Silver value in Swifts time.

[Ken S.]

I guess this is kind of a crazy question but I suppose that a silver dollar then was worth a dollar in those days. I guess the big question would be how much silver would have to come out of a ton of ore/rock to make it worthwhile to mine silver

 

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[Mackaydon]

This may help: $1 in 1700 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $58.54 in 2016-- per Wiki.
Don.......

 

[Ken S.]

That is a very interesting .

 

[Mackaydon]

Also, in the 1700s, silver was worth about $1.25 per ounce.
Source: https://sdbullion.com/silver-price-history
Don....

 

[KY Hiker]

I guess this is kind of a crazy question but I suppose that a silver dollar then was worth a dollar in those days. I guess the big question would be how much silver would have to come out of a ton of ore/rock to make it worthwhile to mine silver

To answer your question I guess we would have to know how many ounces of silver went into the coin you are considering. Or otherwise, you could ask, what was the purchasing power of one silver 'crown' of that time in today's money. Either of which I don't have a clue!
I do remember hearing from a professor of economics that a $1 gold piece in 1900 would buy you the very finest of men's suits to wear, that same 1900 $1 gold coin today would buy you the very finest of men's suits to wear. The dollar value has changed but not the intrinsic value of the gold coin.
I think a reputable assayer could probably tell you how many ounces per ton of silver ore would be required to make a prospect into a good paying mine. What is silver going for nowadays? Last I checked it was $25 per ounce several years ago.

 

[Ken S.]

Anyone that bought silver a $25 an oz. is crying in there beer at todays prices.

 

[rgb1]

if you want metal prices the are listed near bottom of home page just click on metal prices they will come up.

 

[KY Hiker]

Anyone that bought silver a $25 an oz. is crying in there beer at todays prices.

That reminded me of something, I think I mentioned this a long time ago, my father went to high school and was long time friends with Bunker Hunt. The Hunt brothers almost cornered the market on silver in the 1980s. I remember my parents going to Lexington.KY on invitation from Bunker. He came to Lexington to buy race horses every year and they stayed in touch that way. My folks never had money, but that didn't bother Bunker apparently. Somehow he also knew Johnny Unitas, I don't remember the story behind that connection. It was probably school related as well. My dad was always well connected... anyway ...buying high is never a good idea!