I first became enamored with the metal around the year 1980, when I first read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which features multiple references to "Pieces of Eight"—that is, the popular name for the Spanish silver dollar (the 8 reales coin or real de a ocho in Spanish). For example, Long John Silver's pet parrot, Captain Flint, frequently shrieks "pieces of eight" when he's excited.

In the summer of 1985 I was reminded of Stevenson's romantic tale when I saw the news that Mel Fischer had found the Nuestra Señora de Atocha — a Spanish treasure galleon that sank the Florida Keys on September 6, 1622. Ultimately, 1000 silver bars and over 200,000 silver coins were recovered from the wreck.

Jimmy Buffet was in Key West when the treasure was found, and he performed an impromptu little concert to celebrate the find. No doubt he played "A Pirate Looks at Forty," which he wrote in 1974, with the memorable lines:

Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all, you've seen it all

Watched the men who rode you, switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen
Most of 'em dream, most of 'em dream

The Spanish dollar was the world's reserve currency for about three hundred years between the 16th and 19th centuries. The U.S. silver dollar was a key medium of exchange from 1794 till 1873, when Congress passed the Coinage Act, ending minting new coins out of silver. The Nixon administration officially removed all silver backing for the currency in 1971.

In in the late 1970s, the Hunt brothers of my native Dallas started aggressively buying silver, thinking it was a hedge against inflation. By the year 1980, they had accumulated about 200 million ounces. Their buying spree climaxed on Silver Thursday, March 27, 1980, when COMEX changed rules to restrict margin buying and limit contract sizes, making it harder for the Hunts to keep buying the metal. Unable to meet margin calls, they were forced to sell much of their holdings, and the price plummeted from $50 to under $10 an ounce.