Book, The Big Silver Melt by Merton

razzle

Written in 1983, apparently traced the melts of the 1960-80 period during the Hunt bros run-up. Anyone have an opinion on the accuracy of their findings or the book in general? Worth the read? Is there such a book around the corner today?

pontiacinf

so many yappy know it alls and no one has an opinion, wow thats wierd.

I know I am not knowledgable enough in the subject to be able to make a call as to its accuracy, but id think it would be a good read.

ModCrewman

I was 8 in 1980...I have no opinion.

razzle

Coinosaurus

I am not familiar with the book.

That said, I probably would want to get something more recently written w/more perspective on the subject.

My guess is that there have been a number of books about this topic.

If I were crusing abebooks or amazon I would look for one published by a reputable university press.

If this book is self-published that is a big red flag. Doesn't rule it out, but it is a caution.

keets

isn't the title of the book The Big Silver Melt??

keets

i just went to Amazon and found it and it's at Ebay, also.

razzle

keets, yes, you are correct, my mistake. I edited the title after your post. Thank you. And, yes, it is available on Amazon for $65. That's an expensive book, so I was wondering about recommendations?

Rob85635

Having not read the book I have no comments either way, I will say that I think the Hunt brothers didn't do much if anything wrong. They were not confident in the dollar, inflation was rampant and they wanted to protect their money. Did they get a little greedy? Yea, I would say so considering I have read they had anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of the available silver in the world in physical holdings and on paper. Michael Maloney ( a precious metals expert and author) recently wrote an article that I think is a great read. In it he talks about how the government in concert with the Commodities Future Trading Commission changed the rules mid stream in an attempt to make the Hunt brothers scapegoats. This ultimately caused them to file bankruptcy.

The article can be found here. . I think it is a very interesting read. I know many still believe the brothers were greedy and broke the law, but after reading this I am not so sure. I am more of the opinion they were smart businessmen who got shafted. I will submit that they really did push it buying as much as they did, but did they really do anything that wrong? It is interesting to debate.

Rob the Newbie

keets

if i recall correctly, the Hunt Bros. got screwed because our Uncle changed the rules on them mid-stream-so-to-speak.

razzle

I remember the 70's and 80's well, President Carter, inflation, high pm prices, oil, interest rates, etc. I think the problem with the Hunts was they were manipulating price which was a no-no, but my memory is very sketchy regarding any details of wrongdoing-if I ever really knew.

Well, I found a copy of the book, The Big Silver Melt, for $37 and bought it. I guess I'll have to form my own opinions on it but I've become very interested in survival rates of US coinage, my curiosity triggered mostly by cladking's posts.

Chuck

pruebas

I know the book and recall it being a history of the silver frenzy of the late 70's-80 from an insider's perspective. It's a small book and a quick, interesting read, but maybe not $37 interesting.... Regardless, enjoy it!

astrorat

A few years ago I read the book. It was okay, but nothing remarkable. It should be a $5 book and not a $65 book.