Silver

In 1889, Charles Tiffany and other New York merchants presented a signed scroll to President Benjamin Harrison marking the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington. A century later, the scroll isn't nearly as significant as the vessel it came in: an intricately decorated silver cylinder.

In the end, the 205-year-old sound of mallet striking metal was gone. All they were trying to do at Porter Blanchard's place in Calabasas was strike a deal--to hammer out some sort of arrangement that would keep a dying art alive. Since colonial days, the tapping of the craftsman's hammer had been the heartbeat of the Blanchard family. Silver was in their blood--and eight generations of Blanchards passed the secret of making exquisite dinnerware by hand.

The flamboyant Hunt brothers of Texas, whose combined riches once totaled an estimated $6 billion, were found guilty in federal court Saturday of attempting to illegally corner the silver market eight years ago--a move that marked the beginning of a downward financial spiral that has eroded much of their vast fortune.

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor known for his Midas touch, has turned to silver. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corp., said in an unusual news release Tuesday that his holding company has purchased 129.7 million ounces of silver in the last six months. That much silver may represent more than 20% of the world's estimated supply at the end of 1997.

Silver prices plummeted around the world Monday after a market analyst said lawyers in the United States are preparing to sue over an alleged scheme to corner the silver market in an attempt to drive prices higher. Gold may have lost its luster for investors, but silver shined so much last year that speculation has been rampant that its rise has more to do with manipulation than solid physical and investment demand.

After Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston folded every article of clothing in their rooms, the synchronized diving tandem headed to the bus Sunday morning. En route, Johnston turned to Bryant with a muted reminder: Don't forget to bring the podium outfit. You know ... just in case. And after breakfast and some episodes of "Burn Notice" and "Pretty Little Liars," bobbing along to the music in her headphones, contemplating a meet that would be her last, Bryant was in a happy place and offered her own reminder to Johnston: No matter what, we've done amazing things.

Beautiful, functional and intrinsically valuable, silver seems to have it all. And with a recent gift of 430 pieces of 18th and early 19th century American silver from the estate of Miriam Maclaren Marble, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens suddenly has a lot more of it. The donation--officially titled the Mrs.

Warren Buffett's purchase of 20% of the world's silver may anticipate a new use for the metal in fuel cells, according to an upcoming report by an industry consultant.

The price of silver hit its highest level in more than 22 years Tuesday, after U.S. regulators paved the way for an exchange-traded mutual fund that would invest directly in the metal. The Securities and Exchange Commission said it approved rule changes that would allow the American Stock Exchange to list shares in Barclays' proposed iShares Silver Trust. Speculators bid up silver futures, betting that the fund could mean heavy new demand for the metal.

One-time Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt will pay a record $10-million penalty and be barred from all commodity trading under a settlement of civil charges that he tried to rig the silver market in 1979 and 1980, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday. The penalty, the largest fine ever levied by the CFTC, will be collected only after Hunt pays his "multimillion-dollar debts to the Internal Revenue Service," the CFTC said.