keepers of the Cup" to travel with the trophy and keep it under https://thehockeynews.com/news/news/keepers-make-sure-stanley-cups-safe-wherever-it-travels";>24-hour supervision. They handle it wearing white gloves. The best known is longtime Hall of Fame curator Phil Pritchard, who has been a Keeper since https://durhamcollege.ca/featured-alumni/philip-pritchard";>he joined the Hall in 1988.

The Cup gets around, too. The champions get it for about 100 days in the off-season, and since 1995, when the New Jersey Devils started the tradition, each member of the winning team has gotten a day with it.

Stanley Cup Value vs. Other Championship Trophies

For perspective, here's how the Cup's metal compares with two other famous trophies, using the same October 5, 2026 spot prices: $60.94 for silver and $4,127.65 for gold.

Championship trophy melt values (October 5, 2026)

Trophy	Metal	Total weight	Pure metal content	Melt value	Confidence
Stanley Cup (NHL)	Silver and nickel alloy	34.5 lb	Unknown; 503.1 oz silver at most	Up to $30,661	Low: alloy ratio unpublished
Vince Lombardi Trophy (NFL)	Sterling silver (92.5%)	7 lb	94.4 oz silver	About $5,755	High: maker's specs
FIFA World Cup Trophy	18-karat gold (75%) with a malachite base	13.6 lb (6.175 kg)	120.6 to 158.5 oz gold	About $498,000 to $654,000	Medium: gold weight reported inconsistently

Stanley Cup vs. Lombardi Trophy Value

The NFL's Vince Lombardi Trophy is made by Tiffany & Co. from https://www.moneymetals.com/sterling-silver-price";>sterling silver, an alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. According to https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/dac00771-cb9e-4aaa-881a-3b6b735b66bd/-/inline/no/Vince%20Lombardi%20Trophy_Fact%20Sheet_Final.pdf";>Tiffany's fact sheet, it stands 22 inches tall, weighs 7 pounds, and takes about 72 hours of work over four months at the company's workshop in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Unlike the Stanley Cup, a new one is made every year, and the winning team keeps it.

Seven pounds is about 102 troy ounces, and 92.5% of that is 94.4 ounces of pure silver. At today's price, that's about $5,755.

The value swings with silver. When the Philadelphia Eagles won in February 2025, with silver near $31.80, the melt value was about $3,000. When the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026, with silver near $77, it was about $7,270. We break it down further in https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/02/06/how-much-is-a-super-bowl-trophy-worth-004670";>how much a Super Bowl trophy is worth.

Stanley Cup vs. FIFA World Cup Trophy Value

If you want the most valuable metal in sports, you have to play soccer.

The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_Trophy";>FIFA World Cup Trophy, designed by Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga and introduced in 1974, weighs 6.175 kilograms (about 13.6 pounds). It's made of 18-karat gold, which is 75% pure, with two bands of malachite in the base. Spain won it most recently, beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time at MetLife Stadium on July 19, 2026.

The original version of this article called it solid gold. It isn't. Its manufacturer has confirmed the trophy is hollow. A solid-gold trophy that size would weigh an estimated 70 to 80 kilograms, far too heavy to lift.

Sources also disagree on how much gold it contains. Using the commonly cited 5 kilograms of 18-karat gold, or about 120.6 troy ounces of pure gold, the melt value is about $498,000 at https://www.moneymetals.com/gold-price";>today's gold price. LSEG's analysts used 4.93 kilograms of pure gold, about 158.5 ounces, when they https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/fifa-world-cup-2026/fifa-world-cup-trophys-gold-value-more-than-doubles-to-713000-since-qatar-2022/";>valued it at $713,000 in June 2026. At today's gold price, that works out to about $654,000. Either way, it's far more than the "well over $100,000" I originally wrote.

Here's the striking part. The World Cup trophy weighs about 40% as much as the Stanley Cup, but its metal is worth 16 to 21 times more. That's the difference between gold at about $4,128 an ounce and silver at about $61.

Figures of $20 million or more are often quoted for the trophy's overall value. As with the Stanley Cup's $650,000, we didn't find a published appraisal behind them.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Stanley Cup's Value

Not in any practical sense. The Cup isn't owned by a team or a player. The NHL has controlled it since a 1947 agreement with the Cup's trustees, and the Hockey Hall of Fame cares for it. There's no seller, no market, and no market price.

The figure isn't public. The 1947 trustee agreement requires the NHL to insure the Cup for its "full insurable value," but we found no public disclosure of that amount from the NHL or the Hockey Hall of Fame.

No. The champions get the Cup for about 100 days in the off-season, and each member of the winning team gets a day with it, always with a Keeper of the Cup along. Then it goes back into service for the next season. Their names stay on it, though.

Easier Ways to Own Silver and Gold

Who wouldn't want to get their hands on up to $30,000 in silver, or half a million dollars in gold? Of course, if you don't play hockey or soccer, you're out of luck. But there are easier ways to own https://www.moneymetals.com/bullion/what-is-silver-bullion";>silver bullion and gold. You don't even have to play through a broken bone to do it.

If you're a fan, our https://www.moneymetals.com/buy/silver/rounds/nhl-silver-rounds";>colorized NHL silver rounds put your team's logo on a full troy ounce of .999 fine silver, including a https://www.moneymetals.com/colorized-nhl-carolina-hurricanes-1-troy-oz-silver-round-999-pure/3232";>Carolina Hurricanes silver round for this year's champions.

Or just call 1-800-800-1865 and talk to a Money Metals precious metals specialist!

Gold and Silver Bounce — But the Bond Market Still Holds the Reins

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Gold and silver are attempting a rebound this Monday after another bruising week.

Gold finished last week down over 3%, while silver dropped roughly 6%. But this morning we've seen a 1-2% rebound.

Those gains offer some relief, but both metals still have ground to recover before this bounce looks like a meaningful change in direction.

The central contradiction remains striking. War threatens energy supplies. Inflation keeps eating away at purchasing power. Governments remain dependent on enormous borrowing.

Yet gold and silver have been falling as traders seek refuge in the dollar and demand higher interest rates on U.S. government debt.

The conditions that make physical precious metals worth owning can also create short-term pressure on their prices.

Last week, the 10-year Treasury yield ended around 5.28%, while the dollar gained roughly 1%. Gold pays no interest, so higher bond yields can draw money away from it.

But a higher yield does not make Washington’s debts disappear, or turn a Federal Reserve note into a reliable long-term store of purchasing power.

Friday’s employment report threw a wrench into expectations of still more Fed tightening. The economy added just 29,000 jobs in September, unemployment edged up to 4.2%, and the previous two months’ gains were revised down by a combined 60,000.

That is hardly evidence of a booming economy that can shrug off rising borrowing costs. Expectations of another October rate increase consequently fell sharply.

Gold initially rallied on the jobs news, but could not hold its immediate gains as bond yields recovered. That response matters: fewer expected Fed hikes will provide only limited relief if longer-term borrowing costs keep climbing anyway.

For a more durable recovery, precious metals need the bond market to cooperate. This morning’s improvement is encouraging, but it has yet to settle that question.

The Middle East adds another complication. Disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz keeps energy supplies under pressure, with Brent crude still around $102 a barrel at last week’s close.

Iran has proposed reopening the waterway subject to U.S. concessions, but the negotiations have yet to produce dependable normal shipping.

Investors are left weighing demand for safe-haven assets against the inflationary consequences of expensive oil.

That helps explain why geopolitical danger has not automatically sent gold soaring. Higher energy costs can encourage traders to expect tighter monetary policy, offsetting some of the demand for protection.

Meanwhile, lower gold prices have attracted physical buyers in the U.S. and elsewhere. However, this has barely been the case with silver, as investors are still shying away from the white metal.

Money Metals remains fully stocked across the board, with some attractive deals available on particular hold and silver items.

What Is Silver Used For - Industrial Uses From Electronics and Solar Panels to Catalysts and Medicine - Why Industrial Demand Fell in 2025 and How Price Shapes Silver Use - Money Metals

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Silver’s industrial demand has been the subject of headlines for years. Many believe silver is at a record in terms of its industrial demand. And yet, that raises the question. Silver hit an all-time high of about https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/precious-metals-investing/silver-investing/what-was-the-highest-price-for-silver/";>$121 an ounce on January 29, 2026, and traded near $64 in late September. That is roughly half its peak.

So, if factories need so much silver, why isn’t the price reacting? Shouldn’t it remain high instead of falling to nearly half its peak?

The answer begins with what silver is used for. That’s what we will cover in this guide. We’ll explore each major industrial use of silver, how much silver each one takes, and more. When silver gets expensive, industry finds ways to use less of it. The 2025 numbers show that happening for the first time since the pandemic.

What Is Silver Used For?

Silver is used in many industrial applications and devices, including electrical parts, electronics, solar panels, brazing alloys and solders, chemical catalysts, medical products, jewelry, and silverware. Of course, it is also minted into coins, bars, and rounds for investors.

While private investors and financial institutions do buy great quantities of silver, industry remains the biggest buyer. In 2025, industrial uses took 657.4 million ounces, or about 58% of the 1.13 billion ounces of total silver demand, according to the https://silverinstitute.org/elevated-lease-rates-regional-liquidity-tightness-and-robust-investor-interest-resulted-in-record-silver-prices-in-2025/";>Silver Institute’s World Silver Survey 2026.

Key takeaways

Industrial silver demand fell 3% in 2025. It was the first drop since the pandemic.
Solar makers are forecast to use 19% less silver in 2026, even as they build more panels.
High prices push factories to use less silver per product or switch to copper.
Industry is the largest buyer, but investors set the price day to day.

Silver's Industrial Uses by Sector

The Silver Institute tracks industrial silver in three groups: electrical and electronics (which includes solar), brazing alloys and solders, and “other industrial.” The table below shows each group from 2021 through the 2026 forecast.

