Gold and silver

“ No, no—silver, 'Duke; silver is the one thing needful, and silver is to be found. But listen: you are not to be told that the natives have long known the use of gold and silver; now who so likely to be acquainted where they are to be found as the ancient inhabitants of a country? I have the best reasons for believing that both Mohegan and the Leather-Stocking have been privy to the existence of a mine in this very mountain for many years. ”

“ Gold and Silver are the universal Pledges and Security of all Trade, in every Nation, and what’s wanting in their Value must some way or other be made Good, more than in Name or Supposition.
’Tis True, in Holland and elsewhere, they have a base Under-Money, and there is not an Ounce of Silver, perhaps, in as many Stivers or Schillings, as are Equivalent to Ten Shillings in our Money. ”

“ The gold-coloured dust fell from the dwarf's file like a thin, down-driven spirt of auriferous vapour.
"Miracle Gold," he thought, "Miracle Gold. All gold is Miracle Gold when one tests it by that only great reagent, the world. The world, the world. In my Miracle Gold there would be found an alloy of copper and silver. Yes, a sad and poisonous alloy. Copper is blood-red, and silver is virgin white, and gold is yellow, a colour between the two, and infinitely more precious than they, the most precious of all metals is gold. ”

“ It will bring to us the wealth of the world, the gold and the silver, although gold and silver are not real wealth. They are useful as a medium of exchange, as foundation upon which to base a currency, and to use as ornaments and household vessels; and so gold should be regarded until there is enough of it to pave our streets. ”

“ I have discussed my subject as if gold and silver stood on the same level of desirability for money, and as if there were no choice of convenience between them. Such is not the case in fact. It will be observed that gold and silver never have been used together. Gold has generally been subsidiary, being employed for large transactions. ”

“ If he is accurate in the proportionate values which he respectively assigns to these metals, it proves the very great abundance of gold; since, in most of the nations of antiquity, the values of gold and silver were the reverse of what they were in Arabia, gold being ten times the value of silver. ”

“ Until that condition is realized when the parity between our gold and silver money springs from and is supported by the relative value of the two metals, the value of the silver already coined and of that which may hereafter be coined, must be kept constantly at par with gold by every resource at our command. ”

“ The folly of men has enhanced the value of gold and silver because of their scarcity; whereas, on the contrary, it is their opinion that Nature, as an indulgent parent, has freely given us all the best things in great abundance, such as water and earth, but has laid up and hid from us the things that are vain and useless. ”

“ It is true that now there are no jewels of gold, silver, or feather work and other rich things, as there used to be, although some small miserable pieces of gold and silver appear, but not as formerly. ”

“ But the bullion, the old silver, the scrap heap, will they not ship that to us by billions? Well, how much is there, and where is it? Will the nobility and gentry of Europe melt down their family plate, the plain people everywhere their silver ornaments, and the Hindoos their household gods, to send us the silver? If so, why did they not do it when a cup, a watch, or a silver god would buy twice as much gold as now? ”

“ Gold and silver, on the other hand, designed for services less extensive, lighter, and in a great measure ornamental, are provided in very much less quantity, and have properties admirably adapting them to the services for which they are so manifestly intended. ”

“ It recognizes the fact, accepted by all men throughout the world, that value is inherent in the precious metals; that gold and silver are in themselves values, and being such, and being in other respects best adapted to the purpose, are the only proper measures of value ”

“ QUANTITY OF GOLD AND SILVER.
"Before demonetization both metals constituted the redemption money of the world; and as both metals existed in about the same quantities, it gave us twice as much money of redemption as gold alone will now furnish us. There is in the world now, according to the report of the director of our mint, $3,727,018,869 in gold, and $3,820,571,346 in silver. ”

“ The importation of gold and silver is not the principal, much less the sole benefit, which a nation derives from its foreign trade. ”

“ It is in no way necessary, on account of any intrinsic or inherent quality of gold, that should have that particular metal, and that alone, for money.
It is boasted that gold is a universal measure. Why is it universal? Why is gold accepted in every country of the world? ”

“ In the very place where men have gone from this valley, to my knowledge, and hunted weeks and weeks for gold, and could not find it, there is plenty of it now. When you and I can say, "Let there be gold in this valley," and turn round again, and command it to disappear, that it is not to be found; when we can call gold and silver together from the eternity of matter in the immensity of space, and all the other precious metals, and command them to remain or to move at our pleasure ”

“ Gold and silver, like other commodities, have an intrinsic value, which is not arbitrary, but is dependent on their scarcity, the quantity of labour bestowed in procuring them, and the value of the capital employed in the mines which produce them. ”

“ SIR, Having in my last letter considered silver and gold as the only certain durable, and universal riches; and since the attaining them is the chief view and design of all mankind; I shall in this consider a question which puzzles the greatest part of the world, and which, as I think, they for the most part determine wrongly ”

“ When gold replaced silver as a measure of value, the same name was applied according to the ratio between the values of silver and gold, to perhaps 1-15th of a pound of gold. The word pound, as a money-name, thus becomes differentiated from the same word as a weight-name. [8] (3) The debasing of money carried on for centuries by kings and princes to such an extent that, of the original weights of the coins, nothing in fact remained but the names. ”

“ It is a further advantage of gold and silver that they are such beautiful, brilliant substances, and gold is also so heavy that it is difficult to make any counterfeit gold or silver; with a little experience and care, every one can tell whether he is getting real money or not—when the money is made of gold or silver. Finally, it is a great convenience that these metals do not change in value rapidly. ”

