Yes, Silver is being manipulated! Listen to this expert:

Link

It seems no one is able to do anything to prevent this, or catch the manipulators doing it. I have seen estimates for a bottom price for silver as low as $10 per ounce. It is going to take awhile for the world markets to settle back down from the mess they are in. Hint -- keep an eye on what is happening in China and the other Asian markets.

Silver being used by Investors

Hi Everyone-
Here is a really good (recent) take on how Silver continues to be manipulated.
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Lewis/2013-08-15-The-Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being-Long-Silver.html
Since most of this activity centers around 'paper' silver (the equivalent of air) and is connected to people investing in silver for profit, it really doesn't matter to me as a craftsman because I only buy metal. Like he says in this article, 'silver seems cheap'. It is! And it will probably stay that way for awhile longer, so get your stash stocked up while it is affordable.

Get some Silver, the price has dropped.

Thanks to you new folks who just subscribed to my blog and thanks for hanging around to all of you who are still subscribers. I haven't posted anything in quite awhile, I have been away from my bench, pursuing other creative things like music and sewing.

Today I wanted to bring it to your attention in case you haven't noticed -- SILVER spot price is all the way down to $22.75. You can see that in the chart on the right side of your screen. This price is very affordable to us craftspeople, so it is time to buy.

An interesting thing occurred during the past few years -- due to the SILVER price getting so high, many people turned to Copper and other less expensive metals for their production. Since I am a Silversmith, enjoy soldering, know how to bezel set stones, etc, I am not that crazy about a lot of the work I have seen on Etsy, Pinterest and other websites. However, I have seen some really interesting pieces and I hope the artists who developed these techniques will start using SILVER again. I am referring to the Bohemian style jewelry that is proliferating right now -- twisted wire, lots of beads, simple construction, NO soldering, etc. Since the price of SILVER is low and these techniques are fast and furious, I don't see why the quality of work can not come up by switching back to SILVER and still be affordable.

I plan on starting a new production run soon. When the SILVER spot price was $45+ an ounce, I just couldn't justify using up my stock for the ROI I would get for my finished work. The spoiled public will only pay so much for silver jewelry and there is no way I can get my prices down to match what is available as imports, regardless of quality. Now that the price has dropped I can eek out a profit again, while maintaining my quality and design standards. 

So thank you to the World Banker guys (who are constantly ratcheting everything up and down) for focusing  on other commodities like Oil, Bonds, etc and allowing the SILVER price to go down. I appreciate being able to get back to work. So get some SILVER and get busy! =)

Please comment!

Estaban

PS I have a couple of Jewelry related Boards on Pinterest -- check them out if you have time:
http://pinterest.com/stram99/jewelry/
http://pinterest.com/stram99/my-jewelry/

Good time to buy Silver

Heads up! If you haven't been watching the price of silver, it just dropped about $3 an ounce in the past couple of days.

Like I have stated in a previous post, I am not an expert on financial subjects or trading commodities, but I do pay attention to the news. One week ago the Fed made a bunch of moves to shore up the US economy -- like cutting the Prime interest rate and pumping money into some banks, etc. It is all too complicated for me to think I know what is going to happen next... I don't! However, I would say that if you depend on buying silver to produce your goods, it is a good time to buy. I doubt that the spot price will drop much more and will eventually creep back up.

Remember the spot price is relative. It does seem like it hurts to pay 3x what we did just a few years ago, but everything else is more expensive too, so it really is just a reflection of the weak dollar, oil prices, etc. Personally, I'm happy that I am involved in the Arts and live in this modern age when I can readily get silver (at any price) and express myself this way producing my own adornment so I am grateful.

So, prepare your order and call it into your supplier first thing Monday before the market takes off, in order to save some money.