Silver has been used as a currency since earliest recorded history. Large-scale silver mining developed in Anatolia by 3000 BC. This was to meet the demand from the first ancient city states, which used the metal as a common medium of exchange.

In 1200 BC, Athens opened the Laurium silver mines. The discovery and exploitation of the massive silver seams at nearby Laurium enabled ancient Athens to finance an army and navy, and win control of the Aegean from the Persians.

In 200 BC, Spain became the major supplier of silver for the Roman Empire. Silver from Spain fueled the ancient economies of the Mediterranean for centuries. Spanish silver financed the expansion of the Roman Empire, supplying up to 200 tons of silver a year at peak production. These were the largest silver mines in the world, until the Spanish conquest of Central and South America.

In 1545, Spanish conquistadors discovered the massive silver deposits of Potosi, in Bolivia. The next year, large silver deposits were uncovered in Mexico. Several other silver-bearing areas were also discovered in Peru. Spanish possessions in these nations accounted for approximately 85% of global silver production in the time between the Conquista and these Latin American nations achieving independence in the early 1800s.

Up until the 19th century, most nations were on a silver standard with silver coins forming the main circulating currency. Then, as an after-effect of the Franco-Prussian War and a global supply glut of silver, most nations moved to a Gold Standard. The United States passed the Coinage Act of 1873, which halted production of silver dollars and limited the legal tender amount of smaller silver coins to five dollars. Western mining interests then forced a series of legislative acts that required the U.S. government to buy silver and mint it into dollars. More such Acts followed all the way into the 1960s which resulted in the US government becoming, in turn, the biggest buyer and seller of silver.

Responding to persistent investor demand for a government-produced silver investment vehicle, Congress authorized the American Eagle bullion coin program. In addition to various sizes of Gold Eagles, a one troy ounce Silver Eagle began production. The American Silver Eagle (ASE) would become the world’s leading silver bullion coin.