Sector (million ounces)	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026F
Electrical and electronics (total)	350.7	370.7	444.4	460.9	449.5	422.9
Solar panels (part of electronics)	88.9	118.1	192.7	197.5	186.6	151.0
Electronics, not counting solar	261.8	252.6	251.7	263.4	262.9	271.9
Brazing alloys and solders	50.5	49.2	50.2	49.7	50.5	51.0
Other industrial	162.9	172.4	162.6	168.4	157.4	165.7
Total industrial	564.1	592.3	657.1	679.0	657.4	639.6

Source: https://silverinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/World-Silver-Survey-2026.pdf";>World Silver Survey 2026, Metals Focus and the Silver Institute. The "not counting solar" row is electronics minus solar.

Pay attention to the solar column. Take solar out, and electronics demand barely moved from 2024 to 2025. Nearly all of the 2025 decline in electronics came from solar.

Electrical and Electronics: The Biggest Use

Electrical and electronics is silver’s largest use by far. It took 449.5 million ounces in 2025, about 68% of all industrial silver. Silver is one of the https://silverinstitute.org/silver-in-industry/";>best metallic conductors of electricity, so it shows up in switches, circuit boards, keyboards, phones and computers. Makers use silver inks and films to print the paths that carry current.

Demand in this group fell 2% in 2025 according to the Silver Institute’s April 2026 release. Growth from AI hardware, cars, and power grids helped. Weaker solar demand outweighed it.

Solar Panels

Solar cells use a silver paste that collects the power made when sunlight hits the cell. Solar used 186.6 million ounces in 2025, down 6%, https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/15/silver-demand-from-pv-industry-expected-to-drop-19-this-year/";>according to PV Magazine. That is still more than double the 88.9 million ounces solar used in 2021. The section on solar below explains why this use is now shrinking.

Cars and Electric Vehicles

Nearly every electrical connection in a modern car uses silver-coated contacts. That includes power seats, windows, engine controls, and safety systems. As you might expect, electric vehicles use more silver than gas cars. Charging stations also require silver.

The World Silver Survey 2026 lists rising EV sales and new charging stations among the forces supporting demand in 2025. It does not break out a separate yearly figure for cars.

Brazing Alloys and Solder

Brazing joins metal parts with a melted filler metal. Silver brazing alloys make strong, leak-proof joints in air conditioners, refrigerators and aircraft. Silver-tin solder bonds copper water pipes in homes and replaced lead-based solder. This use rose 1% in 2025 to 50.5 million ounces, helped by the car and aerospace industries.

Catalysts

Silver speeds up the chemical reactions that make ethylene oxide and formaldehyde. These chemicals go into plastics, adhesives, antifreeze, and fabrics. The silver is not used up in the reaction, which makes it easy to recover afterward. From there, the silver is often recycled.

Most silver demand in this industry comes when new chemical plants are built. However, fewer of these plants were built in 2025. That is a leading factor behind “other industrial” demand falling by 7% that year, according to the https://silverinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/World-Silver-Survey-2026.pdf";>World Silver Survey 2026.

Medical and Antimicrobial Uses

Silver kills bacteria. Silver ions can get through the cell walls of germs without harming human cells. That is why breathing tubes, catheters, and bandages often carry a silver coating to fight infection. Silver also works against some bacteria that resist antibiotics.

Mirrors, Glass and Coatings

Silver reflects more light than any other metal. It coats mirrors and energy-saving window glass, which lets light in while bouncing heat back out.

Silver in Everyday Life

Most people handle silver every day without knowing it. It is in your phone, TV remote, car key fob, and light switches. It lines some water filters, washing machines and sports clothing to stop odor and germs. Outside industry, silver still goes into jewelry, silverware, and photo film. All three of these used less silver in 2025.

Why Industry Uses Silver

When you look through the list above, one thing becomes clear about silver: it has a rare and unique mix of traits. It has more electrical and heat conductivity than any other metal. It is the most reflective of light. It combats germs. Finally, and crucially, it is soft enough to work into thin wires, pastes, and films.

That mix answers a question that often comes up: why is silver more useful than gold?

Gold is used to a lesser degree in industry. It conducts well and does not tarnish. That makes it ideal for some tiny but critical contacts.

Yet the fact remains that silver conducts better and costs far less per ounce. It wins most jobs in which factories require a lot of metal. You can learn more about how the two metals trade against each other in our “https://www.moneymetals.com/price/do-gold-and-silver-prices-move-together";>Do Gold and Silver Prices Move Together” guide.

Still, while silver is hard to replace, that does not make it impossible to do so. That is why 2025 saw such interesting data.

Industrial Silver Demand Fell in 2025

Industrial silver demand fell about 3% in 2025, to 657.4 million ounces, per the Silver Institute. It came after four straight years of growth. The survey forecasts another drop of about 3% in 2026, to 639.6 million ounces.

Why you still see “record demand.” Many pages, and Google’s AI answers, still quote 680.5 million ounces as the record. That figure came from the 2025 survey and describes 2024.

The 2026 survey revised 2024 to 679.0 million ounces and reported the 2025 decline. When you read a demand number, check which year it describes and which survey it came from.

That drop surprised many forecasters, and it even went against our own predictions. In December 2025, we reported that https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2025/12/15/silver-industrial-demand-expected-to-grow-despite-higher-prices-004551";>silver industrial demand was expected to grow despite higher prices. At the time, that was the general consensus of the industry. The full-year numbers, released in April 2026, showed the opposite. https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/04/20/silver-price-surged-last-year-despite-modest-drop-in-demand-004851";>Our coverage of the 2026 survey walks through the full release.

How the Silver Price Changes Industrial Demand

Most pages treat industrial demand as a one-way street: more factories, more silver, higher prices. The 2025 data shows the street runs both ways. High prices change how much silver factories use.

The Silver Institute put it this way: “Intense competition and rising silver raw material costs prompted PV manufacturers to accelerate thrifting and substitution,” it said in its https://silverinstitute.org/elevated-lease-rates-regional-liquidity-tightness-and-robust-investor-interest-resulted-in-record-silver-prices-in-2025/";>April 2026 release. Silver averaged over $40 an ounce in 2025, a 42% jump from the year before, https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/15/silver-demand-from-pv-industry-expected-to-drop-19-this-year/";>per PV Magazine.

Two terms explain the response:

Thrifting means using less silver in each product. Solar makers print thinner silver lines and use less paste per cell.
Substitution means swapping in another metal. Some solar makers now use copper on the back of the cell, or copper coated with silver.

Price does not hit every use the same way. It depends on how much of the product’s cost is silver.

Small share, little change. A car switch or a phone circuit holds a tiny amount of silver. Even if the price doubles, the product barely costs more. Makers rarely redesign, so demand holds steady.
Large share, big change. Silver paste makes up about 10% to 20% of total solar cell costs. When silver jumps, solar makers feel it right away, and they have strong reasons to cut back.

That split matches the table above. Electronics outside of solar held steady in 2025. Solar fell. There is one more point for anyone judging long-term demand. Thrifting rarely reverses. Once a factory redesigns a cell to use less silver, it does not go back to the old design when prices fall. Each price spike can lower demand for years.

Solar: From Growth Story to Thrifting Story

For years, solar was the main reason analysts expected silver demand to climb. Silver has been a critical component in solar panels for decades, and its use more than doubled in this industry from 2021 to 2024. That story has now turned.

Metals Focus and the Silver Institute forecast that solar will use about 151 million ounces in 2026, a 19% drop from 2025 according to PV Magazine. That would take solar back below its 2023 level.

Keep two numbers distinct here. Solar installations can keep rising while solar’s silver use falls. What matters for silver is how much goes into each cell, and that amount is shrinking fast.

Some analysts see a bullish side. GoldSilver argues that the https://goldsilver.com/industry-news/article/silver-supply-deficit-solar-thrifting/";>silver deficit is getting worse even as solar uses less. Both things can be true.

The market can stay short of silver while industrial demand falls, because investment buying and flat mine supply matter too. But the old claim that solar would push industrial demand up year after year no longer fits the data.

How Industrial Demand Moves the Silver Price

The industrial sector buys most of the world’s silver. So, why didn’t record demand in 2024 lift the price? Perhaps more importantly, why did the price soar in 2025 while industrial demand fell?

The answer is simple: timing. Factories buy silver on steady schedules and contracts. Their demand changes at a slow rate, usually only moving a few percent each year.

Investors can move much faster than that. That’s what happened in 2025. Coin and bar demand rose 14%, per the Silver Institute, while industrial demand fell 3%. The price rose anyway.

So industrial demand works more like a floor, or a slow drag, measured over years. It sets the baseline value for silver. However, the value fluctuates as investment flows, dollar strength, interest rates, and market moods change and exert their influence. Those are the factors that drive the price you see from day-to-day. For the full list of forces, see https://www.moneymetals.com/price/what-causes-silver-prices-to-fluctuate";>what causes silver prices to fluctuate.

Supply adds a twist. The majority of silver mining happens as a byproduct of other metal mining operations, usually focused on copper, zinc, and lead. Those mines do not open or close based on the silver price, so they do not raise the mining supply to meet the demand.

The World Silver Survey 2026 projects a 46.3 million ounce deficit in 2026. That would make it the sixth year in a row that such a deficit has occurred. You can learn more about what that means for buyers in our guide, https://www.moneymetals.com/investment/is-there-a-silver-shortage";>Is There a Silver Shortage.

AI and Data Centers: What the Numbers Say

AI is the newest reason people give for silver demand. AI servers and high-speed data links use more silver in their hardware. The World Silver Survey 2026 says silver used in data centers alone is expected to pass 10% of electrical and electronics demand in 2027, https://www.kitco.com/opinion/2026-08-20/tenth-silver-electronics-heading-one-buyer";>as Kitco reported.

Industrial Silver Demand Forecast to 2030

Long-range forecasts vary widely. A 2026 study in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling by https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921344925004392";>Cattaneo and co-authors projects total silver demand of 48,000 to 54,000 metric tons a year by 2030.

That is roughly 1.5 to 1.7 billion ounces, well above the 1.13 billion ounces used in 2025. The study finds supply could meet only 62% to 70% of that demand, with solar taking 10,000 to 14,000 tons a year.

This study is from a good source in the industry. However, even with its authority, it is wise to read that forecast with care. Its source data comes from 2023, before the 2025 industry demand decline and 2026 solar forecast. It assumes solar keeps growing its silver use. The thrifting now under way points to a lower path for solar, though AI, EVs, and power grids could fill some of the gap.

