Complete Children's Guide
to

Money

This page was last revised on 1/28/26.

Money is gold & silver
&
Gold & silver are money

The only money that is real and cannot be counterfeited and has functioned as money throughout the globe (other than maybe most hunter-gatherer societies) since antiquity are gold, silver & copper. These are three of the four elements in Group 11 of the 92 element periodic table comprising natural creation & manifestation in the entire physical universe.

Gold [Au atomic# 79], a precious metal
Silver [Ag atomic# 47] (poor man's gold) a precious metal
Copper [Cu atomic# 29] a base non-precious metal

Three of the four elements in group 10 of the periodic table are and can function as real money too:
Nickel [Ni atomic# 28] a base non-precious metal which only started being used in coinage in the last couple of centuries, mainly to debase silver and copper.
Platinum [Pt atomic# 78] a precious metal
Palladium [Pd atomic# 46] a precious metal

These are the only six metals that have pure intrinsic value and can function as a medium of exchange and are their own reward and hence are money.

Carbon won't work because it can be in the form of a diamond or a lump of coal. None of the other elements would work because they're liquid or gaseous at room temperature, toxic, too rare, too common or otherwise way too unhandy.

As the other 86, these six elements (four precious, two base metals) cannot be made by man. Only these six can be made into coins.

Nothing made by man can be real money. Whatever financial instrument it is, to qualify as money in a real world, it has to be backed by gold. Gold is the king, the measure and store of value. Silver is the queen, but she's got ups & downs 2x to 5x as much as gold.

Real Money is Freedom

It is anonymous and invisible. Secure it well.

Complete Children's Guide
to Investing in and Collecting Money

The gold/ silver ratio is essential to pay attention to. It denotes how many ounces of silver it takes to buy an ounce of gold. When silver is cheap relative to gold, buy silver. When silver gets expensive relative to gold, buy gold with it.

Since ancient times, miners have unearthed about eight ounces of silver for every ounce of gold and this is still the case.

In 2700BC Egypt 9 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 2700BC Mesopotamia 6 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 1000BC Egypt 10oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 500BC Persia 13oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 500BC Greece 12oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 207BC Rome 14.5 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 189BC Rome 10 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 40BC Rome 7.5 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.

In Medieval England 11.1 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In Medieval Italy 12.6 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 1497AD Spain and 1500AD Germany 10 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In the 1600s 12 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
From 1700 to 1870 15 oz. of silver rising over the decades to 15.6 ounces would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 1871 16.7 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 1888 21.2 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 1932 75 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.
In 1941 100 oz. of silver would buy 1 oz. of gold.

The last 100-year average is 40. The average gold-to-silver ratio over the last 30 years is 67.

Year    Gold  Silver  Ratio   Year    Gold  Silver  Ratio  Year    Gold  Silver  Ratio
1792   $19.39  $1.29  15     1990   $383   $4.83    79      4/2011 $1450  $49.90  31
1834   $20.67  $1.29  16     12/20/90 $390 $3.95  97      9/5/11 $1920  $34       56
1938   $35       $0.36  83     2/21/91 $352  $3.51  101    3/3/16  $1279  $14.75  82
1965   $35.50  $1       35     1991   $362   $4.05    89     7/14/16 $1345  $20.30  65
8/25/70 $35.6  $1.93  19    1992   $343    $3.94    87    7/11/19  $1418  $19.75  92
1970   $35.96  $1.76  20    1993   $359    $4.31   83     9/4/19   $1500  $19.50   79
1971   $38.21  $1.53   25    1994   $384    $5.28  72     3/26/20 $1700  $12.50 116
1972   $58.28  $1.68  35    1995   $384   $5.19   73      3/4/21   $1680  $26.40  65
1973   $97.22  $2.55  38    1996   $387   $5.19   74      12/15/21 $1820  $21.70 81
6/15/73 $120   $2.70  46    7/27/97 $316 $4.20   78      4/19/22 $1980  $26      76
1974   $158     $4.67  34    1997   $331  $4.89    67      5/12/22 $1770  $25.60  88
1975   $160     $4.42  36    2/10/98 $300 $7.85   42      6/6/22   $1850  $22.30  83
1976   $124     $4.35  29    1998   $270  $5.21    51      9/2/22   $1710  $17.55  95
1977   $147     $4.63  32    2000   $279  $4.95    56      1/23/23 $1930  $24.25  75
1978   $193     $5.42  36    2001   $271  $4.37    62      3/10/23 $1815  $19.80  91
1979   $305   $11.06  28    2002   $309  $4.59    67      4/14/23 $1990  $25.60  78
1/8/1980 $626  $41    15    6/3/03 $365  $4.45    80      5/2/24   $1985  $29       87
1980   $614   $20.98  29    2003   $363  $4.87    75      5/29/24 $1940  $31       73
1981   $459   $10.48  44    2004   $409  $6.65    61      8/5/24   $1930  $29       89
1982   $375     $7.92  47    2005   $444  $7.31    61      9/16/24 $2690  $30.73  87
1983   $423   $11.43  37    2006   $604  $11.54  52      10/29/24 $2638 $34.46 76
1984   $360    $8.14   44    2007   $695  $13.38  52      11/1/24 $2735  $32.42  84
1985   $317    $6.13   52    2008   $872  $14.99  58      11/6/24 $2662  $31.15  85
1986   $368    $5.46   67    8/2/08 $920  $17.60  51      4/21/25 $3424  $32.68 105
1987   $446    $7.01   64    11/29/08 $818 $9.20 80      6/17/25 $3386  $37.03  91
1988   $436    $6.53   67    2009  $1134 $17.67  64      9/25/25 $3760  $45.11  83
1989   $381    $5.49   69    2010  $1225 $29.35  42      10/17/25 $4251 $51.86  82

12/9/25 $4227 $61.47 69
12/23/25 $4480 $72.59 62
12/28/25 $4533 $84.09 54
12/29/25 $4332 $71.06 61
12/30/25 $4360 $78.74 55
1/1/26 $4318 $71.06 61
1/6/26 $4495 $82.56 54
1/8/26 $4478 $74.31 60
1/14/26 $4626 $93.45 50
1/23/26 $4983 $103.08 48
1/26/26 $5046 $107.18 47
1/27/26 $5166 $111.48 46
1/28/26 $5494 $118.54 46

Only God Is
In Gold We Trust
We Trust in Silver too

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