Nelson Bunker Hunt, the billionaire oil tycoon who once tried to corner the world's silvermarket, died yesterday in Dallas at the age of 88. He was an heir to the Hunt oil fortune and atone time, among the richest people on the planet. But a huge bet on the silver market in the late'70s led to a silver craze and a financial debacle.

Hunt's obituary in The Dallas Morning News describes him as an oilman, patriot, horseman,Christian and John Birch Society member, among other things. But in financial circles he and hisbrother were best known for owning a frighteningly big chunk of the world's silver. They wantedto hedge against raging inflation, they said.

"They bid up the price of silver from $9 an ounce to, at its peak, something like $50 anounce in January 1980," said John Coffee, a professor at Columbia University.

But when worried regulators set new trading limits on silver, the Hunts couldn't meet amargin call. Silver prices collapsed, they lost over a billion dollars, their lenders were introuble, and yes, a federal bailout of sorts ensued. Hunt declared bankruptcy - the largestpersonal bankruptcy in American history.

Jim Stone, who chaired the Commodity Futures Trading Commission at the time, today said thesilver crisis "nearly torpedoed top financial institutions in much the same way mortgagederivatives did in 2008." The Hunts were highly leveraged, and that problem, Stone says,remains "unfixed" and "the lesson unlearned."

To read the complete article, see:
Theoil man who caused a silver craze - and bust(www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/oil-man-who-caused-silver-craze-and-bust)

To read the Dallas News obituary article, see:
Nelson Bunker Hunt, second son of legendary wildcatter H.L. Hunt, dies(www.dallasnews.com/obituary-headlines/20141021-nelson-bunker-hunt-second-son-of-legendary-wildcatter-h.l.-hunt-dies.ece)