How Much of Silver Demand Is Industrial?

There are different answers floating around the web. Some say 50%, 55%, or even as high as “nearly two-thirds.” The gap in these figures mainly comes from which year a source uses. Investment demand swings a lot from year to year, so industry’s share moves even when factory demand is stable.

Year	Industrial demand (Moz)	Total demand (Moz)	Industrial share
2021	564.1	1,102.4	51%
2022	592.3	1,284.1	46%
2023	657.1	1,197.0	55%
2024	679.0	1,157.4	59%
2025	657.4	1,130.6	58%
2026F	639.6	1,112.6	57%

Source: https://silverinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/World-Silver-Survey-2026.pdf";>World Silver Survey 2026. Shares are calculated from the survey's figures.

Some sources also count photography as industrial. Adding it raises the 2025 share to about 60%. Always check the year and what the source counts.

What This Means for Silver Buyers

Industrial demand still plays a vital role in the silver market. It remains the largest source of demand and provides a value floor for silver over the long run. But it is not a simple matter of “more factories, higher prices.” High prices trim industrial use as factories search for cheaper solutions. For their part, investors often drive most short-term moves.

Whether you own or plan to buy https://www.moneymetals.com/buy/silver";>silver bullion, it is best to monitor both sides: steady industrial use and faster-moving investment demand. You can follow the https://www.moneymetals.com/silver-price";>live silver price or read our guide on https://www.moneymetals.com/guides/is-now-a-good-time-to-buy-silver";>whether now is a good time to buy silver. When you're ready, you can https://www.moneymetals.com/buy/silver";>buy silver online from Money Metals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Electrical and electronic equipment remains the biggest industrial use for silver. This sector took 449.5 million ounces in 2025, about 68% of industrial silver demand according to the World Silver Survey 2026. That group includes solar panels, which used 186.6 million ounces.

Silver conducts electricity and heat better than gold and reflects more light. It also costs far less per ounce. That makes silver the practical choice for jobs that need a lot of metal, such as solar cells and electrical contacts.

Silver coats electrical contacts in switches and circuit boards. Silver inks and films print the paths that carry current in phones, computers, keyboards, and other devices. It is used because it is the https://silverinstitute.org/silver-in-industry/";>best metal conductor of electricity.

Nearly every electrical connection in a modern car uses silver-coated contacts, from power windows to engine controls. Electric vehicles and charging stations use even more. Silver brazing alloys also join metal parts in cars.

It is decreasing for now. Industrial demand fell 3% in 2025 to 657.4 million ounces and is forecast to fall about 3% more in 2026, per the https://silverinstitute.org/elevated-lease-rates-regional-liquidity-tightness-and-robust-investor-interest-resulted-in-record-silver-prices-in-2025/";>Silver Institute. Most of the drop comes from solar makers using less silver per cell.

Over the long run, strong industrial use supports price. In the short run, investment buying matters more. In 2025, industrial demand fell 3% while the price hit record highs, driven by a 14% jump in coin and bar demand.

Debasement Trade Supporting Gold Even as Yields Spike

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Bond yields have risen to levels not seen since 2007. This has created significant headwinds for gold and silver; however, the metals have shown more resilience than one might expect in this environment.

Higher interest rate environments have traditionally been bearish for gold and silver. Since they are non-yielding assets, owning metals when interest rates are high comes with an opportunity cost.

But despite persistently rising bond yields, gold has maintained support over $4,000 per ounce.

Why?

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According to a Reuters report, a “post-2022 demand premium is proving more durable than expected.”

And what is driving this demand premium?

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/07/28/with-bonds-struggling-investors-turning-to-tangible-assets-like-gold-005096";>The debasement trade – an investment strategy that emphasizes holding tangible assets such as gold, silver, and other commodities to protect against the decline of fiat currencies caused by monetary debasement.

The debasement trade took off after the U.S. weaponized the dollar after Russia invaded Ukraine, and it’s getting a boost from worries about the U.S.’s https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/08/20/the-40-trillion-national-debt-in-perspective-005151";>fiscal malfeasance.

Reuters explained it this way.

“Typically, gold – a non-yielding asset – moved largely in the opposite direction to real yields, and from 2000 to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, interest rates and U.S. dollar movements explained most of bullion’s price. That relationship changed after ‌Western sanctions froze roughly half of Russia’s official reserves. Central banks, particularly in emerging markets, accelerated efforts to diversify reserves away from dollar assets, supporting gold even when higher yields would normally weigh on the price.”

MKS PAMP metals specialist Nicky Shiels told Reuters the “debasement and de-dollarization” premium has risen from ⁠about $120 an ounce before 2022 to an average of more than $1,000 since then.

She said it currently stands at roughly $840 an ounce.

Morgan Stanley commodities strategist Amy Gower agrees, saying gold’s ability to hold $4,000 per ounce despite rising yields signals another significant demand factor at play.

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Valent Asset Management portfolio manager Jay Tatum compared gold to a “compressed spring.”

“The temporary headwinds for gold are enormous and, in almost any other ‌environment, would probably have pushed prices significantly lower. Prices are not lower because underlying factors are so strong.”

The war with Iran has compressed that spring.

It's as if the war put a lid on the gold market. Every time there is even the slightest hint the conflict could resolve, gold spikes. Conversely, every time we get bad war news, gold gets pounded lower. This indicates that when the war ends once and for all and the lid comes off, gold could take off very quickly.

Government Revises Fed's Favorite Inflation Indicator to Further Understate Inflation

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

If your policy can’t drive inflation down, just revise the methodology to make it seem lower.

This seems to be the federal government’s strategy.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has revised the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge to understate inflation just a little bit more.

When measuring inflation, most economists and the financial media tend to rely on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the Fed prefers the BEA’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index.

The two price inflation measures rely on significantly different methodological approaches, and central bankers prefer the PCE because it tends to understate price inflation more than the CPI.

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Instead of asking consumers what they buy, the PCE compiles data based on what businesses sold. BEA analysts compile information from a wide range of sources, including Census Bureau retail surveys, manufacturer shipment data, hospital and physician revenues, utility revenues, airline ticket sales, financial service companies, and other business and government data.

To calculate the PCE index, BEA analysts track prices in specific categories, including food, healthcare, and housing. They combine these price changes and weight them based on spending within each category. For instance, if food spending is higher than healthcare, the food category will be weighted higher.

The BEA then uses a “Fisher chain-weighted” formula using purchasing patterns from both the current and previous periods. The weights shift as consumer patterns change. For example, people might buy more chicken if beef becomes more expensive. This “chain-weighted” method links successive price changes together to measure inflation over time.

It’s a complex formula. According to the BEA, the Fisher formula takes the geometric average of prices in earlier and later periods --multiplying them and taking the square root. This accounts for changes in purchasing patterns instead of relying entirely on a fixed basket of goods and services, as the CPI does. “Chain-weighted” means each period’s comparison links to the next, forming a continuous measure of price changes over time.

A Change in Methods

On September 30, the BEA changed how it measures prices in three PCE categories to “improve deflation.” In other words, the agency hopes the updates will better separate price changes from changes in the amount or quality of goods and services consumed.

According to https://apps.bea.gov/scb/issues/2026/06-june/0626-nea-preview.htm"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">BEA documentation, the new approach will improve the deflation methodology for consumer spending on portfolio management and investment advice services to better reflect the timing and quantity of services consumed, improve the deflator used for consumer spending on legal services, and improve the deflator for consumer spending on computer software and accessories to better reflect the composition of products included in this category.

Analysts say the changes in the investment management category were the most significant. Instead of starting with the price and calculating the quantity, BEA analysts will estimate quantity first and then calculate the implied price.

Based on retroactive revisions, it appears the new methodology will slightly reduce price inflation as calculated by the PCE. Between Q4 2020 and the first quarter of this year, the update left the annual PCE at 4 percent. However, core PCE (the primary number the Fed uses in its decision-making process) fell from 3.9 to 3.8 percent. According to the BEA, “These figures reflect the entire annual update, including revised source data and methodology changes. They do not isolate the effect of the methodology changes alone.”

More Reasons for Central Bankers to Love the PCE

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As already mentioned, central bankers already love the PCE and consider it a better inflation measure than the CPI.

And we know the CPI understates inflation by design. The powers that be revised https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/01/15/the-cpi-lie-price-inflation-is-even-worse-than-advertised-002930";>the formula in the 1990s to lower inflation readings. Based on the 1970s formula, CPI is around double the official numbers. So, if the BLS used the old formula, we’d be looking at CPI closer to 6 percent. And if they used an honest formula, it would probably be worse than that.

Central bankers will tell you the PCE provides broader coverage of consumer spending, that its chain-weighting formula better captures evolving consumer behavior, that it is consistent with other data sets, including GDP, and that the frequent revisions improve accuracy.

That all sounds good, but there’s a simpler explanation.

The PCE understates price inflation even more than the CPI.

In other words, it consistently tells a better inflation story. And central bankers like nothing better than a sanguine inflation story. If they can convince you inflation isn’t that bad, they can expand the money supply faster without you throwing a fit.

PCE generally runs 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points lower than CPI over longer periods.

With the new adjustment, it will presumably run even lower moving forward.

Both the CPI and PCE formulas create multiple opportunities to skew the numbers lower. Each assumption built into the formula was made up by a government functionary with a bias and agenda.

The PCE’s substitution metrics provide a powerful avenue for number crunchers to skew the data and make price inflation look tamer than it is.

Never forget that government people have a vested interest in making inflation look as tame as possible. In their minds, inflation isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. Their ability to inflate the money supply lays the foundation for big government borrowing and spending. But monetary inflation comes with a nasty side-effect – price inflation. The better they can hide this monetary debasement, the longer they can get away with it without unpleasant political backlash from the citizenry.

Government number-crunchers also want to keep price inflation as low as possible because the PCE is used to “deflate” GDP. If price inflation is lower, it makes real growth look better.

Government data should always be taken with a grain of salt. Never assume that government number-crunchers are unbiased seekers of truth. The numbers may give us some sense of reality. And they are what we have, so we have to use them. However, the government always operates with an underlying propaganda motive. Keep that in mind as you digest the data and the spin.

