Gold and silver’s compelling dance

Gold is taking another stab at setting a record price this morning, jumping back over the $1,400 mark that has stymied it since early November.

It closed at $1,409.80 Nov. 9 and then dipped. It closed at $1,415.30 Dec. 6 and then dipped.

Where will the current attempt reach?

If nothing else, gold’s gathering strength might be considered a week early if the last two prices are any indication of the rhythm of the market.

On the other hand, silver could easily close above $30 today, a nice round number that has been danced over a couple of times, but when the trading music stopped, the closing price in the middle of December was always just beneath it.

At $30, standard pre-1965 silver coins are worth 21.45 face value. That number inspired me to realize that the $10 a week I earned as a paperboy in 1968 if expressed in the current value of the silver coins that were rapidly disappearing from circulation at the time would be $214.50, a very nice profit if I could have kept it all. But like everybody else, the demands of life intervened and I had expenses.

So the profit is mostly just a daydream – not a bad one to have at yearend.