Silver prices are flirting with $50 per ounce for the first time in decades. In North Idaho, that inevitably brings back memories of Nelson Bunker Hunt and his brother William Herbert Hunt – two Dallas billionaires who tried to corner the silver market. The brothers used their profits from Libyan oil fields to begin quietly buying up silver during the 1970s, a time of high inflation. At one point, the Hunts controlled an estimated 110 million ounces of silver. They were also major stockholders in the Sunshine Mine near Kellogg. During the Hunts’ high-stakes gamble, the price of silver briefly shot above $50 per ounce in January 1980. The brothers’ speculative buying came to an abrupt end when commodity exchange rules were modified, forcing the Hunts to put up money they didn’t have or quickly sell off their silver stocks/Becky Kramer, SR. More here. (SR photo/Kathy Plonka: Jerome Bunde, agent at Pennaluna & Co., talks on the phone with a customer at his office in Wallace on Thursday)

Question: Is this a good time or a bad time to buy silver?