Clive Maund on Treasury Yields, Gold, and Silver’s Next Move

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

In a new Money Metals podcast interview, analyst Mike Maharrey spoke with veteran technical analyst https://x.com/CliveMaund"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clive Maund about the Treasury market, soaring government debt, gold, silver, oil, inflation, and the increasingly unstable global fiat monetary system.

https://www.youtube.com/@clive_maund"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clive Maund has been analyzing markets for decades and has operated CliveMaund.com since 2003. His work focuses heavily on the resource sector, including precious metals, mining stocks, copper, oil, natural gas, and broader financial markets.

Unlike analysts who begin with economic data or company fundamentals, Maund’s primary focus is technical analysis. He views charts as a visual record of supply and demand, price action, market psychology, and the interaction between price and time.

As he explained to Maharrey, the exact dollar amount of a price change matters less than the ratio. A stock moving from $1 to $2, from $2 to $4, or from $4 to $8 has made the same 100 percent gain in each instance. Charts provide a way to visualize those proportional changes and identify trends, cycles, bases, breakouts, and topping patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xgucacuv348?si=421MJbv5lIhpgdZ0"; title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">

Treasury Yields Are Pressuring Gold

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The discussion began with the Treasury market and the impact of rising yields on gold and silver. Maharrey noted that 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields have climbed to levels not seen since 2002, creating significant pressure across financial markets.

Maund shared a one-year chart of the 10-year Treasury yield. He said yields have been in a relatively steady uptrend since March, but the chart also showed them reaching the top of that uptrend. The MACD indicator, which he uses to assess momentum and overbought or oversold conditions, suggested that yields were extremely overbought.

That does not guarantee an immediate reversal. Markets can remain overbought for longer than many investors expect. Still, Maund said the chart suggested a consolidation or a correction in yields was increasingly likely.

A pullback in yields could matter significantly for precious metals. Maund said the recent decline in gold was driven in part by rising Treasury yields and the associated strength in the dollar. If yields begin to retreat, that pressure could ease and allow gold and silver to regain upside momentum.

Maharrey agreed that rising yields have weighed on metals in the short term. But he questioned whether it makes sense to abandon an inflation hedge merely because yields are rising in an environment marked by debt, monetary expansion, and mounting economic uncertainty.

Maund said it is possible that the market could eventually resemble the late 1970s, when gold rose alongside yields because of the inflationary implications of the broader economic environment. In such a setting, investors may seek real money even if government bond yields remain elevated.

Debt Saturation and a Treasury Market Under Strain

Maund argued that the larger issue is not a short-term chart pattern but decades of borrowing and money creation. Governments around the world, he said, have continually kicked the debt can down the road through lower interest rates, quantitative easing, and ever-larger deficits.

In the United States, the national debt has reached roughly $40 trillion. Maund estimated that the cost of servicing that debt is around $1 trillion per year. He described the current moment as one of debt saturation, where the burden of financing government obligations becomes so large that markets demand higher yields to hold government paper.

In Maund’s view, policymakers have limited options. They can allow yields to keep rising, risking severe stress across Treasury, stock, https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/09/24/treasury-announces-second-oversized-bond-buyback-as-it-tries-to-put-a-lid-on-yields-005234";>and bond markets. Or they can create more money to support government debt and suppress yields, further undermining the purchasing power of the currency.

He said that continued money creation allows governments and large financial institutions to delay the reckoning, but everyday people ultimately pay the cost. As more dollars are created, the purchasing power of each existing dollar tends to decline. Prices then rise as the new money works its way through the economy.

Maharrey noted that the biggest buyers in the Treasury market increasingly appear to be hedge funds using leverage. Maund said that reinforces the fragility of a market in which debt must be continually financed at higher costs.

Both men emphasized that the issue is not merely the price of a single Treasury security. It is the structural dependence of the financial system on expanding debt, expanding credit, and a continuing willingness by investors to hold promises payable in fiat currency.

Gold’s Short-Term Setup and Long-Term Case

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Turning to gold, Maund said the three-month chart showed a small head-and-shoulders top. He had previously warned that this pattern could lead to a short-term pullback.

However, he stressed that the formation did not look like a long-term top. Because it was a smaller pattern, he said its implications were limited to the short and medium term. On longer-term charts, the same move could be part of a larger bullish structure.

Maund said gold may be reacting back toward the upper boundary of a bullish falling-wedge pattern. He identified roughly $3,900 to $3,950 per ounce as a potential area of strong support.

If gold pulls back into that zone, Maund said it could provide a technically attractive buying opportunity. Alternatively, gold could turn upward before reaching that level if yields begin falling or if oil prices moderate.

In that case, Maund said https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/09/24/merk-dont-give-up-your-gold-005232";>traders should watch for gold to break above a former support level that has become resistance following the head-and-shoulders breakdown. A decisive move above that level would, in his view, signal that gold is ready to resume its larger uptrend.

Maharrey said the https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/09/22/us-doubling-down-on-weaponization-of-the-dollar-005224";>conflict involving Iran and the resulting oil-price pressures have acted like a lid on precious metals. Concerns about the Strait of Hormuz, elevated energy prices, inflation, and rising yields have all created a difficult short-term environment for gold and silver.

But both analysts said those pressures could reverse. If oil prices retreat and yields pull back from overbought levels, the macroeconomic and technical backdrop for precious metals could improve quickly.

Oil Prices and the Political Calendar

Maund also discussed a one-year Brent crude oil chart. He said it appeared to show the potential for a double top, a technical formation that can signal a possible decline after an extended advance.

He suggested that oil could pull back in the coming weeks, especially if policymakers make conciliatory moves toward Iran ahead of the November 2 midterm elections. Maund was careful to frame this as a possibility based on market and political incentives, not as a firm prediction.

He said a lower oil price would be politically helpful because high energy prices feed directly into public frustration and inflation concerns. A decline in oil could also reduce pressure on Treasury yields and the dollar.

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That matters for gold and silver because the recent metals correction has occurred alongside rising oil and yields. A reversal in those trends could remove an important obstacle to a renewed advance in precious metals.

Silver’s Enormous 45-Year Pattern

The most bullish section of the interview focused on silver. Maund shared a long-term silver chart featuring what he called an extraordinarily https://www.moneymetals.com/silver-price";>large cup-and-handle pattern extending over roughly 45 years.

He said he had rarely seen such a clear and massive formation in decades of chart analysis. Maund first highlighted the setup last year, before silver broke out and surged to approximately $120.

The subsequent decline, he said, should not necessarily be interpreted as a failure of the long-term breakout. It is common for markets to experience a post-breakout reaction, particularly after a sharp advance from a major base.

According to Maund, silver has been reacting back toward support near the upper boundary of the giant cup-and-handle pattern. This type of retest can be normal technical behavior following a breakout.

He said silver could still move somewhat lower in the near term, perhaps toward $50 to $55 per ounce. But he characterized the broader $50 to $60 range as a major long-term buying zone.

Maund said the chart points to substantially higher silver prices in the months and years ahead. He argued that investors holding physical silver should focus less on short-term volatility and more on the larger trend, which he believes remains exceptionally bullish.

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Maharrey said the macroeconomic conditions support that analysis. Silver has faced persistent supply deficits, and physical demand pressures have recently appeared in both the COMEX and London markets. Those fundamentals, combined with the technical setup, could create a powerful environment for silver if demand continues to outpace available supply.

Real Money in an Era of Currency Debasement

The interview closed with a broader discussion of why gold and silver remain relevant. Maund said physical precious metals differ fundamentally from Treasury bonds, paper currencies, and digital financial assets because they cannot be created with a keystroke.

Governments can expand fiat money and credit supplies, but they cannot print gold or silver. That physical constraint is one reason precious metals have served as money and stores of value for thousands of years.

Maharrey said Money Metals aims to help people understand how currency debasement erodes purchasing power and how physical gold and silver can provide a measure of protection. Neither man presented precious metals as a perfect or effortless solution, but both argued that they offer a tangible alternative to an increasingly debt-dependent fiat system.

For https://www.moneymetals.com/authors/clive-maund"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clive Maund, the value of analyzing gold and silver goes beyond forecasting price movements. He said that during dark and uncertain economic times, understanding real money can give people a practical path forward and a reason for financial hope.

Morgan Silver Dollar Value - Prices by Date, Mint Mark, and Grade - Silver Melt Value, Key Dates, and What Dealers Pay - Money Metals

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Morgan silver dollars contain 90% silver, or 0.7734 troy ounces of pure silver. What was once worth only one dollar is now worth a little more than 77% of the current silver spot price. And that’s just the floor value.

The Morgan silver dollar’s total value comes from three other variables: the date, the mint mark, and the coin’s condition. If any of these changes, it can cause the price to rise or fall at a significant rate.

Most Morgan dollars that turn up in family collections are common dates in circulated condition. More often than not, these coins trade close to their silver value.

But some are worth many times that silver value.

This guide will show you how to tell what type of coin you have and what it’s worth.

Morgan Silver Dollar Value: How Much Is Yours Worth Today?

Common-date Morgan silver dollars in circulated condition are worth roughly three quarters of the current silver spot price. Uncirculated conditions may run much higher. Key dates and top-grade examples climb well into the thousands.

The table below gives approximate retail ranges for common dates. Treat these as ballpark figures rather than price offers; the prices in these examples are based on the usual price range from August 2026.

Condition	Approximate retail range
Cull or no readable date	$50 to $55
Good to Very Good	$55 to $70
Fine to Extremely Fine	$65 to $95
About Uncirculated	$80 to $110
MS-60 to MS-63	$100 to $160
MS-64 to MS-65	$175 to $400
MS-66 and above	$500 and up

Ranges reflect the market in early September 2026, with silver near $65 per ounce. Check current pricing before you buy or sell.

You may wonder why we are publishing ranges instead of exact prices. There are three reasons for that.

Silver moves every trading day and drags the melt floor along with it, and dealers pay less than they charge because they carry the cost of holding and shipping inventory. A coin certified by a third-party grading service also sells for more than the identical coin sitting loose in a plastic flip.

