As of 1/19/26, Silver is $89/oz

John Wiegerink · 2026-01-27T12:42:03-0500

mshchem said:
Silver is a byproduct (coproduct) of copper mining as well.

Yes, and I know China has some very big Copper mines. How much they extract there, I wouldn't even guess.

John Wiegerink · 2026-01-27T12:47:06-0500

pentaxuser said:
I imagine that Ilford's sheet films are a very small portion of its sales these days so any further drop in demand may have little effect on its future prospects

pentaxuser

I think Ilford is in pretty good shape except for the U.S. market where the blasted tariffs have caused me to now buy Kodak now. Trust me, I don't like Kodaks pricing scheme on much of their film (bulk 35mm B&W and sheet film), but 120 B&W seems to have come down to earth a little. Maybe Kodak is trying to corner the 120 B&W market when it comes to quality B&W films????

Alan Edward Klein · 2026-01-27T12:47:47-0500

mshchem said:
Electronic Traded Funds require physical metal in London vaults (for example) . Each share of GLD requires that the ETF have 1/10 ounce of gold in their vaults. Same is true for the silver funds.

From a hopeful perspective silver may flow back out triggering a crash in prices.

I think Ilford is going to be in a good place, regardless of silver (noise) along with Foma, but Ilford especially to serve the needs of fine art silver photography and printing.

How does anyone know they actually have the gold or that it hasn't been loaned out?

MattKing · 2026-01-27T12:50:21-0500

John Wiegerink said:
I think Ilford is in pretty good shape except for the U.S. market

As the US is Harman's largest market, that phrase may contain its own inconsistency!

John Wiegerink · 2026-01-27T13:31:26-0500

MattKing said:
As the US is Harman's largest market, that phrase may contain its own inconsistency!

Yes, you're right Matt, but maybe I'm the only one that has went back to Kodak B&W film. In that case Harman/Ilford will be okay. I don't buy enough film to make a bit of difference anyway. All I know is that these tariffs cost me my hard earned money. I bought a badly needed camera part off eBay, from a fellow in Canada, it cost me twice the cost of the item just to get it to Michigan and it came from just across the Windsor tunnel near London, Ontario! Not to be political, but this really hurts a tight Dutchman. All I know is that the current tariff BS is making a lot of things uncertain and we all know what happens with uncertainty. FEAR! The only good thing I get out of this is that I have a large collection/stash of 173 coins Walking Liberty, Kennedy and Franklin half dollars. I just don't know when to sell them off and take the money and buy film and paper.

retina_restoration · 2026-01-27T13:37:07-0500

John Wiegerink said:
Yes, you're right Matt, but maybe I'm the only one that has went back to Kodak B&W film.

You're not. TMY was averaging $12 per roll five years ago and Delta 400 was closer to $9.00, but now, it's the other way around: Ilford Delta 400 is $12.49 and TMY is $8.80
Because of the price shift, I've stopped buying Ilford and once my Ilford cache is used up, it will be either Kodak or Fomapan, I expect.

John Wiegerink · 2026-01-27T14:10:32-0500

retina_restoration said:
You're not. TMY was averaging $12 per roll five years ago and Delta 400 was closer to $9.00, but now, it's the other way around: Ilford Delta 400 is $12.49 and TMY is $8.80
Because of the price shift, I've stopped buying Ilford and once my Ilford cache is used up, it will be either Kodak or Fomapan, I expect.

Yikes, Paul, that doesn't sound so good for Ilford films and papers for sure. Maybe some smart scientist can come up with something that is "light sensitive" besides silver for film making? Okay all you chemists, get working!

retina_restoration · 2026-01-27T14:12:12-0500

John Wiegerink said:
Yikes, Paul, that doesn't sound so good for Ilford films and papers for sure. Maybe some smart scientist can come up with something that is "light sensitive" besides silver for film making? Okay all you chemists, get working!

I think this is going to hurt Ilford, eventually.

Alan Johnson · 2026-01-27T14:32:49-0500

Alan Edward Klein said:
How does anyone know they actually have the gold or that it hasn't been loaned out?

London Bullion Market Association vault holdings data is released shortly after each month end. The custodian of the ETC is the usual source of more information.
IDK what is the situation in the US.

As of 1/19/26, Silver is $89/oz

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