For centuries governments responded to a shortage of small coins by debasing them, ie, reducing the amount of silver required to make a penny.

ECONOMIST: The lessons of sound money from 1,000 years' experience

Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and in early 19th-century Haiti, long-necked gourds were used in place of small-denomination coins because of a shortage of gold and silver.

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When struck by light, the electrons in an atom of silver vibrate in a way that causes them to radiate small amounts of light themselves.

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Broadly, instead of using simple supply and demand, it explains changes in the demand for one asset (a small silver coin, say) relative to another (a large coin) in terms of changes in the rate of return that the holder of the assets can expect from each.

ECONOMIST: The lessons of sound money from 1,000 years' experience

The show looked at silver amalgam fillings, which contain a small amount of mercury chemically bound within them.

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But underpinning the weight of speculative demand, meantime, expect to see a small but growing chunk of private savings moving cash into silver.

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His lunch, which he ate on his own in an enormous, empty dining room while reading a book under the absentminded gaze of the elderly maid, and the black-and-white gaze of his deceased wife looking out from photographs in ornate silver frames, was light: soup and a small portion of fish and mashed potatoes, some of which he would allow to go cold.

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You might also remember that there was a small, crappy pic of the Firestone in there, showing a weird silver corner on the phone's face.

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