Morgan Silver Dollar Melt Value: The Price Floor

Every Morgan dollar struck between 1878 and 1921 contains exactly the same amount of silver. The coin weighs 26.73 grams and measures 38.1 millimeters across. Its alloy is 90% silver and 10% copper. As noted before, it contains 0.7734 troy ounces of silver.

You can work out the math simply by running the formula below:

Silver spot price x 0.7734 = melt value

You can calculate the melt value of these coins anytime by plugging in the https://www.moneymetals.com/silver-price";>live silver spot price.

Melt value is a floor rather than a ceiling. Even worn Morgan dollars with no readable dates sell above their metal content. Buyers are willing to pay a modest premium for these coins because of their recognizability, liquidity, and genuine silver content.

There is a quick note to make about the Morgan dollar. In 2021, the U.S. Mint revived the design. These modern coins are .999 fine silver holding 0.858 troy ounces.

These different coins come with very different silver values. Do not apply the formula above to these coins, as it will give you the wrong value.

How to Read Your Coin: Date and Mint Mark

Two markings determine most of what your coin is worth: the date on the obverse, and the mint mark on the reverse.

Where to find the mint mark

Turn the coin over and look at the eagle on the reverse. Look at the space between the wreath and the word DOLLAR. If the coin has a mint mark, it will appear as a small letter in that space.

Bear in mind that the Philadelphia Mint did not use a mint mark on the coins it produced. If you do not see a mint mark, it most likely indicates the coin came from the Philadelphia Mint.

What each mint mark means

Mark	Mint	Notes
(none)	Philadelphia	The most common source by far
CC	Carson City	The most sought-after mark in the series
O	New Orleans	Common overall, with several scarce dates
S	San Francisco	Often better struck than other mints
D	Denver	1921 only

That last row is a useful shortcut, because Denver struck Morgan dollars in a single year, which means a coin carrying a D can only be a 1921.

Why the CC mark changes everything

Carson City was a small mint built to serve during the Comstock silver strike. It operated irregularly in short bursts that produced modest production runs. The 1889-CC accounts for just 350,000 coins. The 1879-CC accounts for roughly 756,000 coins.

As a comparison, Philadelphia struck over 44 million coins in 1921 alone.

Carson City coins carry a second story that collectors care about. In the 1960s, the Treasury found nearly 2.8 million Carson City dollars sitting forgotten in vaults.

The General Services Administration sold them through seven mail-bid auctions between 1972 and 1980. That sale raised $107 million. Several of those coins remain sealed in their original GSA holders, which command a premium of their own today.

What if your coin has no date?

Some Morgans circulated so long that the date wore away. Dealers call these issues “culls.” A cull still contains its full 0.7734 ounces of silver and still trades near melt. However, it carries no collector premium on top of the metal.

That is less of a flaw than it is a feature, especially if you are interested in Morgan dollars for their silver value. Culls provide a way for buyers who want silver at the lowest cost per ounce to achieve that goal. For many buyers, culls represent the best value of the series.

Morgan Silver Dollar Value Chart by Year and Mint Mark

Morgan silver dollar values can vary dramatically based on the date, mint mark, condition, and variety. Use the chart below as a starting point.

Values should represent approximate retail market values for problem-free coins. Cleaned, damaged, unusually toned, or certified coins may trade for substantially different amounts.

Morgan Silver Dollar Values by Date, Mint Mark, and Grade

Year	Mint Mark	Circulated	AU	MS63	MS65	Key Date / Variety Notes
1878	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Multiple major reverse varieties, including 8 Tail Feathers and 7 Tail Feathers
1878	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	First-year Carson City issue
1878	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1879	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1879	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Scarce Carson City issue; major varieties exist
1879	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1879	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1880	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1880	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Several collectible overdate/reverse varieties
1880	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1880	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1881	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1881	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Popular Carson City issue
1881	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1881	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1882	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1882	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Popular Carson City issue
1882	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1882	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1883	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1883	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Popular Carson City issue
1883	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1883	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1884	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1884	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Popular Carson City issue
1884	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1884	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Scarce in higher grades
1885	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1885	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Low-mintage Carson City issue
1885	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1885	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1886	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1886	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Major condition rarity in high Mint State grades
1886	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1887	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1887	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1887	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1888	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1888	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Scarce 1888-O “Hot Lips” doubled-die variety exists
1888	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1889	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1889	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Major key date
1889	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1889	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1890	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1890	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better Carson City date
1890	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1890	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1891	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1891	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1891	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1891	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1892	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1892	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better Carson City date
1892	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1892	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Key date
1893	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1893	CC	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Key Carson City date
1893	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1893	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Premier Morgan dollar key date
1894	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Key date
1894	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1894	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1895	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Proof-only issue; major rarity
1895	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Major key date
1895	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Key date
1896	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1896	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Condition rarity in Mint State
1896	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1897	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1897	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Condition rarity in Mint State
1897	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1898	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1898	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1898	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1899	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Lower-mintage Philadelphia issue
1899	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1899	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1900	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1900	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	1900-O/CC overmintmark variety exists
1900	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1901	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Major condition rarity in Mint State
1901	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1901	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1902	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1902	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1902	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1903	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1903	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Historically scarce before Treasury releases
1903	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1904	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1904	O	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
1904	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Better date
1921	Philadelphia	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Final year; very large mintage
1921	D	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Only Morgan dollar struck at Denver
1921	S	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Final-year San Francisco issue

How to use this Morgan silver dollar value chart: Values are approximate retail ranges for problem-free coins and can change with the silver market and collector demand. “AU” means About Uncirculated, while MS63 and MS65 are Mint State grades. Coins with rare varieties, exceptional eye appeal, prooflike surfaces, toning, cleaning, damage, or third-party certification can trade well above or below these figures. A dealer's cash offer will also generally be lower than retail value.

A handful of dates carry serious money, and these are the ones to check before you do anything else.

The 1893-S is the coin collectors chase hardest. Only 100,000 of these coins were struck, most of which went straight into circulation in the mining towns of the West. Many survivors were melted decades later.

Even a well-worn example brings thousands of dollars. In 2021, a top-grade specimen sold for more than $2 million.

The 1895 Philadelphia issue earned its own nickname: the King of Morgan Dollars. This was because the mint produced no circulating coins at all that year and struck only 880 proofs. If you believe you own a genuine issue of this coin, call a grading service immediately.

Semi-key dates worth a second look

Below the marquee rarities sits a middle tier of dates that you are more likely to own.

The 1892-S and the 1901-P are both common in circulated grades and rare in uncirculated condition. A worn 1901 might bring $60, while the same coin certified in MS-65 can bring six figures.

Note the principle at play here: the condition, not the date, is doing all the work.

The 1903-O has an unusual history worth knowing. For decades it was regarded as a rarity. However, in 1962, a horde of these coins surfaced in a Treasury vault. In an instant, the price of these coins collapsed. It remains a more valuable date than most, but it is no longer considered scarce.

Varieties that add value

Some Morgans command a premium because of how the die was manufactured instead of the number of coins in the series.

The mint changed the eagle’s tail from eight feathers to seven partway through 1878, so coins exist with eight tail feathers, with seven, and with seven struck over an underlying eight.

Collectors pursue all three of these.

The 1888-O “Hot Lips” is the most dramatic variety in the series. It is a doubled die that gave Liberty two noses, two chins, and two sets of lips. All of these are visible without magnification.

Why Condition Decides Most of the Value

Coin grading runs on a 70-point scale, where grades 1 through 58 describe coins that circulated and grades 60 through 70 describe coins that never did. The gap between those two groups is where most of the money lives.

Consider an ordinary 1885 Morgan, which might bring $65 in Fine condition, $130 in MS-63, and $300 in MS-65. Same date, same mint, and identical silver content, with wear as the only variable that changed.

This is why the grade is so important, and often more so than the date. Common dates in exceptional condition will outsell a better date in rough shape almost every time.

When professional grading is worth the cost

https://www.pcgs.com/";>Certification from PCGS or NGC costs a fee and takes several weeks, so it makes sense only when the coin is valuable enough to justify the expense. Sending a $55 cull is usually a losing proposition.

As a rough rule, consider grading when you believe a coin is worth $150 or more. Give professional grading special consideration if you suspect you have a key date or significant variety. Below that threshold, the fee tends to swallow the gain.

Never clean a Morgan dollar

Cleaning is the single most expensive mistake people make with inherited coins. It strips the original surface and leaves hairline marks that professional graders can recognize in a single look. Once that damage occurs to the coin, it is irreversible.

Along with the surface goes a large chunk of the collector value. The silver value is the part that remains. This also matters for silver buyers, as these coins are often more affordable than numismatic coins.

If your coins look tarnished or dirty, leave them as they are, and read our guide on https://www.moneymetals.com/guides/how-to-clean-silver-coins";>how to clean silver coins, which explains the reasoning in detail and covers what to do instead.

The 1921 Morgan Dollar Is a Special Case

The 1921 is the Morgan that most people own and the one that generates the most questions.

Production originally halted in 1904 once the Treasury exhausted the silver bullion it was required to coin. The Pittman Act of 1918 changed that, authorizing the government to melt more than 270 million silver dollars. Most of these were sold to Britain during the war.

Because that same law required the Treasury to replace what it destroyed, the Morgan returned for one final year in 1921.

The mints made up for lost time, striking more than 86 million Morgans in that single year: Philadelphia produced 44.7 million, San Francisco 21.7 million, and Denver 20.8 million.

That enormous volume explains why 1921 Morgans are the most common and generally the least valuable coins in the series. A circulated 1921 sells close to melt, while an uncirculated example runs about $80 to $120.

Two exceptions deserve attention. The 1921-D is the only Denver Morgan ever produced which gives it a modest following among collectors. A small number of 1921 coins were also struck as high-relief pieces now known as Zerbe and Chapman proofs. Those are rare and valuable enough to require expert authentication.

Buying and Selling Morgan Silver Dollars

Dealers quote two numbers on any coin. First, there is the bid. That is what they will pay you.

Next is the ask. That is what you will pay them. The spread between them covers the dealer’s operating costs and the risk they carry while holding inventory.

On common-date Morgans that spread stays tight, because the coins move fast and price in the open. On key dates and certified coins it widens, since the buyer pool is smaller and the pricing is less certain.

