Ann: Bowdens Silver Update,KCN-SVL.AX, page-27

Silver has always had industrial uses, even back in the day when the average worker was paid in silver coins.

For example, in ancient times Roman soldiers campaigning abroad noticed that when they dropped silver coins in vessels of water, it would reduce the chance of a soldier becoming sick after drinking the water thanks to the antibacterial properties of the silver.

This is also why silver became widely used for cutlery and drinking in the Middle Ages: the silver tableware reduced the incidence of food poisoning.

Indeed, it could be that the antibiotic properties of silver might explain why silver became the dominant form of coin worldwide: those people, such as the Romans, who used silver as currency became well acquainted with the medicinal properties of silver, and thus were more likely to live for longer than the cultures who used other forms of money, and ultimately over the long run they may have ended up dominating other cultures simply by outliving them.