Shiny Sunshine Silver Showcase!

Say that post title three times fast. I recently got my hands on this silver medallion in a free market trade. It was produced by Sunshine Minting in Idaho. Time for some glamor shots!

Such a pretty face there!

And, oh my, a scandalous backside shot!

Rowr! So cheeky!

Idaho's Silver Valley has produced a lot of silver ore. Unfortunately, the silver is mixed in with a lot of galena (lead), and mining produces a lot of pollution. It's less of a problem now, but past practices were atrocious, and the effects linger. There is a massive EPA Superfund cleanup effort.

People there are very opinionated on the topic. Some residents were angry when unleaded topsoil was brought in, and weeds grew. People thought the new soil was intentionally sabotaged, but here's the thing: IF WEEDS WOULDN'T EVEN GROW BEFORE, THAT SHOWS HOW TOXIC THE SOIL WAS! Pioneer plants can't get a toehold? That is bad. People have suffered from inter-generational heavy metal poisoning, which is very different from, and far more objectively real than, the loud music satanic panic in the 1980s.

To my mind, the mines should have been responsible for cleanup costs. Admittedly, the federal government gleefully minted their silver into coins for decades, and the state and federal governments claim direct ownership over the majority of the land in Idaho, but the silver mines profited by poisoning land and water. The people who lived downstream or were sold land in the area are owed restitution by those who actually did the harm, not by millions of tax victims.

Despite all that, though, silver trumps fiat any day of the week. Lead may poison the Silver Valley, but fiat-funded wars have poisoned entire countries.