Bullion Morgans and collector Morgans are different purchases

Ultimately, common-date circulated Morgan dollars are a silver purchase at heart. You are buying about three-quarters of an ounce of metal plus a modest premium, for the coin itself. That means it derives its price primarily from the silver spot price, moves with the spot, and sells to almost any dealer in the country.

A certified key date is a collector purchase instead. Its price tracks the collector market, not the silver market. That means its value can rise or fall even if silver behaves differently.

It also takes longer to sell because it usually requires finding a specialist buyer.

Neither approach is better than the other. They are different transactions, and it pays to know which one you are making before the money changes hands.

Are Morgan dollars junk silver?

Strictly speaking, they do qualify. “Junk silver,” or Constitutional silver, refers to U.S. coins struck in 90% silver that carry no real collector premium, and Morgans meet the composition test.

In practice they trade above the usual junk silver premium. Pre-1965 dimes, quarters, and half dollars are close to pure bullion plays, while Morgans attract additional demand from collectors. That combination boosts the price. That extra premium stays small on culls and grows sharply on better coins.

If your goal is the cheapest silver per ounce, junk silver dimes and quarters win. If you want a recognizable coin with more than a century of history behind it, the Morgan is hard to beat.

You can https://www.moneymetals.com/buy/silver/silver-dollars/morgan-dollars";>see today's Morgan silver dollar prices at any time, including https://www.moneymetals.com/1921-morgan-dollar-almost-uncirculated-90-silver/1183";>1921 Morgans and https://www.moneymetals.com/morgan-dollar-cull-no-grade-90-silver/239";>low-premium culls.

Morgan Silver Dollar Value FAQ

Check three things in order. Start with the date and mint mark against the key date table above. Then assess wear by looking for sharp detail in Liberty's hair and on the eagle's breast. Finally examine the surface, since scratches and past cleaning both cut into value.

The 1893-S is the most valuable regular-issue Morgan, with a mintage of only 100,000 coins. The 1895 Philadelphia issue is rarer still, though it exists only as a proof, and the Carson City dates from 1889 and 1879 follow close behind.

Multiply the current silver spot price by 0.7734, which gives about $50 with silver at $65 per ounce. That number is the floor value of the metal alone, before any premium for the coin itself.

Dealer bids on common-date circulated Morgans sit a little above melt value, while better dates and certified coins command more. Bids move with silver throughout the trading day, so ask for a current quote rather than relying on a published chart.

For most people they are. Morgans hold genuine silver, sell with ease almost anywhere, and cost little more than their metal content in circulated grades, so sort out any key dates before deciding what to part with.

They are 90% silver, so they satisfy the definition. They still trade above standard junk silver premiums, because collector demand supports the price. That makes pre-1965 dimes and quarters the cheaper route to raw ounces.

Nobody knows the exact figure. The Pittman Act alone destroyed more than 270 million of them, and millions more went to the melting pot in the decades that followed. Estimates of surviving coins run in the low hundreds of millions, which is well under half of what the mints originally struck.

A pound contains about 17 coins, since each one weighs 26.73 grams. At about $50 of melt value apiece, that comes to around $850 in silver, and common dates in presentable condition would bring more.

The Bottom Line

Three variables set Morgan silver dollar value: date, mint mark, and condition. Work through them in that order and you can usually tell pretty quickly what type of Morgan you have.

Most Morgans turn out to be common dates trading near their silver value, and that is good news. It means that a real 90% silver coin, more than a century old, can still be bought for close to melt. The key dates are the exception rather than the rule, which is why they are worth learning to recognize before you sell.

This article is provided for education and information only. It is not investment advice or a formal appraisal. All prices are approximate and change with the market.

Gold & Silver Slide | $318,000 in Gold Handed to a Stranger

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Welcome to this week’s Market Wrap Podcast, I’m Mike Gleason.

Coming up, we’ll hear from Clive Maund, professional trader, resource sector chart analyst and contributor to https://www.moneymetals.com/news";>MoneyMetals.com. Clive shares what his highly studied analysis is showing for gold and silver in the days and months ahead, and tells us what price he said would be a mega buy type of opportunity if we see silver drop down to this level. You’ll definitely want to hear what he has to say on that.

Additionally, Clive argues how global debt has reached a critical saturation point which will require exponential money printing to service what he characterizes as a ginormous Ponzi scheme where major institutions own an outsized amount of all the assets, which in turn forces massive subsidizing of the system through inflation at the peril of ordinary citizens.

So, stick around for a tremendous conversation and catch Mike Maharrey’s interview with analyst Clive Maund, coming up after this week’s market update. And as a reminder, we would really appreciate it if you would be willing to do us a favor and please download, like, rate and subscribe to this podcast wherever you consume this content.

Gold and silver are trying to steady themselves after a rough September. Selling pressure, which had eased in recent sessions, is appearing again today as investors are still waiting for a convincing sign that the correction is over.

The immediate headwinds are familiar: a stronger dollar and elevated interest rates. The bigger question is whether those rising rates are causing financial problems that could ultimately send more investors toward precious metals.

Gold has been consolidating around $4,160 an ounce, while silver has been trading near $61 -- not far above their recent lows. As of this Friday recording both metals are slightly below those figures – more on that in a moment.

Earlier this week, softer labor-market and consumer-confidence figures helped the metals recover from Monday’s selling. Softer inflation readings and reduced expectations for another Federal Reserve rate hike in October have also offered some support.

But the bond market remains a problem.

The 10-year Treasury yield briefly surged to roughly 5.34%, its highest level since 2002, before easing toward 5.25%.

For gold and silver, higher yields can create immediate selling pressure. Some investors favor interest-paying assets over bullion. Meanwhile, the dollar’s strength makes precious metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

That helps explain why metals have struggled despite an unsettled world and mounting concerns about government debt.

But should investors interpret rising Treasury yields as an all-clear signal for the financial system?

We certainly wouldn’t.

Higher borrowing costs make Washington’s debt problem more expensive. They also squeeze businesses, households, and financial institutions that have grown accustomed to cheap money.

A government already borrowing heavily must devote more resources to servicing its obligations. That leaves less room to maneuver when the next crisis arrives.

Gold may feel the pressure from higher yields today. Over time, the financial strains behind those yields can strengthen the reasons people want to own it.

Another development covered by Money Metals this week involves the growing role of leveraged hedge funds in the Treasury market.

These funds often borrow money to buy bonds and profit from small price differences between related investments.

The trouble comes when borrowing conditions tighten or markets move against them. Funds may have to sell quickly to meet demands from their lenders.

That forced selling can push prices lower, trigger more demands for cash, and produce still more selling.

It’s another reason to think carefully about what constitutes financial safety. Owning physical bullion gives investors an asset whose value doesn’t depend on a leveraged trading strategy working out.

And that brings us to a very different story about gold – one involving criminals who understand its value all too well.

Money Metals published a warning today about scammers who frighten people into purchasing gold and then handing it over.

The victims are almost never precious metals investors. They’re people manipulated into obtaining bullion for criminals.

In an https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/02/warning-dont-hand-gold-to-strangers-at-walmart-005259";>Illinois case we recently highlighted, a 78-year-old woman was persuaded that her financial accounts were compromised. Impostors instructed her to buy gold for supposed safekeeping by federal agents.

She ultimately surrendered more than $318,000 in gold bars to a stranger in -- get this -- a Walmart parking lot!

The handoff even involved a password, apparently meant to make the operation seem official.

A password doesn’t turn a stranger into a federal agent.

These schemes can draw legitimate bullion dealers into the process. A frightened victim may be sent to an established business to purchase genuine gold, while the criminals stay behind the scenes directing the transaction.

The dealer sells a real product. The criminals then steal it from the buyer.

That distinction matters. These victims weren’t choosing gold as part of a considered investment strategy. They were following fraudulent instructions.

Money Metals is helping to expose the scheme by publishing warnings and explaining how the deception works.

We believe educating the public is part of serving precious metals owners and the broader community. An honest dealer has every reason to want these crimes stopped.

For our listeners, the practical opportunity is to share this warning with relatives and friends, especially people unfamiliar with bullion.

An unexpected instruction to liquidate savings, buy gold, and give it to an alleged agent or courier should trigger an immediate pause and independent verification.

Nobody should let a stranger’s demand for secrecy prevent them from consulting family, their financial institution, or law enforcement.

Gold is a tool for preserving its owner’s wealth. These criminals are exploiting that value to enrich themselves.

As October begins, we’ll keep watching the metals’ efforts to recover and the financial pressures beneath the headlines.

Stay patient through the volatility. Stay informed. And help others recognize when someone is trying to turn their savings into stolen gold.

Well before we get to our conversation with Clive Maund, let’s take a look at the specifics of weekly market action here and where we stand at the moment.

Gold is off nearly $150 to check in at $4,150, a 3.4% decline since last Friday’s close. Silver is off more than $4 or 6.5% and currently trades at $60.75.

Turning to the PGMs, platinum is down nearly $100 or 5.2% and comes in at $1,699, while palladium is down just over $100 to trade at $1,189 an ounce – off a full 8.0% since last Friday’s close.

Well now, without further delay, let’s get right to this week’s exclusive interview.

Mike Maharrey: Greetings. I'm Mike Maharrey, and I'm excited to be joined today by Clive Maund. Clive is a professional chart analyst. He does technical analysis. He's been doing it for many years. He covers a wide range of markets with a special focus on the resource sector. How are you doing today, Clive?

Clive Maund: Yeah, I'm doing fine. It's spring here down in Southern Chili, so I'm looking forward to summer, which not many people in the world are.

Mike Maharrey: So I'm in Florida. We're looking forward to winter because that's what we do here in Florida.

Clive Maund: There's not much of a winter in Florida. I lived in Sarasota for a while. It was beautiful.

Mike Maharrey: No, there's not much of a winter at all. That's why we love it. It's the best time of year. So, I'm excited to have you on because you do a lot of technical and chart analysis, and this is not a strong suit for me. And so I'm excited to be able to share some of your insights with the audience. And we're going to do something that I've never done on an interview before, and we're going to try to pull charts up on the screen. So, we'll see how that works. We're in a little bit of uncharted territory.

