📏 A Brief History of Gold vs Silver
💰 From 1833 to 1918, the price of gold was effectively fixed at $20.67 per ounce under the U.S. Gold Standard — an era when paper money was backed by physical bullion.
⚖️ In ancient times, the Romans valued gold and silver at a 12:1 ratio — meaning one ounce of gold could buy 12 ounces of silver. This persisted for centuries.
🇺🇸 By the early days of the American republic, that ratio shifted slightly to 15:1, baked into the Coinage Act of 1792 — effectively pegging silver as the “junior partner” in the monetary system.
📈 Fast forward to modern markets:
From 2010 to 2020, the Gold-to-Silver price ratio danced wildly, ranging from around 33:1 (in 2011, when silver spiked 📊) to a staggering 115:1 in 2020 — the highest in recorded history 🤯.
🔍 That means:
In 2011, silver was relatively expensive vs gold
In 2020, silver was historically undervalued compared to gold
🧠 The ratio serves as a powerful market signal — showing shifts in inflation expectations, industrial demand, and investor sentiment over centuries.
📊 See How Metals Measure Up Against Each Other
These charts show the price ratios between pairs of metals (e.g. gold-to-silver, platinum-to-palladium), helping you understand how their relative value shifts over time.
🔍 Ideal for:
Identifying undervalued or overvalued relationships
Spotting mean-reversion opportunities
Comparing historical norms with current divergences
🧭 Use the timeline slicer to focus on a specific period — the ratio charts will update accordingly, revealing dynamic relationships that evolve with the market.
⚖️ Ratios remove currency effects and absolute price levels, letting you focus purely on the relationship between metals. A rising ratio means the numerator is gaining value relative to the denominator, and vice versa.
Gold Price Ratios
Silver Price Ratios
Platinum Price Ratios
Palladium Price Ratios