RELATIVE AVERAGE ANNUAL VALUES OF GOLD AND SILVER. Date. Ratio. Authority. Apparent relation of market-value, as deduced from the British mint-regulations, some absurd and unsuccessful experiments in coinage being disregarded. French mint-regulations. German imperial mint-regulations. British mint-regulations-experiments disregarded. Upper German regulations. French mint-regulations. Upper German regulations. French regulations. Ratios calculated from the bi-weekly quotations of the Hamburg prices-current, giving the value of the gold ducats of Holland in silver thalers, down to 1771, and. after that, in fine silver bars. The nominal par of exchange during this period was 1: 14.80; and the quotations show the variations of the market rate in percentage above or below this. At par, 6 silver marks-banco were equivalent to one ducat, 68 20-47 ducats containing one mark (weight) of fine gold, and 27% silver marks-banco containing one mark (weight) of fine silver. Hence, 6×68 20-47+2734-14.80, the par ratio. The London quotations. These give the price of a given weight of standard silver in shillings and pence sterling. Bearing in mind that there is in Great Britain no charge for coinage. and, hence, that the price referred to varies exactly as the market-value of the metals, we can calculate the ratio as follows: The standard gold is fine, and its value is fixed at 778. 10d., or 934.5 pence per ounce troy. Hence the value of an ounce of fine gold is of this sum, or 1019.45 pence. The standard silver, on the other hand, is 37 fine; hence an ounce of fine 40 silver is worth 1.081 times as much as an ounce of standard silver If the fixed value of an ounce of fine gold be divided by 1 081 times the quoted price of an ounce of standard silver, the quotient is the ratio desired. Thus, if a be 1019.45 943 the quoted price per ounce in pence, 1.081x (very nearly) is the ratio. Briefly, dividing 943 by the price in pence of an ounce of standard silver gives the ratio correctly to the second decimal place. London being the acknowledged center of the commercial world, this ratio determines the relative value of the metals among civilized nations. The table shows annual averages only. The lowest monthly valne of gold was 15.12 in May, 1859, and the highest 16 35, in October, 1874. The annual average for 1874 here given is calculated upon the prices of eleven months, ending November 30. The foregoing table only gives average annual values; but in order to show the fluctuations caused by the increase of gold from 1848 to 1853-5, and also the much greater ones caused by the demonetization of silver in Germany, I have made the following table, showing the per cent of premium on each of the metals as expressed in the value of the other at various periods: In diagram No. 3 I have endeavored to make apparent what has been the progress of the values of the precious metals as compared with the values of commodities, and the principal causes which have at diferent times affected the values of each, the varying difference between the lines being what is understood as the "rising or falling of prices." The upper line in the diagram-the line of dashes. - begins with prices at what might be called "zero" in 1845 to 1847; the rise of the line through 1851–2–3– SHOWING THE FLUCTUATIONS IN THE VALUES OF CO Explanation. The upper line (thus in the diagram in The two lower lines represent the values of gold and silver as compare variations in the space between the upper line and the two lower lines the prices of 1845-7. For further explanation see page 142. r |