Surprisingly, there is not too much gold left in the world and the following account attempts a summary of all that exists at present. Here, the price has been benchmarked as $2000 for each ounce. When gold prices hit the $3110 per ounce mark, the value of one ounce of gold and a $100 note, would be quite the same in terms of weight. Therefore, it would not matter whether you possess one ounce of gold or bills of $100! Usually, troy ounces are used for measuring gold. And one troy ounce equals 1.09 regular ounces.

The Standard Size Chart

Gold is available in standard sizes, in the form of bullion plates as well as cubes. If you consider plates, standard sizes would include 1 grams, 5 grams, 10 grams, 20 grams and 1 ounce. For cubes, the sizes would be 50 grams, 100 grams, 250 grams, 500 grams and 1 kilogram. For cubes, the gold volume and weight in measured in terms of 19.30 g/cubic centimeters. Plates however, adhere to typical bar dimensions of similar gold weight.

As a tool for investment, gold has been steadily outperforming Dow Jones for eight consecutive years in a row. And it is now for centuries that people have been trying to reproduce gold. Thus far, there has been no mentionable success. The look of pure gold is also pretty difficult to reproduce digitally.
One ton of gold is now priced at $64.3 million, at the rate of $2000 per each ounce. The prices of gold have scaled up from $18.92 per ounce in 1911 to a whopping $1,700 in 2012. The rate of price inflation has been more than 9000%! Recently, fake bars that are filled with tungsten have been discovered in Manhattan. Such fake versions of gold bars can be ordered also from chinatungsten.com and tungsten-alloy.com.

10 Tons or 100 Tons?

Usually, the task of handling countries’ gold reserves, specifically in the west, resides with the specific Central Banks. A few generations back, the American dollar was backed up by gold and therefore, the Federal Reserve had to retain gold. Now, the dollar is being supported America’s confidence in repaying its funds and debts. According to Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, the reserve now holds gold not as currency but only as part of a prevailing tradition.

Interestingly, even a couple of years back, when the prices of gold were lower, a B2 Bomber was actually pricier than its weight in gold!

American Gold Reserves

The total gold reserves in America amount to 8,133.5 tons, coming for a book value of $11,041,059,958. As is known, possession of gold was considered a criminal offence in 1933 and after confiscation; it was devalued to $20.67 per ounce from $35 per ounce. America remained on gold standard till 1971 and the possession of gold remained illegal up to 1975.

The World Gold Reserves

Developing countries have been extensively buying gold through coming years. India has been the top buyer followed by China. The New York Federal Bank holds 540,000 bars. Germany stocks 45% reserves with the Fed. Whereas Germany has started off with shipping back its gold, several other governments have also begun gold hoarding with China being the prime example.

If all of the gold that has been ever mined in the world could be melted and cast into a solid cube form, this cube with sides measuring 20.5 m would be enough for fitting into an Olympic Swimming Pool!