“ In the debates it was proposed that, as the cause of the change in the relative values of gold and silver was the increased product of gold, the proper remedy should be to increase the quantity of gold in the gold coins. ”

“ If they will compare gold and silver with commodities in general, to see how the metals have maintained their relations, not to one another but to all other things, they will find that instead of a fall having taken place in the value of silver, the change that has really taken place is a rise in the value of both gold and silver, the rise in silver being relatively slight while that of gold has been ruinously great. ”

“ Jewels are inferior to gold and silver in the quality of divisibility; and are of very various qualities, not to be accurately discriminated without great trouble. Gold and silver are eminently divisible, and when pure, always of the same quality ”

“ Similarly one might imagine silver to be more appropriate to the gods than gold; but that to man, at any rate, silver is more precious than gold and more familiar to them because it is not, like gold, hidden under the earth and does not avoid their eyes, but is both beautiful to the eye and more serviceable in daily life, — this, I say, is not my own theory [5] but was held by men of old. ”

“ Let us, every one of us, bring our gold and silver and bronze money, tomorrow, to the treasury, only reserving the rings for ourselves, our wives and our children, and the bullae for our boys. Those who have wives and daughters may keep an ounce of gold for each of them. With regard to silver, those who have occupied curule chairs should keep the plating on their horse-trappings and two pounds of silver that they may have a dish and saltcellar for the gods. All the other senators should keep only one pound of silver. ”

“ He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver.
If a preacher on these words should set himself to declaim against silver, he would probably be but ill-heared, and would certainly go beside the meaning of his text.
Silver (or gold) is only an instrument of exchange; a sign of the price which things bear in the commerce of life. This instrument is of the most necessary use in society. 367 Without it, there would be no convenience of living, no supply of our mutual wants, no industry, no civility, I had almost said, no virtue among men. ”

“ To this day we find that savages and semi-civilized nations prefer silver to gold. It is the case with the negro tribes of Africa, the Indians of the American Continent, and with the nations of China and Japan. The human animal must be educated up to a just appreciation of gold, but silver by its brilliant white lustre and flash in the light of the sun recommends itself to him as soon as its sheen strikes his eye. ”

“ Gold, then, betokens wisdom, justice, riches, and elevation of mind. Compounded with silver, it signifies victory over all infidels, Turks and Saracens; with gules, a disposition to shed one’s blood to acquire riches; and with azure, a disposition to keep what one gets. Combined with sable it typifies constancy in all things, particularly in love; with vert, a joyful possession of riches; and with purpure a friendly feeling even towards enemies.
Silver alone signifies chastity, charity, and a clear conscience ”

“ Because Money made of Gold and Silver is the best Rule of Commerce, and must therefore be equal, or else it is no Rule; ”

“ There is never a time that I lay out a gold piece and get a pallid collection of silver bits in exchange that I don't feel I've been robbed. I have no grudge against silver as a metal, mark you; for as such it has its uses. ”

“ Silver should be restored to its old full sovereignty, side by side with gold. Then, in this country, just as little of either metal as possible should be used in men's daily transactions. Handling gold and silver directly in trade is but continuing the barter of savage men, and is a relic of a dark age. ”

“ The pretence set up for this extraordinary degradation of the gold, was, that our coin might peradventure be exported, in order to be de-silvered abroad, a danger which could have been most readily averted, by leaving out as much gold in every sovereign as was equivalent to the silver introduced, and thus preserving its intrinsic value in precious metal. When the film of fine gold which covers each of our present pieces has been rubbed off from the prominent parts, these must appear of a very different and deeper colour than the flat part or ground of the coin. ”

“ We must remain under cover for a period. And finally, for various reasons too complex for discussion, I can not make delivery of the treasure to my friends in France before the Spring. Seven hundred thousand pounds in gold and silver bullion is no easy mass to handle. ”

“ But while the classroom is busied, patiently, sedulously doling him out silver, he discovers that there is gold lying all around, which he may take without asking. Twenty-five years after he finds that the silver has grown black with rust, while the gold shines on untarnished. ”

“ The investigations of more modern times have shown that both gold and silver really exist in the general area of country so eagerly explored by the first colonists in the hope of discovering the precious metals. ”

“ They hold it in the greatest esteem, for they withdraw the gold from their own country in order to lock up the silver therein. And when they see silver, they look at it admiringly. I am writing not from hearsay, but from the sight and experience of many years. Consequently, he who has any silver, and takes passage with them, is not safe. ”

“ But even should all our gold go by reason of the remonetization of silver, it will not be to the injury of the gold standard, but to its great advantage, and to the equally great advantage of the masses of the people, as well of this country, which the gold may leave, as of all countries to which it may go. ”

“ We have seen the Siamese piece of twisted silver wire passing into a coin of European style, and the Chinese bronze knife ending by becoming cash, just as the Homeric talent of gold appears, in weight at least, as the gold stater of historical times. ”

“ that to attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families, by obliging them to keep an unnecessary number of kitchen utensils. ”

“ That the guineas of England, therefore, are not continually going away is to be attributed to the extraordinary value affixed to gold, which has just been mentioned, and which banishes silver continually. ”

“ Gold and silver are no doubt subject to fluctuations, from the discovery of new and more abundant mines; but such discoveries are rare, and their effects, though powerful, are limited to periods of comparatively short duration. ”