As with gold, silver’s uses reflect its beauty (jewelry and cutlery) and its properties (solar panels, water filtrations and – as silver compounds – as an anti-microbial).

The value of silver is – as you would expect – a function of both quantity and quality. The most common purity of silver is sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure. Jewellery made from sterling silver carries the hallmark ‘925’.

Silver has numerous cultural associations, such as the superstition that werewolves can only be killed by a silver bullet. The term ‘silver bullet’ has come to mean a guaranteed, almost magical answer to a problem.