The rise in price of one ounce of silver has been sharp in 2017, more so than the highly publicized climb of gold's price.

There has been a lot of buzz recently about the price of gold’s rise in 2017, but the price of silver has enjoyed an even steeper climb since Christmas.

One ounce of silver was priced at $17.93 at 11:31 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 15, according to Kitco. That is up more than $2 an ounce since Dec. 23, when the price closed at a $15.74 — the lowest it had been since it closed at $15.56 on April 11, 2016.

That $2.19-per-ounce rise represents a 13.3 percent rise, which is actually higher than the 8.6 percent rise that the price of gold has experienced during the same time period (from around $1,131 per ounce to the $1,228 it sits at on Feb. 15).

Connect with Coin World:

Sign up for our free eNewsletter

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

This should not come as a shock, as explained in a Feb. 7 Lombardi Letter post:

Precious metal investors have a special affinity for silver, and some circles dub silver as “the poor man’s gold.” The most intriguing factor surrounding this metal is its correlation to the gold price. These two metals are married at the hip, but with one caveat: the silver price tends to dramatically outperform gold when a rally in the precious metals space ensues. If gold is set to rise, then the silver price will undoubtedly follow, with much more vigor.

Clearly, silver is doing what it’s expected to do, and following gold’s lead.

What is interesting about the precious metals’ latest rally is that it is happening in the midst of good times in the stock market.

From Dec. 22 to Feb. 15, the Dow Jones has risen right along with gold and silver, from 19,918 to 20,575, according to Google Finance. It’s up from 18,332 on Nov. 8, Donald Trump’s election day.

Here's what we wrote last week about the price gold:

So why isn’t the price of gold falling with the strong performance of the stock market?

Adam Shell of USA Today writes, “Here’s a short checklist: Economic policy uncertainty in the U.S. under President Trump. Political anxiety surrounding the populist movement in Europe and elsewhere. Ongoing stimulus from global central bankers. Angst over rising inflation. The U.S. dollar falling in value versus foreign currencies.”

Donald Trump thinks a return of the gold standard would be ‘wonderful’: The gold standard was a system under which currency values were tied directly to gold, allowing gold to be exchanged between nations with different forms of currency.

The $17.93 silver price is high compared to where it stood around Christmas, but low compared to where it was for most of summer 2016. The price spent a lot of time in the $19 to $20 range, with a high close of $20.71 on Aug. 7, 2016.

What caused that summer spike?

We wrote in July that the spike was driven by increased buying from Asian investors, with Mining.com crediting the increased demand to the anticipation of additional monetary stimulus initiatives pursuant to the U.K.’s Brexit referendum to exit the European Union.