Pressed for Money, Hunts Sell Silver Hoard at $1-Billion Loss

The Texas Hunt family, pressed by a growing need for cash to pay off debts, has sold most of its silver and has taken a $1-billion loss, it was reported today.

The sale of much of the Hunts’ 59 million ounces of silver came in small amounts over the last several months, a family spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.

In one of the boldest and most costly attempts ever to corner the market in a precious metal, the Hunts lost an additional $1.1 billion speculating on silver futures contracts in 1980.

“Now the selling pressure is off, we expect silver prices to go up about $2 in a few weeks’ time,” said G. Michael Boswell, president of Dallas-based Sunshine Mining Co.

Silver prices have been hovering around $6 per ounce all year.

The Hunt spokesman, whom the newspaper did not name, declined to say how long it took the family to sell the silver, but he said it was sold “in an orderly fashion through normal market channels.”

The decision to sell the silver in the current soft market represents a reversal from the Hunts’ previous intention of waiting until prices rebounded. Silver prices were at $18 to $20 an ounce in late 1979 and reached nearly $40 an ounce before they crashed in early 1980.

Bankers told the newspaper that the Hunts may have been moved to sell the silver by a 1980 agreement with the Federal Reserve Board.