When it comes to metals, either precious or base, none are more fascinating than silver. In this short article, I'd like to call your attention to some interesting facts about silver that hopefully, will not only cause you to think to yourself, "I didn't know that about silver," but to also understand the tremendous investment opportunity that silver currently provides.

How many of these interesting facts about silver were you previously aware of?

Fact: the ratio of silver to gold was 12.5 to 1 at the time of the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.

Fact: the ratio of silver to gold was 12 to 1 at the time of Roman Empire

Fact: the ratio of silver to gold was 15.68 to 1 shortly after the United States declared it Independence

Fact: the ratio of silver to gold was 17 to 1 at the end of a decade long bull market in precious metals (1980)

Fact: the ratio of silver to gold is currently about 65 to 1 and heading back towards it historical ratio of 12 to 1 to 15 to 1

Fact: the ratio of global silver production to global gold production for a 400 year period leading up to World War II was 13 to 1

Fact: the ratio of global silver production to global gold production for the calendar year 2006 was only 8 to 1

Fact: the ratio of global silver production to global gold production from 1900 to 2003 was 7.64 to 1

Fact: the ratio of global in the ground silver mine reserves to global in the ground gold mine reserves was 6.4 to 1 in the year 2000

Fact: starting in the late 1800's silver gradually begin to lose its status and use as money due to powerful bankers who wanted to replace silver for their corrupt fiat currencies, and powerful industrialists who wanted the world's monetary silver to be melted down and used for industry at incredibly low prices

Fact: for nearly a century (early 1800's to early 1900s) a silver dollar was equal to a days wage

Fact: 70% of all SILVER is found mostly as a by product of ZINC, LEAD and COPPER

Fact: the original coinage act of 1792 established the monetary standard to be a “silver” dollar consisting of 371.25 grains of pure silver.

Fact: Between the years 1971 to 1980 (9 years) the price of Silver increased by 39 times

Fact: inflation-adjusted Silver needs to be trading at $387.00 per oz. to equal it's 1980 peak

Fact: SILVER has over a thousand different application uses which is more than any other commodity except OIL

Fact: SILVER as a component has had more patents filed and issued than ALL the other metals combined.

Fact: in 2009 no country on Earth was using silver as money, but in 2010 the Malaysian state of Kelantan re-introduced the silver dirham as an official currency.

Fact: China is actively promoting silver as an investment for its citizens and recently changed the laws to make investing in silver  easier and more attractive

Fact: the U.S. Government had a strategic reserve of silver in excess of 4 billion ounces nearly 70 years ago. Today that reserve is completely gone

Fact: the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that in less than 20 years all of the world's known silver discoveries will have been mined out of the Earth

Fact: Above ground silver is far more rare than gold!