I couldn't resist. I thought that about 20 minutes ago and thought I had to throw it in. But first, what I would like for you to do, if you don't mind though, is just let folks know your approach. How do you approach this analysis? What's the technique that you're using?

Clive Maund: Well, it’s technical analysis or charting, and charting basically strips out the fundamentals. And my mentor was a famous analyst in the past called Joseph Granville, famous American analyst. And he used to say that he though most fundamentalists were from Missouri because they always had to know the reason why. But my approach is purely technical, but at the same time, I'm cognizant of certain fundamental factors like results days, the effect of discoveries, some fundamental hooks like share issues, results days and so on. But generally I've used charting or technical analysis. What you are doing is you're studying the ebb and flow of a supply demand equation, and these things move in waves or cycles. And this is basically what it's all about, is cycle analysis. And if you look at the life cycle of a stock, for example, usually what happens is a company comes to market, its stock goes through a basing or establishment phase, then it normally enters a growth phase.

And if it's in the right industry at the right time, that can go on for years and years. And like some of these tech stocks have done recently, then they go through a major growth cycle such as we've seen in tech stocks and we've lately seen in AI and so on. And eventually they top out and the bag holders buy at the top when there's usually a lot of volume and a lot of interest and a lot of press coverage. Smart money distributes to bag haulers during a large top area. And then you go into the declining phase and that usually takes the form of a series of waves down and people get suckered in all the way down because they think the good times are coming back, but they're not because the thing's gone into a downtrend. So there's an awful lot to talk about around it.

But basically it's technical analysis or charting. It's a study of the ebb and flow of supply and demand in the market itself.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah. It kind of gives a visual representation of human action. It's like taking a snapshot of people's decisions.

Clive Maund: Here’s the thing, Mike. If you present me with a table of figures, it means nothing to me because I cannot comprehend looking to great tables of numbers and so on. I have to see things visually. That's why I like things like weather charts as well. I like to see a visual representation of things because when you see a visual representation of things such as on the stock charts, you're seeing the interrelationship of the price and time without actually having to think about it in numerical terms. It's a visual representation and you're looking at the proportionality. What matters to me, it's not important to me whether a thing goes up for say from $1, the numerical change, what matters is the ratio. Say for example, if you've got a stock and it goes from $1 to $2 or it goes from $2 to $4, so $4 to $8, it's the same in the sense that one to two is 100% gain, two to four is 100% gain, four is weight, et cetera.

So, it's all to do with proportionality and the ratios and so on. And you'll see that on the annotations that I put on the charts.

Mike Maharrey: All right, so let's do this. Let's talk a little bit first about the Treasury market, which might be a little counterintuitive to folks given that this is a show typically focused on gold and silver. But Treasury yields right now are having a very strong impact on the gold and silver market. We've seen the 10-year yield and the 30-year yield at levels we haven't seen since 2002. And so, you sent me a chart that shows the trajectory of the 10-year, and I'm going to pull it up here hopefully if I cannot be too big of a boomer and properly operate my computer here. All right, so we should have that chart pulled up now. And what we're seeing is we're seeing gold on the top and then the 10-year Treasury yield over the last year. And based on what you're showing me here, I think if I'm reading this right, we're looking at a situation where we might start to see a little bit of a decline in yields which would be bullish for gold.

Is that what I'm seeing? And if you could just walk us through and explain.

Clive Maund: The reason I made a one-year chart for this 10-year Treasury yield at this time was because it's showing a fairly steady uptrend from March, and it's also showing that yields are at the top of that trend, the upper rail that uptrend. Also, if you look at the bottom of this chart, you can see the MACD indicator, which is showing how overbought treasuries are and they're extremely overbought. Whilst recognizing that securities could stay overbought, can continue higher for quite a long time, this chart on a common sense basis suggests to me that we're probably likely to see at least some consolidation and possibly a correction in yields which would take the pressure off the metals, which is why I put gold at the top of this chart because you can see that latest decline in gold was actually caused by the pressure of increasing yields and the consequent rise in the dollar in recent weeks, which is what's put the dampers on gold and silver.

But you can see that as soon as that pressure comes off, I think it's going to flip back to the upside. Another point to make with these yields is that what's happened is we've had the can has been kicked down the road, not just for years, but for decades. And what's happened is not just in the US, but globally, debt has now reached critical mass where debts are so stupendously large that the amount of money that is required simply to service the debt is enormous. I think it's a trillion a year to service the $40 trillion debt in the US. And what's happened is we've arrived at the point of debt saturation, which is why these yields are going up so much.

And it's a situation which if it continues, unless they can keep a lid on it, and the only way they can control this is to print ever more money to throw it propping up the Treasury market in the US and these other bond markets like in Japan. And if they fail, we're looking at a pan selloff across the board of pretty much everything and you'll see a temporary rally in the dollar maybe, but that would only be a relative thing. And there's going to be a bloodbath. And this has been building up for years and years, not just years, but decades because they've been kicking the can down the road and they've been doing QE endlessly and creating over more money. And the only thing that can keep it going is to keep creating money exponentially so that we end up with money becoming worthless.

As you can see, we've already got that trend in place now. So inflation is rampant. And another point to make is that I think that the big three, the BlackRock State Street and Vanguard now own 70% of the stock market. In other words, what Gerald Celente calls our “bigs,” own the stock market. And if they can get the public to foot the bill for keeping this propped up, they will. And the way they do it is by creating money out of thin air to keep a lid on yields, to keep the Treasury market propped up, and thus to keep... That's what's kept the stock market going because they're getting the little guy, the ordinary citizen to subsidize it all through inflation. So in other words, create trillions of dollars out of thin air to throw propping everything up and the little guy gets stuck with the bill for inflation, the price of everything rising.

It's basically a Ponzi scheme.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's interesting too that so many folks, they see the rise in yields and so it does put the selling pressure on gold as we've seen through the chart. And yet it's an inflation indicator and I'm not sure it's wise to be unloading your inflation hedge in a situation.

Clive Maund: And I think also we could be in a situation like in the late '70s where you have rising yields and rising gold as well because of the massive inflationary implications of everything that's going on and people are just going to want to have real money, which gold is because all this other stuff is garbage basically. I consider treasuries to be garbage. And here's a very important point I'd like to make. And I said in some of my recent articles, which is that there are only two reasons to buy treasuries. One, this is putting it somewhat kindly. I said the first reason is that you are retarded because I didn't want to say stupid because it's a bit unkind and I don't like insulting people. And the second reason is that you are using other people's money, which is what say these funds and pension funds, they don't care about the actual recipients of those funds at the end of the day. They just want their rake off or backhand or whatever. These are the only two reasons to buy treasuries is that you are just doing it with other people's money or you are retarded because why would you buy government paper, government debt when all the currencies in the world are not backed by anything solid? This is a fiat system, which means that they can create money out of thin air until the cows come home.

If the currencies are actually backed by something solid as they used to be by gold principally, then it would perhaps make sense to buy government debt. But when you're living in a world where this fiat currency is not backed by anything of any substance and they've just got a license to print money in unlimited quantities, and I understand now that the Federal Reserve in the US does not have to seek congressional approval or Treasury to create money out of thin air. They just create as much as they like to suit themselves. So it's basically a ginormous Ponzi scheme. Why would you support that? So the case for gold and silver could not be stronger. Regardless, I always say to people as well, so what? Maybe gold falls 50 or $100 an amps. Why does that matter? You are holding gold because it's real money. It never loses its real value.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. I wrote an article just this morning talking about the bonds that really the only big buyers out there right now are hedge funds and they're doing it with leverage as you put other people's money. So, there you go.

Clive Maund: Yeah, exactly. Now that's golden one.

Mike Maharrey: All tight, so we're going to share the screen again and this time we're going to pull up a chart. It's a three-month gold chart and it should be popped up there. So, what am I seeing here?

Clive Maund: Well, I told people a few weeks ago, but I thought that this was going to break down because I saw a small head and shoulders top, but this is not like a terminal thing because it's a small head and shoulders top. The implications of this head and shoulders top are just for the short to medium term, no more than that. And actually on longer term charts, you can see that pattern actually forms the handle of a larger cup and handle base, which suggests that gold's going back up. Now on this occasion, I didn't have time to produce a longer term chart, medium term chart for gold going back two or three years, which would show that what it's doing is it's reacting back to the upper boundary of a bullish falling wedge. I think that's what's going on. And while we could see some more short-term downside until yields roll over, this is going to flip back to the upside, I think.

The point for traders to watch is that to turn outright bullish on gold, you want to see it do one of two things. One is drop back to that support shown, I think it's $3,900 or something like that, $3,950. You want to see gold maybe drop back there. That would be a good point to buy with a strong support. Or on the other hand, if the yields roll over, maybe oil drops and it flips back to the upside, you want to see gold break above what was support at the bottom of that head and shoulders top, lower boundary of that head and shoulders top, and there's no resistance. And of course the people who bought in that patent will be sellers when it gets up to, technically speaking, will be sellers when it gets up to the lower boundary of that head and shoulders. So, you find some resistance there.

But once it breaks above that, clearly breaks above that, then it's off to the races again. I think it's going up big time.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah. I kind of feel like that the conflict in Iran is this big lid that has been stuck on top of the precious metals markets because obviously it's the Strait of Hormuz being closed, the oil price pressure, and those are the things that are driving this rising yield narrative and inflation narrative. I think when that lid is pulled off, you can see the sky is the limit.

Clive Maund: Well, going back to that chart, going back to that yields chart, the 10-year yield chart, I had the feeling that probably yields could back off and oil could back off maybe over the next few weeks. The reason being, because we've got the midterms coming up, is it the 2nd of November? I'm surmising that Trump and the Republican Party would like to see the oil price back off ahead of the elections, possibly significantly.

