They got there as well. :-)

That $50/ounce for silver in 1980 represents fools parting themselves from a lot of money. It does not represent any sort of intrinsic value for silver. Furthermore commodities tend to be rather volatile but not very good long-term investments. From 1979 to now silver went from $5/ounce to $7 or so. From 1979 to 2003 it would have to get to $13.48 just to keep up with inflation. As you'll note, it didn't do that.

Cheers,
Ben