Ha, you're correct. Since a number of asset allocation schemes have hit the market, many of which propose a 3-5% (or slightly higher) holding in precious metals, correlated with a preponderance of easy ways to buy these beasties, combined with a lot of global turmoil...gold has done well.
Didnt do a dang thing for a couple of decades before that, or really much of anything except for the late 70's inflationary period, which is about where most people realized that the investment had no actual ties to monetary issues anymore.
Dang good for teeth and a fine metal for jewelry, although it still makes me wonder why we currently seek out diamonds with an absence of yellow color, then mount them on a yellow metal that makes the more colorless stone look yellowish
I'd suspect that once everyone of consequence has their allocation, this category will at best languish for another couple of decades. But thats just my fairly uniformed opinion.
BUT COME ON, I GOT OUT JUST AHEAD OF THAT 400 POINT DROP, *AND* I CAN SINK A BASKET ONE HANDED FROM THE HALF COURT LINE!
(Gotta milk this for what its worth)
Anyhow, yes silver has some industrial applications, predominately in old style analog photography which...shoot...is sort of petering out. So does platinum, and so does gold.
Not sure I see a lot of potential growth there that'd drive the price up. And theres no shortage of supply or places and ways to dig up a shitload more of all of them.