So, this is why now we're looking at that Brent Crude, one-year chart for Brent Crude, and you can see that there's a potential double top there. I surmised that if Republican Party or Trump want to succeed in getting oil to back off, this will mean they will have to make conciliatory noises towards Iran. They've been doing this all summer anyway, be saying, "Oh, the deal's just around the corner." So apparently they've done it back 19 times. And some people have been front running these announcements. I couldn't

Imagine who, of course, but they've been front running these announcements, which often happen over the weekend, or you have this military activity over the weekend and it all clears up before the market opens, and there's suddenly an announcement before the market opens on Monday. Oh, we're going to have a deal soon, something like that. So I would think that it's quite possible, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but if I was in Trump's shoes, all things being equal, which they're not, of course, I might do things, make conciliatory noises to bring the oil price down ahead of the midterms, which would also bring the yields down, which makes sense at this juncture because looking at that chart for yields, we can see that it could react back across that uptrend now.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah, very interesting. All right, so this is working really well. I'm kind of excited. I hope this turns out as good once it's all edited as it seems to be going. So, the next one I'm going to share here, let me pull the sharing back up. This should be the silver three months, very similar. I'm now becoming a technical analyst, and I can actually see a little head and shoulders there, right?

Clive Maund: Yeah. Well, the thing is about this, Mike, I don't actually need to say much about this because the viewers will readily understand that this looks almost identical to the gold chart and the gold zone largely moving in tandem, and you can see it did the same. It broke down from head and shoulders top. It could drop down to that support down there, but it could flip to the upside at any time. I'd rather think that because there was some psychological damage caused by that breakdown, so it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't make a small bear flag here and maybe drift down towards that major support of $55. And when we come to look at the very long-term chart for silver, it is extraordinarily bullish. Yeah,

Mike Maharrey: We're going to pull that up in a second.

Clive Maund: The major buy spot for silver, we're very close to it now, in fact. And if you watch any of the videos by Mike Maloney, who I respect, I believe he's right. It's going much, much higher.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah. What is the triangle? What's the significance

Clive Maund: Of the triangle? Oh, that triangle there, it's just a period of indecision where the bulls and bears are slugging it out until you get a decision, you get something that tips it one way or the other.

Mike Maharrey: Interesting.

Clive Maund: And the triangle formed, one of the reasons that triangle formed or it did was that the market, or in this case silver, was waiting for that 50-day moving average falling overhead to drop down and close the gap with it somewhat, which will be unwinding its oversold condition. And you can see that as that triangle formed, the MACD indicator at the bottom of the chart was rising steadily, which was providing an indication it looked more and more likely to break to the upside, which it did.

Mike Maharrey: Interesting. All right, so you mentioned the big silver chart, and here it is, and we have a real nice, very obvious cup and handle pattern. Explain what that tells folks.

Clive Maund: Well, this is actually... I sent you the original chart that I posted sometime last year where I used this chart. I've correctly interpreted this ginormous... I've never seen anything like it. This is my favorite chart of all time, actually. I've never seen such a huge clear cup and handle pattern in my life in anything, and I've been in this business for decades, and I spotted this last year. I figured that silver was coming up for a massive breakout, and we saw that late last year when it zoomed up to $120.

Now, it's quite normal when something breaks out of a massive pattern like this cup and handle. It's quite normal to have a post-breakout reaction. That is what we have since seen, and it's actually, to be honest, it was such a strong breakout. You can see it on the volume in the silver proxy, I share silver trust. I'm actually rather surprised that it has reacted back as far as it has, but it's quite normal to have a post-breakout reaction back to the support at the upper boundary of the pattern that it's broken out of, and that's what we've seen in recent months. And of course, with silver reacting back to the upper boundary, this enormous 45-year cup and handle pattern, it means it's a mega buy anywhere in this area near the support of the top of this patent. So, it could drift a little bit lower short term, but down towards, say, 50, 55, but that would be about it.

And in this area with silver, anywhere between say 50 and 60, it's a very strong buy, and this chart is calling silver much, much higher in the years ahead. And if I was a holder of silver, I would not be worried at all. I would just be looking to stack more and more of it.

I would sleep easy. Seeing this chart, I would have no qualms at all about being a holder of silver. I would just sleep easy in my bed, sweet dreams and so on. I wouldn't worry. I'm sitting there sweating at night and sitting up in bed, sweating, worrying about the price of silver because again, as with gold, you're talking real money here.

Mike Maharrey: Yeah, it's like you'll be floating on a silver cloud.

Clive Maund: Yeah. I mean, when you talk about treasuries, this is garbage. All this government paper is pure garbage, and you have to be... Well, I've said before when I was thinking about people who own this stuff. So as I say, I think we're very, very close to a major buy spot for silver, and it's going much, much higher in the months and years ahead.

Mike Maharrey: I agree with you, and the macro environment supports that hypothesis when you look at the persistent deficits that we have in supply. We've seen these two big silver squeezes where silver gets displaced in the comic system and in London. So yeah, it's a ripe for big things. This is really great. I really appreciate you taking me through these charts. I think it was very educational. I think folks will really get a lot out of it, and I think it's really helpful to see that visualization. It is for me. I'm not so much a visual person, so to actually be able to look at the pictures, it's very helpful, and I appreciate that. So before I let you go, I do want you to give folks all the information that they need to find you if they want to avail themselves to the work that you're doing, because this is what you do.

And you not only do this with gold and silver, you do this with mining stocks and other stocks and investments as well. You sent me a whole bunch of charts. We don't have time to go through all of them right now. Where can folks find you?

Clive Maund: Well, I've got a YouTube channel. I've got a YouTube channel. Just type my name in Clive Maund and it will come up. I only started, I think, about six months or a year ago, so it's kind of building up slowly, but I'm getting more accustomed to doing these YouTube videos. And my website is clivemaund.com. Now, this website has been going since 2003, so that's a long time, 23 years. I started the website in 2003 because I saw a major bull market coming in gold and silver, and that is what we saw during the 2000s until it peaked in 2011. Then it went adrift after that. We had a massive, massive head and shoulders consolidation pattern from 2011 through two or three years ago in gold. Yes, my website is clivemon.com. It's a subscription website. Modest to maintenance of one month, three month, I think there's a six-month subscription as well.

I've been working on it happily for years. We cover gold and silver stocks, base metals as well, copper, not all of them, but principally copper, which I find interesting. I don't really very much... Look at Platinum and Palladium, but I don't really diversify much into things like nickel and tin and so on. Also, we've been following the oil sector closely on the site recently because of course it's been so topical. It's been one of the most important subjects in the world. And I heard just yesterday that there's a diesel emergency has been announced in Texas where the supplies of diesel are critical. And so yes, we look at oil as well, natural gas sometimes, and the broad market. We follow the broad market as well, and sometimes tech stocks and AI and these things. In the past, I had a go at covering cannabis stocks when they were all the raise, which was fun.

But after smoking a few joints, I decided to call it a down there. I don't mean it. I’m joking. But anyway, yeah, so if people who are interested, you're most welcome to come over and join us on cliveborn.com. Be very pleased to see anybody there. And so that's it really for now. And actually, I've been following the Money Matters website for some time because I think it's an excellent site, and there's all kinds of ways of buying gold and silver on the site that I've seen, which I'm going to be recommending it more and more to my people who want to buy gold and silver.

Mike Maharrey: Well, I appreciate that. And I think folks got a good sense of the work that you're doing, and it's high quality, and it will definitely help you be able to visualize what's going on in the markets. And I think for a lot of people, a picture is worth a thousand words. So I encourage folks to go check out Clive's website, check out his work, support him, and I want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day, and thank you for

Clive Maund: Your - Well, just one last point, Mike. Increasingly dark and dangerous times, the field in which we are working, which is gold and silver, is a way to give people hope, especially financial hope in these really difficult times. And this is really what my website is all about. I want to give people a way to move forward in difficult times.

Mike Maharrey: Absolutely. And I appreciate that. And I feel the same way. It's a service to folks because we have a government that's constantly devaluing our money, stealing our purchasing power, and there are ways to protect ourselves. So we're trying to educate folks and let them know, "Hey, there is a way. It's not perfect and it's not easy, but we can navigate our way through this and appreciate the work that you're doing. Again, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time, and thank you for your patience with getting all the technical stuff sorted out. I think it went swimmingly. We'll see what the final product looks like, but I think everything went really well, so thank you so much for that.

Clive Maund: All right, great. Thanks, Mike. Good talking with you.

Good analysis there from Clive Maund and it was great to finally have him on. For those of you who follow our prolific precious metals news site – found at https://www.moneymetals.com/news";>MoneyMetals.com/news – you’ve probably seen some of Clive’s stuff as he’s a semi-regular contributor for us. But again, it was great to get him on the podcast, and I hope you enjoyed that information.

Well, that will do it for this week. Be sure to check back next Friday for our next Weekly Market Wrap Podcast. And remember to tune in to midweek podcast as well, hosted by Mike Maharrey.

To check out any of our audio programs just visit https://www.moneymetals.com/podcasts";>MoneyMetals.com/podcasts or find them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. And as a big help to us we would ask you to please like, subscribe, download and rate our podcasts. Doing so helps us extend the reach of this material.

Until next time, this has been Mike Gleason with https://www.moneymetals.com/";>Money Metals Exchange, thanks for listening and have a wonderful first weekend of October everybody.

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Debasement Trade Supporting Gold Even as Yields Spike

Government Revises Fed's Favorite Inflation Indicator to Further Understate Inflation

A Change in Methods

More Reasons for Central Bankers to Love the PCE

Clive Maund on Treasury Yields, Gold, and Silver’s Next Move

Treasury Yields Are Pressuring Gold

Debt Saturation and a Treasury Market Under Strain

Gold’s Short-Term Setup and Long-Term Case

Oil Prices and the Political Calendar

Silver’s Enormous 45-Year Pattern

Real Money in an Era of Currency Debasement

Morgan Silver Dollar Value - Prices by Date, Mint Mark, and Grade - Silver Melt Value, Key Dates, and What Dealers Pay - Money Metals

Morgan Silver Dollar Value: How Much Is Yours Worth Today?

Morgan Silver Dollar Melt Value: The Price Floor

How to Read Your Coin: Date and Mint Mark

Where to find the mint mark

What each mint mark means

Why the CC mark changes everything

What if your coin has no date?

Morgan Silver Dollar Value Chart by Year and Mint Mark

Semi-key dates worth a second look

Varieties that add value

Why Condition Decides Most of the Value