silver has grabbed the early lead in the race to be 2011's precious metal winner.

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silver has grabbed the early lead in the race to be 2011's precious metal winner.

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Silver prices poll updated with additional executive price targets

NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- Gold was the hot metal in 2010 but silver has grabbed the early lead in the race to be 2011's precious metal winner.

As gold prices struggle to hold new highs, silver prices are on a tear, reaching 31-year highs and up 31% already this year, but these levels are still a far cry from their $50 record.

Silver hit an all-time high of $50 an ounce in 1980 after the famous (or infamous) Hunt brothers bought the metal aggressively for 7 years; at one time owning more than 200 million ounces of silver.

The silver bubble burst soon thereafter, shedding 50% of its value almost immediately, and over the last 30 years the metal has traded as low as $4.

The appeal of silver is three-fold. Often called the "poor man's gold," silver performs the role of a hard asset -- a form of money that retains more value than paper c

urrencies. Silver, like gold, is also a safe-haven asset. There's been a lot of safe-haven headlines of late with the explosion of violence in the Middle East, rising food prices, riots, inflation, conflict between North and South Korea, a nuclear disaster in Japan and high unemployment.