Price of silver changes constantly as silver is traded on the world’s commodities markets.  These buy and sell silver prices – or spot prices – can be found on several websites including www.kitco.com and are stated in silver’s price per Troy ounce.  Since silver is a storehouse of value as well as a metal used in industry such as the manufacture of medicines and electrical components, factors impacting the price of silver include economic growth, economic downturns and investor’s speculative behaviors.

In a stable economic environment, the price of silver typically trades at 1/50th the price of gold so it would take 50 Troy ounces of silver to equal the value of one Troy ounce of gold.  This is referred to as the gold/silver ratio.  But, currently the gold/silver ratio indicates the price of silver hovering in the vicinity of 63 Troy ounces of silver to that of one Troy ounce of gold.  Silver for investment can be purchased in several forms including silver bars, silver coins, silver rounds and investments such as ETFs (exchange-traded funds) or stock in silver mining companies.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver

http://www.kitcosilver.com/

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page33?oid=102016&sn=Detail