Another consideration is the early years when silver was a pretty big component of government issued coinage. I would presume that would be a reason for the relatively flat price till coins started being made out of pot metal and the government sold out its surplus scrap coins. There is no more government scrap coins to hit the market as needed if the price got a little high.

Where is the price going???? Damned if I know. In the last several months I have sold a small percentage of my silver and turned it into CD's. The CD's won't keep up with inflation but it is easily spendable and at 71 I figure having a few fiat dollars in reserve is not to  bad of idea. I have some more open sell orders that I will sell a little more if the price goes up a bunch more. Once I get to half my stash (paper stash - PSLV) it will become a permanent holding if it ever gets to that point because if my price points are hit I likely will never need any of the rest of it. My kids will get to piss it away.