The Story of Silver by Silber William L.;

Author:Silber, William L.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2018-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

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SILVER SOARS

THE ARRIVAL OF ISLAMIC MILITANCY IN IRAN MADE LIFE EASIER for Bunker Hunt, driving the white metal above $7 an ounce for the first time in history on Monday, February 5, 1979.1 According to James Sinclair, head of a brokerage firm bearing his name: “Anxiety has been heightened by the weekend events in Iran, which promises to raise the price of oil and reduce American and European influence in the Mideast.”2 The Ayatolah Khomeini, a white-bearded Muslim cleric wearing a black turban and flowing black robe, had arrived in Teheran from Paris on Thursday, February 1, two weeks after revolutionary demonstrators pushed the reigning Shah into exile. Khomeini greeted his supporters gathered at Teheran airport with, “Our final victory will come when all foreigners are out of the country. I beg God to cut off the hands of all evil foreigners and all their helpers.”3 Over the weekend the New York Times elaborated on the Ayatollah’s return from his fourteen-year separation:4 “Like Lenin returning to Russia after the overthrow of the Czar, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came home last week to complete his own very different form of revolution.” The Times added a dark prophetic note: “The process in Iran could be as chaotic and bloody as the consolidation of Bolshevik power.” When markets opened on Monday, February 5, investors grabbed for the white metal like it was a life preserver, starting a buying frenzy that would raise its value from $7 to $50 an ounce in less than twelve months, a sevenfold increase that has never been matched before or since. The difficulty of disentangling the role of worried speculators from scheming manipulators in the price explosion made Bunker smile.

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