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That’s because it’s not the value of a commodity rising, it’s the value of the dollar diminishing.

When was a kid in the mid 1960s, several of the local merchants would happily give me and my friends five beautiful Morgan silver dollars in exchange for a five dollar bill. The kindly owner of the Mobile station across the street had a save full of them, which he said were too heavy and inconvenient.

Or, perhaps he was impressed that we valued the silver and traded them out of kindness.

Anyway, I thought the coins were beautiful and my parents were both precious metal enthusiasts - although they never had enough savings to invest anything significant.

For several summers, I’d mow lawns and exchange a $5 for the coins each week.

I collected 120 of them during that period, which I still have sixty years later. I’ve never had them appraised, but assuming I have none of the super valuable ones, and only a few that are heavily worn, I expect they are worth more than their melt value - which would be about 120*61*.75, or $5400.

Now, I have a lot more silver than that, which I purchased 10 years ago at $15 per ounce - but the Morgans I collected when I was around 13 are my favorites.