"Given thoses small numbers, I'm kind of surprised that a large, non-cartel, central bank hasn't blowned the lid on this market yet!"

The next financial crisis might be the final catalyst - the "ignition switch" you're looking for Major. I wanted to add another point in that I anticipate another huge rapid drawdown in dealer Silver inventories with the next market panic as investors scramble to secure even more physical insurance. This is going to bring down registered inventories to as low as 20 million ounces which ain't a whole lot to go around. You can bet your lunch money the hedgies will draw blood at the first whiff of dealer weakness and you don't want to be in an unallocated Silver account at that point. Imagine Silver leading Gold for a while as the market finds a new equlibrium all the while giving a handsome boost to ECU's bottom line.