Silver, silver

For those who make items in sterling you'll know how I'm feeling when I say I'm about to buy some more silver, always a nervous time as I try not to buy the wrong amount (too little can be as bad as too much!), make sure my measurements are right and double check I've not forgotten anything that I'm going to need in a week's time.

I've another big project on the very close horizon and, while I need to be a bit cagey about it here (just in case the recipient should stop buy and have a read), suffice to say it requires enough silver to make me gulp a little when I'd figured out the pricing.

How come no matter how much silver you end up accumulating it's just never the right size, shape, depth . . . ?



I buy most often from Cooksons Gold and they have a handy little page that shows you the pricing of precious metals so you can feel a bit annoyed at yourself that you either didn't stock up last week, three months ago or, even better five years back, before silver began to climb in price.

When I first started working in silver, around ten years ago, prices were relatively cheap and while it was still valued, and any left-overs pieces carefully put away for later use, it wasn't quite as painful as it is now when you make a mistake.

Having a wander around the net I've found a pretty scary site called Kitco which makes me think the sooner I place my order the better - although, naturally enough, the sooner I place it the sooner I can get started making which is probably more to the point.

I also found a graph (no, seriously, this is interesting!) showing the price of silver over 600 years; given the massive drop in its price around the mid eighties compared to what it had been previously, perhaps I'm wrong to even be complaining about the cost today at all!

Okay, back to figuring out my order and, despite the last paragraph, still seeing where I can cut back!