Reply #10: Well, at least the "silver incident" is mentioned... [View All]

[KansDem]

No Hunt legacy would be complete without mention of silver. But Lamar Hunt played only a minor part in that drama. During the late 1970s, Nelson Bunker Hunt and Herbert Hunt tried to corner the world silver market. Lamar did not get involved with his brothers until late in the deal, but when the bottom fell out of the silver market, all three lost significant amounts of money.

The trusts of the three brothers — left from their father H.L. Hunt — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bunker and Herbert also personally filed for protection under Chapter 11.

Lamar did not file for personal bankruptcy, but did agree to pay $17 million to a state-operated mining company in Peru as his part of a settlement in a lawsuit against the Hunts.

Here's more information, if you're interested...

The Hunt Brothers and the Silver Bubble

In 1973, the Hunt family of Texas, possibly the richest family in America at the time, decided to buy precious metals as a hedge against inflation. Gold could not be held by private citizens at that time, so the Hunts began to buy silver in enormous quantity.

In 1979 the sons of patriarch H.L. Hunt, Nelson Bunker and William Herbert, together with some wealthy Arabs, formed a silver pool. In a short period of time they had amassed more than 200 million ounces of silver, equivalent to half the world's deliverable supply.

When the Hunt's had begun accumulating silver back in 1973 the price was in the $1.95 / ounce range. Early in '79, the price was about $5. Late '79 / early '80 the price was in the $50's, peaking at $54.

Once the silver market was cornered, outsiders joined the chase but a combination of changed trading rules on the New York Metals Market (COMEX) and the intervention of the Federal Reserve put an end to the game. The price began to slide, culminating in a 50% one-day decline on March 27, 1980 as the price plummeted from $21.62 to $10.80.

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Buy and Hold

He may be "sportsman. A visionary. An entrepreneur. A gentleman. And a bit of a rebel" to Kansas City sports fans, but he sounds like just another robber baron to me...