Back at the end of August, I purchased a one-ounce silver round at a coin show for that day’s spot price: $19.00 on the nose. Now I wish I’d purchased more, because in the seven weeks since, the price of silver has risen as high as $24.87 per ounce (on October 14) — an astonishing 30 percent increase. If gold had risen as quickly, it would be worth about $1,610 an ounce, right up there with platinum.

For once, silver is outperforming gold. Why this is so isn’t clear, but certainly part of the rise is due to gold’s coattail effect on other precious metals. Otherwise, it’s a fact that precious metals tend to increase in value during times of high inflation and rising interest rates. On the other hand, silver seems to have been outperforming gold on a percentage basis since about 2006, possibly due to its greater utility in industry, and an increased usage in medical technology.

Silver has dropped a bit since its October 14 high, but as of this writing, it’s still flirting with the $24 mark — it’s at about $23.98 today on the London spot market. That’s still a substantial increase over my purchase price (about 25%), so I’m not complaining.

While I still favor gold for a number of reasons (check out my recent article outlining ten reasons why you should invest in gold), silver is looking more and more like an excellent investment, especially if you can get it for a small premium (or no premium, as I was able to do in August).

Admittedly, silver does tend to be more volatile than gold, but some pundits are suggesting that it may rise as high as $50 in the next year or so.

So, I recommend you consider investing in silver while you can!

Have you invested in silver or gold?  Let me know your results by commenting below.