When the USD was worth more. The historical silver charts adjusted for inflation show that high in 5-2011 was equivalent to over $60 today.
My timeline goes back further, to 1-1980 when the Hunt Bros. drove the price way up to about $50; that value adjusted for inflation is over $200.
So silver has to gain a lot more to match those highs adjusted for inflation.
I remember the 5-2011 spike very well. My son was making pretty good money, I suggested he might want to put some of it in precious metals. He gave me the funds and I bought some silver for him during a dip around 9-2008. I think silver was around $15 then. Fast forward to 5-2011. By that time, my son was getting into a real estate deal and needed some money for a down payment. It was my opinion at the time that this spike into the $40 range was probably a secular event, not often seen based on history. We don't see big, quick run-ups like that very often in a lifetime.
When I went in to cash out my son's silver on 5-2011, there were older guys standing in line with ratty cigar boxes of silver coins, etc., that they'd been hanging onto for years. They saw this as a rare opportunity as well.
We're not there yet at $31.
Always remember, trading and holding are two different things. They are done with different goals in mind. In any case, buyers are well advised not to buy on peaks but to wait for significant dips. Which can be years in the coming. In secular events, holders might swing to trading in the hope of repurchase at significantly lower prices after the spike. I became a trader in 1980; the spike to $50 persuaded me to part with silver that I had $5 in. In truth, I didn't quite get the timing right, I sold in the $40's. It's really, really hard to know the exact peak. Right after that, I switched back to buyer / holder.
After the big spike in 1980, by 6-1982, silver had dropped to $5.10 the oz. So if you'd bought at that level and held to 5-2024, adjusted for inflation, your basis price would be only $16.42 and you'd nearly doubled your money in adjusted terms with silver now at around $31. No doubt there are other investments that turn out to have better returns, which you don't necessarily know going in.
From 1986 to 2003, there was a long, barren, dispirited era for silver during which it languished around + / - $5. During this time, I bought silver from discouraged survivalists. They didn't have the long view of it.
My dad got me started as a silver bug. He had a second job, part time, working in a retail store at night. When it was announced in 1965 that silver was going to be taken out of circulation, he bought silver coins at face value out of the register where he worked. I still have those coins that he saved. Today, they are worth about 21 times face value for silver content.
