Gold in contemporary history: 1945 - present

In 1945, gold's coverage of dollars was reduced by 25.5%. In London in 1954, the gold market was reopened which had been closed since the beginning of World War II. 
 
The first South African Krugerrand coins were produced in 1967, but it was illegal to export them to several Western countries due to anti-apartheid legislation. This Krugerrand has a gold content of 22 carats and the rest of the coin consists of copperwhich gives it a light orange colour. Only from 1975 did Krugerrand coins become available in the United States. 
 
Om de opgelopen tekorten met het buitenland te kunnen dekken bracht de Amerikaanse president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 het goud uit Fort Knox op de internationale goudmarkt. Dit betrof voor het grootste deel het privé goud dat Roosevelt in 1933 confisqueerde van de Amerikaanse burgers.
 
French President Charles de Gaulle soon understood that something was up and for the international balance of payments, he no longer wanted dollars but asked for the shipping of barrels of gold. This came to an end in August 1971 when President Richard Nixon decoupled the dollar from gold. This made it impossible for other countries to exchange their US dollars for gold. 
 
With the abandonment of the gold standard and the hyperinflation of the 1970s, the gold price rose from $35 to almost $700 from 1971 to 1979.
In 1974, US investors launched the first no-load fund in precious metals, which still exists today as ‘The Gold and Precious Metals Fund’ (USERX). In the early 1980s, the company opened a second gold-focused fund called ‘The World Precious Minerals Fund’ (UNWPX). The fund specialised in mining companies and it too exists to this day. 
 
In 1979, the second gold investment coin was launched: the Canadian gold Maple Leaf. This coin has a gold content of 24 carats. In 1985, it became the most traded gold coin worldwide after South Africa stopped minting the Krugerrand.
In the early 1980s, the gold price declined again and moved mainly between $300 and $500 for the rest of the decade. 
 
In 1999, the gold price plunged to a 20-year low of $252.80. Underlying this are fears and rumours that governments will dump gold on the market en masse. Later that year, the price rises 25% after 15 major central banks sign the first ‘Central Bank Gold Agreement’(CBGA) with each other. This agreement aims to stabilise the gold price and restricts governments from putting their gold stocks on the market by up to 400 tonnes a year.
 
Disclaimer: The Silver Mountain does not provide investment advice and therefore this article should not be considered as such. Past results do not guarantee future results.