FYI The Hunt Brothers and the Silver Crash In early 1979, two Texas billionaires, W. Herbert Hunt and his brother, Nelson Bunker Hunt, decided that they were going to get into the silver market in a...

FYI The Hunt Brothers and the Silver Crash

In early 1979, two Texas billionaires, W. Herbert Hunt and his brother, Nelson Bunker Hunt,  decided that they were going to get into the silver market in a big way. Herbert stated his  reasoning for purchasing silver as follows: I  became convinced that the economy of the  United States was in a weakening condition. This reinforced my belief that investment in precious metals was wise . . . because of rampant inflation. Although the Hunts stated reason for purchasing silver was that it was a good investment, others felt that their real motive was to establish a corner in the silver market. Along with other associates, several of them from the Saudi royal family, the Hunts purchased close to 300 million ounces of silver in the form of either actual bullion or silver futures contracts. The result was that the price of silver rose from US$6 an ounce to over US$50 an ounce by January 1980. Once the regulators and the futures exchanges got wind of what the Hunts were up to, they decided to take action to eliminate the possibility of a corner by limiting to 2000 the number of contracts that any single trader could hold. This limit, which was equivalent to 10 million ounces, was only a small fraction of what the Hunts were holding, and so they were forced to sell. The silver market collapsed soon afterward, with the price of silver declining back to below US$10 an ounce. The losses to the Hunts were estimated to be in excess of US$1 billion, and they soon found themselves in financial difficulty. They had to go into debt to the tune of US$1.1 billion, mortgaging not only the family s holdings in the Placid Oil Company but also 75 000 head of cattle, a stable of thoroughbred horses,  paintings, jewellery, and even such mundane items as irrigation pumps and lawn mowers.  Eventually both Hunt brothers were forced into declaring personal bankruptcy, earning them the dubious distinction of declaring the largest personal bankruptcies ever in the United States.  Nelson and Herbert Hunt paid a heavy price for their excursion into the silver market, but at least Nelson retained his sense of  humour. When asked right after the collapse of the silver market how he felt about his losses, he said, A billion dollars isn’t t what it used to be.