Silver
Also: Ag, Argentum, silver metal
Silver (Ag) is a bright-white precious metal with the highest electrical conductivity of any element, used both as an investment metal and across industry, photography and medicine.
Silver is among the oldest metals known to humankind. It was already being mined in Asia Minor and on the Aegean island of Siphnos more than 5,000 years ago. Today silver is far more than a mere jewellery or coinage metal: roughly 55 to 60% of annual world output flows into industrial uses — from photovoltaics through electronics to medicine. At the same time it remains an investment metal and a store of value proven over centuries.
Chemical and physical properties
Silver (element symbol Ag, from the Latin argentum) sits in group 11 of the periodic table among the transition metals. It has the highest electrical conductivity of any known element, edging out even copper. Its thermal conductivity and its reflectivity in visible light are equally outstanding — freshly polished silver reflects up to 99% of incident light.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Density | 10.49 g/cm³ |
| Melting point | 961.8 °C |
| Electrical conductivity | 62.9 × 10⁶ S/m |
| Mohs hardness | 2.5–3 |
| Atomic weight | 107.87 u |
| Colour | bright white (silvery) |
A notable trait is tarnishing: in moist air silver reacts with traces of sulphur to form black silver sulphide (Ag₂S). The process is reversible and does not diminish the material value. Pure silver resists oxygen and most acids, but it dissolves in nitric acid and in hot concentrated sulphuric acid.
Fineness and alloys
For practical use silver is nearly always alloyed, since pure silver (999) is too soft for mechanically stressed applications.
| Name | Fineness | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Fine silver | 999 ‰ | bullion coins, bars |
| Britannia silver | 958 ‰ | British bullion coins |
| Sterling silver | 925 ‰ | jewellery, cutlery |
| 835 silver | 835 ‰ | older European cutlery |
| 800 silver | 800 ‰ | continental cutlery |
To find the pure silver weight in an alloyed item:
Fine weight = gross weight × (fineness ‰ ÷ 1,000)
Example: 100 g sterling silver (925)
→ 100 × 0.925 = 92.5 g fine silver
The silver calculator works out the melt value automatically from the current silver price.
Extraction and world production
Silver is won mostly as a by-product of copper, lead and zinc mining. Only a small share comes from dedicated silver mines. The leading producing countries are Mexico, Peru, China, Russia and Poland. Global mine output stands, according to the World Silver Survey, at around 820 to 850 million troy ounces a year (current decade). A meaningful additional share comes from recycling of scrap silver, electronic waste and photographic materials.
After mining, doré bars (impure raw metal) are refined to fine silver at a refinery. Large refiners such as Heraeus, Umicore or PAMP Suisse then strike the refined metal into standard bars or coin blanks.
Silver as an investment metal
As an investment, silver is held as bars and coins. Well-known bullion coins include the Vienna Philharmonic, the Maple Leaf, the American Eagle and the Britannia — all at 999 fineness.
Compared with gold, silver typically shows higher price volatility. The relationship between the two metal prices is expressed by the gold-silver ratio: it states how many ounces of silver are needed to buy one ounce of gold. Historically this figure has ranged between 15 and over 100.
Tax note: in Ireland buying silver bars and coins attracts the full standard VAT rate of 23%. Gains on the disposal of physical silver by a private individual are chargeable to Capital Gains Tax at 33%, after the annual personal exemption of EUR 1,270, with no relief for the length of holding — unlike Germany's one-year exemption. This is not tax or investment advice; please discuss individual matters with a qualified adviser. See also: VAT on silver.
Industrial importance
Industrial demand for silver is a major price driver that sets it apart from other precious metals:
- Photovoltaics: silver is indispensable for solar-cell contacts. The rapid build-out of renewables raises structural demand.
- Electronics: conductor tracks, contacts, RFID tags and solder joints use silver for its unmatched conductivity.
- Medicine: silver ions are antimicrobial; uses range from wound dressings to coatings on medical devices.
- Photography: despite the decline from digital imaging, silver halide remains relevant in niches (X-ray, film).
- Catalysis: silver serves as a catalyst in ethylene-oxide synthesis.
Its dual role as industrial and investment metal makes silver more cyclical than gold: in economic downturns industrial demand can fall and weigh further on the price.
Price formation
The silver price is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The benchmark is the LBMA Silver Price, set daily by auction in London. The live silver price can be viewed in real time; historical paths are available under historical precious-metal prices.
Factors that move the price include US-dollar strength, real interest rates, industrial demand (especially the solar sector), mine output, recycling volumes and speculative positioning on the COMEX.
In brief
Silver is the only metal to combine outstanding industrial relevance with a millennia-old role as a store of value. Anyone tracking the silver price should always keep both dimensions — the economic cycle and capital investment — in view. The silver calculator and the gold-silver ratio are handy points of orientation.