Demand outstrips supply – what will this mean for the work of Memory Making?
As the BBC stated in Dec 2025 “Experts say the value of silver was pushed up as strong demand from the technology industry outstripped supplies. That has helped more than double the value of silver this year as it outperformed other precious metals, including gold. “Silver is not only an investment asset but also a physical resource,” and more manufacturers are finding a need for the material… The precious metal, which conducts electricity better than gold or copper, is used to produce goods like electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels. Experts predict that rising sales of EVs will further push up demand for silver, while advanced batteries for the cars will require even more of the metal. But it is difficult to quickly increase silver supplies as the majority of global output is a by-product from mines that mainly extract other metals like lead, copper or gold. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62vn22523xo
After seeing silver climb more than 200% over the last few months we have just seen a large drop over the last few days, but personally in light of the value silver can gift to the world in so many areas of life, not the least the memory making for families who have lost a loved one, I can’t help feeling that this drop may only be a temporary drop.
As The Conversation says: Before Friday’s fall, the metal had surged more than 60% in just the past month, far outpacing gold’s still impressive run of around 30%… Yet despite attracting slightly lower total investment overall at A$104 million, silver trading activity exploded by far more: it’s been 1,000% higher than the year before…From February 2025 to just before Friday’s sharp drop, the price of silver had surged 269%. https://theconversation.com/silver-and-gold-hit-record-highs-then-crashed-before-joining-the-rush-you-need-to-know-this-274622
For Artisans who use Silver Clay to create the pieces they make for people, often very precious Memory Pieces of Souls who have left this life, these times which require us to face the fact of demand out stripping supply might spell a difficult time ahead, unless ordinary people are willing to pay the cost of the materials, which in fact hold an important intrinsic value in their own right, in order to remember and honour their loved ones.
– A brief history of metal clay – In the early 1990s, Japan’s Mitsubishi Materials Corporation redesigned the manufacturing facilities they were using to refine gold for use in the microchips they produced. A while later, Dr. Masaki Morikawa, a metallurgist and the director of the new facility was inspired to create a type of modeling clay from the precious scrap left over from the manufacturing process1. His experiments led to what we now know as the brand Precious Metal Clay (PMC®). 
https://amcaw.org/
“In July 2023 Silver Spot prices were considered to be extremely high when they reached AUD$33 AUD per ounce. However since 2023, the silver spot price has broken all previous silver records and seen even more significant price surges. In December 2025, the silver spot price reached an unprecedented AUD$100 AUD per ounce. Unfortunately as a result, Silver Metal Clay manufacturers, distributors, resellers, artists and hobbyist around the world are now facing significant, never seen before, silver metal clay price increases. The more complex the silver fabrication, manufacturing method is, the more expensive the end product will be. Unlike traditional silver which is simply melted and milled into wire or sheets, the manufacture and fabrication of raw materials to make silver metal clay the amazing and unique product it is, is a specialized, expensive and complex process. Unfortunately the myriad of factors mentioned above have severely compounded the costs for manufacturers of silver metal clay around the world.”
