Gold Circle?
June 22nd, 2010
How many times have you heard people offhandedly say, “silver is the new gold,” lately? For me, it’s been a lot, but it always went in one ear and out the other because I never really knew what they were talking about, or what the “old gold” even was. Now that I work on the film, Silver Circle, I’m making it my business to know, and I finally have the opportunity to learn (and call it “working.” Shh.)
When you hear it on the street, people seem to be referring to gold’s and silver’s roles in jewelry rather than as precious metals. As our economy weakens, it makes sense that people have less spending money, and that trends accommodate this transition. Jewelry stores plug silver as a more affordable, yet equally fashionable, alternative to gold. Therefore, customers that may not have bought anything at all become excited to purchase silver jewelry-leaving gold, the extravagant, passé alternative in the dust.
Aesthetics aside, though, gold is making a splash in its original form as a precious metal (think gold bars). The price of gold is often inversely proportional to the success of the economy at any given time. In other words, as the economy takes a downturn, gold generally goes up, making money for those who sell it, and remaining an active market while other commodities stagnate. And because the values of precious metals usually stick together, the same is true of silver.
In terms of its chemical makeup, silver may have a hard time as “the new gold.” Gold isn’t more valuable than silver just because some Medieval queen preferred yellow to grey. Gold is inert at normal temperatures, meaning that salt, water and oxygen do not affect it. The oxidization of silver, on the other hand, causes it to rust, which definitely limits the metal’s versatility and value. These chemical differences, as well as gold’s historically high value, will most likely keep gold on top.
Then why aren’t we making the movie Gold Circle? The film’s director, Pasha Roberts, explained to me that it’s lower monetary value would actually make silver a more practical currency than gold. Imagine trying to buy your morning coffee with a hunk of gold. You’d have to break out the microscope to find a small enough piece with which to pay. Silver, the “poor man’s gold,” actually makes a lot more sense as an emerging currency, though it may never outshine gold in terms of value.
Most importantly, the true-to-size silver coins in this film are big enough for viewers to make out the sweet Silver Circle logo, and we wouldn’t want to miss out on that. Pictures to follow!
Metallically Yours,
Laura
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