the ascent of money, page-9

PPH, the Spaniards ruined their economy due to mining so much silver that they flooded the market. But in those days, silver (and gold) was currency in the form of coins, so they were in effect increasing the money supply for the same amount of goods. Possibly analagous to the US QE that is happening now. I'm sure you're way ahead of me on this but I just wanted to point out that precious metals in those days really were money but they are not really negotiable currency now. Therefore the closest analogue of silver then is paper money now.