The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that wild swings in the price of silver are confounding coin dealers across Canada as they scramble to keep up. The Globe's Andrew Galbraith writes that silver set a record of more than $120 (U.S.) on Jan. 29 before logging its biggest-ever daily drop the next day. Refiners, who melt down silver items including coins to create bars of pure silver, are facing backlogs of weeks or months. Collectors are ruing the loss of irreplaceable historical artifacts to refiners' furnaces. That 27-per-cent drop on Jan. 29 is taking even industry veterans by surprise. What began as a slow rise in the price of silver driven by growing industrial demand and expectations for falling interest rates has turned parabolic. In Canada, it is illegal for individuals to melt currency and refiners must be specifically licensed to melt legal tender. The Royal Canadian Mint regularly melts and refines Canadian coins, and while there is a backlog, the Crown corporation said in a statement to The Globe that there had been no significant delays. "While the Mint is currently receiving high volumes of silver coins, we are continuing to deliver for all our refining customers," the mint said.