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INVESTMENT RARITIES INCORPORATED
Was founded in 1973 by Jim Cook, and has since grown to be one of the nation’s leading silver and gold dealers. In the 51 years of service, IRI has logged 400,000 transactions for 60,000 customers equaling $3 billion sold and delivered.
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Edited by best-selling author James Cook
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FROM THE DESK OF JIM COOK
HERE'S WHAT ONE OF THE HUNT BROTHERS TOLD ME ABOUT SILVER IN THE 1980s
In 1979-80, the Hunt brothers of Dallas, Texas tried to corner the silver market. They succeeded in driving the price of silver from $6 to $50 an ounce. This episode put silver on the map in a big way. At the time, I was able to secure an interview with Herbert Hunt, which I ran in my newsletter. He was exceedingly bullish on silver. He told me he was sure it would go up a long way. …
INSIGHTS from TED BUTLER
Great Silver Price Volatility Ahead
This is the last thing Ted Butler wrote for us. He was trying to summarize what he saw happening in silver. His illness was making it difficult to write, but he did a good job of conveying his final thoughts.
Price volatility in silver has been heavy recently, but two conditions point to much greater price volatility ahead. Currently, bearish futures-market positions on the COMEX feature an unprecedented short position by a single managed-money trader of some 13,000 contracts (65 million ounces). This is combined with a heavy commercial short position. The short position by a big managed-money trader is particularly concerning since it is larger than what the largest silver mines produce in a year and is clearly not a hedged position, but purely speculative, appearing to violate speculative position limits. While bearish on its face, should this big short get caught in a squeeze, all heck could develop on the upside.
