What is the Historical Price of Gold?
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Gold has served as the most important monetary standard throughout history. It is measured in troy ounces and the price of gold is typically stated in terms of the cost of one ounce. One ounce is equivalent to 31.1 grams or .07 pounds.
Historically, the United States has fixed the price of gold. The price of an ounce of gold was fixed at $20.67 for many decades until 1934 at which point the price was raised to $35.00. In 1968 a two-tiered pricing structure was established, and by 1975 the price of gold was allowed to fluctuate. In January of 1980 the price of gold reached its peak, and by the year 2000 the price dropped to $272.
Carat is the term used to specify the purity of gold. 24 carats refers to pure gold.
To give you an idea of the historical value of gold, here is a chart that shows the closing price of an ounce of gold on the New York Exchange for every five year period since 1800.
| year | value of one ounce of gold | |
| 2000 | $272 |  |
| 1995 | $386 | |
| 1990 | $424 | |
| 1985 | $354 | |
| 1980 | $641 | |
| 1975 | $151 | |
| 1970 | $38 | |
| 1965 | $36 | |
| 1960 | $37 | |
| 1955 | $35 | |
| 1950 | $40 | |
| 1945 | $37 | |
| 1940 | $35 | |
| 1935 | $35 | |
| 1930 | $21 | |
| 1925 | $21 | |
| 1920 | $21 | |
| 1915 | $21 | |
| 1910 | $21 | |
| 1905 | $21 | |
| 1900 | $21 | |
| 1895 | $21 | |
| 1890 | $21 | |
| 1885 | $21 | |
| 1880 | $21 | |
| 1875 | $23 | |
| 1870 | $23 | |
| 1865 | $30 | |
| 1860 | $21 | |
| 1855 | $21 | |
| 1850 | $21 | |
| 1845 | $21 | |
| 1840 | $21 | |
| 1835 | $19 | |
| 1830 | $19 | |
| 1825 | $19 | |
| 1820 | $22 | |
| 1815 | $22 | |
| 1810 | $19 | |
| 1805 | $19 | |
| 1800 | $19 | |
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Bookmarked this article. I can imagine I will be linking to it for some time to come.
Part of what I was looking into was the prospect of a Gold Standard for US currency similar to what Ron Paul and other Austrian economists support. One chief argument I've heard against the measure is that the value of gold has fluctuated too much in the past for it to be a reliable standard today. But as the table shown clearly shows this was not, and is not the case. The price for an ounce of gold remained completely stable and in line with the Gold Standard the entire time. We see a slight price jump in 1840 after states were allowed to issue paper money, but other than that, it remained stable even when the gold rush occurred from 1848 to 1855, and when we temporarily left the gold standard during WWI. But alas, the stability of the price of gold changed after 1933 when we left the gold standard. After Nixon totally severed all ties the dollar had to gold in 1971, we see the price skyrocket. Seems like our money needs to come back to its roots, and free banking deserves another chance.
- anon21875
How do I find out the price of American Eagles and Krugerands in 2004?? Someone in my family has sold some gold coins and needs the original value to claim the gains on income taxes.
- cjeansa
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