For months the precious metals markets have shown strength in the face of continued bear raids by the large commercial traders seeking their $40-$50 price swings. Recent comments by John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics reveal just how strong gold and silver really are.

According the Williams, the monthly-average gold price hit an all-time high of $679.37 per troy ounce in April 2007. That beat out the prior monthly-average high of $676.51 in May 2006, when daily trading hit $725.00, and topped the previous high of $675.31 in January 1980, when daily trading hit an all-time high of $850.00.

April was a good month for silver as well; silver posted its strongest monthly average in more than two decades, $13.74 per troy ounce.

Williams further notes that the nature of gold trading is such that high volatility likely will continue, as will sporadic central-bank manipulation and intervention. Yet he sees the upside potential for gold being explosive, particularly when heavy dollar selling begins.

Central bank sales are again getting the blame for gold’s failure to climb higher, and perhaps rightfully so. Central banks have unloaded in the last few weeks, but Jon Nones, writing for resouceinvestor.com, says that increased central bank gold sales are no reason for concern.

As Nones points out, central bank gold sales are they are well within the limits agreed to by the signatory European central banks that comprise the Central Bank Gold Agreement, agreed to in 2004.

What makes the sales newsworthy is that a large number of ounces were dumped in the last few weeks, putting downward pressure on the price of gold. There is no way of knowing if the sales were coordinated to push prices lower, but that is certainly within the ream of possibility.

Another bit of information to be gleaned from the article: investors hold more gold than the world’s central banks. It seems that the value of gold has not been lost in this world of paper money in which we live.