Ursa,
You know a lot about money. Since your advice leads me to believe that gold is valueless, what should I invest in? Lead? Brass? Paperclips? Oh, wait, what about iron?
R.J.D.
Pork bellies. They never go out of style.
MMMMMM… Bacon.
Gold has never been a good “investment” over the long run. What it was for many years was a way to get your savings to survive inflation. The nifty thing about gold was that it would always be worth the same in real goods.
Have you heard this one?
In 1910 you could buy a new suit for one $20 gold piece. In 1990 you could buy a new suit for that same piece of gold (we’re just talking about the value of gold, not the value to a collector). You see? The gold was worth the same in 1910 as it was in 1990. You couldn’t say the same thing about a $20 bill. So, it was a better idea to stuff your mattress with gold than it was to stuff it with paper currency.
So, say, you invested in gold in 1910 and kept it for 80 years; it’s worth no more in 1990 than it was in 1910 (in goods). That’s a lousy investment, in my opinion.
Now if you took that $20 in 1910 and invested it in, say, Ford or Standard Oil, or just put it in a bank (one that survived the Great Depression) you would have a hell of a lot more to show for your investment in 1990 than a new suit.
Commodities (like lead, brass, paperclips, porkbellies and iron) are bad long term investments. A smart wall streeter can make a tidy sum buying and selling them during short term fluctuations, but in the long run an oz of gold or a porkbelly isn’t going to be worth much more in exchange for other goods than it was when you bought it.
The problem with gold is that its value is based on its rarity. As national banks sell off their reserves, gold becomes less rare and less valuable. That 1910 $20 gold piece probably won’t get you a new suit in ten years if countries keep flooding the market with their gold reserves.
Put your money in real estate, stock, a bank or your own business. Those are real investments.
That 1910 $20 gold piece is worth at least $1000 today. From ebay.com:
1910-S NGC MS64 Saint Gaudens $20 Gold piece $1000.00 46 02/28
Handy-
That’s how much it’s worth as a collectable. As gold it’s only worth about $300.(I’m assuming it weighs about an ounce.)
Gold the best conductor? what a joke. Silver is the best conductor. But copper is the most economical conductor.
~-MCM-~
‘…
Gold the best conductor? what a joke. Silver is the best conductor.’
Oh baloney. THey don’t silver coat wires for conduction much they Gold coat them, however, because of no tarnish.
The was great debate prior to the Bretton Woods Agreement that changed the relationship between dollar value and gold reserves. Of note were of group of dissenters from the gold standard school of thought known as bimetallists. They felt that silver and gold, or gold and prescious stones might do a better job than just gold itself. Here’s where it gets a little wacky…an economics text that I used in university described how the author of The Wizard of Oz was one such bimetallist and the story was a metaphor of the debate itself, yellow brick road lead to emerald city …yadda yadda yadda…wizard is the Fed Bank - just a deception behind a curtain - which leads us to original question and the gold behind the curtain of security at Fort Knox.
“This is a stick-up…give me your gold”
The United States abandoned the gold standard for domestic purposes during the New Deal years. For decades after that, FOREIGNERS could demand to trade their dollars for gold, but Americans could not. However, Richard Nixon finally severed even that tenuous connection between gold and the dollar. So, today the dollar is backed only by the guarantee of the US government.
Speaking of silver 
, what ever happened to the old silver certificates. I seem to remember people hoarding them many years ago.
I think they were a different color on one side.
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
A 5 min. search answered my own dumb question. If interested, look here; http://www.friesian.com/notes.htm
Peace,
mangeorge