21. The Collapse of a Plan to Control the Global Supply of a Precious Metal
The bubble market created by the Hunt brothers burst on March 27th, 1980, which came to be known as “Silver Thursday“. Prices collapsed, and the Hunts almost immediately lost over a billion dollars. Their family fortune survived, however, and the brothers pledged most of it as collateral for a rescue loan package. Unfortunately for them, the value of their family assets declined steadily throughout the 1980s. By 1985, their net wealth had dipped from over $5 billion just before Silver Thursday, to less than a billion.
Then things got worse, especially for the genius behind the silver hoarding plan, Nelson Bunker Hunt. The Hunt brothers managed to hang on for much of the 1980s, but their luck ran out in 1988. That year, they lost a lawsuit that accused them of conspiracy related to their silver speculation. They were hit with hundreds of millions in liability and fines. Nelson Hunt was hardest hit, and he broke the record for the biggest personal bankruptcy in America’s history. His assets were seized and sold to satisfy creditors. They included his oil fields, house, bowling alley, and a coin collection valued at $12 million.