Gold
—
Metals desk
Prices live in the bar above. The tape is five years of COMEX. Then the 1980 highs in today’s money.
Tape
COMEX closes, not a tick tape. Spot in the bar is the same metals feed as the clock.
Gold
—
Silver
—
Ratio
—
Charts load from COMEX when the feed answers.
January 1980
Gold’s London print was $850. Silver’s Hunt-era print was $49.45. CPI is official inflation. M2 is the money stock.
Gold
Printed $850 · 21 Jan 1980
Spot $4,456
CPI-adjusted all-time high
$3,627
above
M2-adjusted all-time high
$13,310
33% of ATH
Silver
Printed $49.45 · 18 Jan 1980
Spot $66.5
CPI-adjusted all-time high
$211
32% of ATH
M2-adjusted all-time high
$774
9% of ATH
CPI: FRED CPIAUCSL (2026-07 vs Jan 1980 = 78.0). M2: FRED M2SL (2026-07 vs Jan 1980 = $1,483 bn). Spot: live metals feed.
Since the Fed
Purchasing power of $1 at the founding of the Federal Reserve. Official CPI.
Lost
97.0%
of 1913 purchasing power
Left
3.0¢
what $1 from 1913 buys now
To match $1 then
$33
today’s dollars
Purchasing power of $1 (1913 = $1.00)
Source: FRED CPIAUCNS, last observation of each year. 1913 CPI = 10.0; 2026 = 333.918. 2026 is year-to-date.
Official sector
Absolute: reported net tonnes in the window. China and Poland look different here than in percent.
+346 tWGC net official demand, H1 2026 (through Jun; includes unreported)
| # | Country | Reported net | Start stock | Growth | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poland | +82 t | 468 t | +17.5% | Jun 2026 |
| 2 | China | +60 t | 2,306 t | +2.6% | Jun 2026 |
Official prints only — no estimates. 2026 YTD uses the latest figure per country (PBoC/SAFE for China, WGC monthly for the rest). WGC has not published the July all-country table yet. World total is WGC GDT H1, not the sum of the table. Top 15. Compiled fallback.
Global precious metals clock
Six numbers on the face. Boards underneath. Spot ticks. The rest is a dated print, or a dash.
Au
live
— — —USD / oz
15-minute print. Weekends stay last close.
Ag
live
— — —USD / oz
Same feed as gold. Not a tick-by-tick tape.
GSR
live
— — —oz Ag / oz Au
Live ratio. 15:1 is history, not a target.
Official
Dec 2025
35,908t
Countries + IMF + ECB, one year-end vintage. Not BIS. 2026 buying is not in this stock yet.
Cover
2025
— — —%
IMF 2025 gross public debt vs our official book mark-to-market. Not all above-ground gold.
Silver
2024
15.3months
Identifiable bullion (vaults) ÷ 2024 fabrication. Gold has no analogue.
Gold — a stock
Official reserves
35,908t
Net official buying, YTD
346t
CB take of mine supply
24%
Investment gold per person
6.3g
Buying is WGC GDT H1 2026. Take is 2025 official / WGC mine. Grams: bars, coins, ETFs over 8.2bn people.
Silver — a flow
Official silver
47t
Mine + recycle vs demand
-4,681t
Months of visible cover
15.3mo
Investment silver per person
0.15oz
2024 Silver Institute. Official sector is a rounding error. Visible ounces are vaulted bullion, not jewelry.
Official
Jun 2026
18%
WGC above-ground split. Wider than our official book.
Jewelry
Jun 2026
45%
Mostly India and China. Not a vault float.
Investment
Jun 2026
23%
Other
Jun 2026
14%
Live
live
— — —×
History
const
15 : 1Ag : Au
Rome / 19th-c. US coinage. Not a forecast.
Spread
live
— — —×
How many times the old mint ratio the market is paying.
Geology
2025
7.9 : 1Ag : Au
USGS 2025e: 26,000 t silver / 3,300 t gold. A byproduct fact, not fair value.
World
2025
$111TUSD
IMF WEO gross public debt, 2025. Not IIF’s larger ‘all debt’ stock.
All gold
live
— — —USD
WGC Jun 2026 stock × spot. Jewelry plus vaults. Not all of it can be sold at the posted price.
Official
live
— — —USD
World official tonnes × spot. A mark, not a bid for the whole stack.
Cover
live
— — —%
Cover
live
— — —%
USD
2026
$23.2TUSD
FRED M2SL, compiled year. Not per-second. 2026 is latest, not a completed year.
EUR
Jul 2026
€17.6TEUR
Compiled ECB print (Jul 2026). Live feed missed; this is the seed, not a gag.
CNY
Jul 2026
CN¥355.5TCNY
PBOC Jul 2026. Dwarfs the others. Do not hide it in a world sum.
JPY
Jul 2026
¥1,297TJPY
BOJ Jul 2026. FRED’s Japan M2 series stopped years ago.
USD
live
— — —% lost
Share of the 1971 gold ounce a dollar no longer buys. Bretton Woods closed 15 Aug 1971.
EUR
live
— — —% lost
First euro session, 4 Jan 1999 (~€244/oz). Gold in euros = USD gold ÷ EURUSD.
CNY
live
— — —% lost
Official 1971 rate, not a market yuan. Same gold-window dollar as the USD tile.
JPY
live
— — —% lost
¥360 × $40.62 at the gold window. Bretton Woods closed 15 Aug 1971.
COMEX Au
daily
— — —×
No clean daily feed we trust. Futures claims vs registered metal — still a dash.
LBMA
monthly
— — —×
Turnover, not the same as COMEX. Stays dashed until we store a dated print.
ETFs
Jun 2026
4,000t
WGC above-ground split, Q2 2026. Not a daily holdings tape.
COMEX Ag
daily
— — —×
Same gap as gold: no daily COMEX registered series in this desk.
Vaults
2024
1,239moz
Silver Institute identifiable bullion, 2024. Not a London or COMEX daily vault print.
ETFs
daily
— — —t
No clean daily ETF stock we store. Identifiable silver is the yearly proxy above.
Fed
Dec 2025
8,133t
ECB
Dec 2025
507t
The ECB’s own book. Eurosystem (national banks + ECB) is a larger sum, not this tile.
PBoC
Jun 2026
2,346t
Latest PBoC/SAFE print. Newer than the world year-end stock.
World
Dec 2025
35,908t
Same figure as the face. Compiled seed if GSHQ is offline.
Dashes are missing prints, not broken widgets. COMEX open interest and LBMA clearing stay empty on purpose. Desk with the figures we already store →
Money stock
All three start at 100. If gold tracks the printing press, it rides with M2.
US M2
33×
since 1971
Gold
113×
M2-implied $1,328 · actual $4,609
Silver
50×
M2-implied $45.44 · actual $69.41
| Year | Gold | Silver | M2 $bn |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | $40.62 | $1.39 | 710 |
| 1980 | $613 | $20.98 | 1,600 |
| 2000 | $279 | $4.95 | 4,927 |
| 2008 | $872 | $14.99 | 8,203 |
| 2011 | $1,572 | $35.12 | 9,684 |
| 2020 | $1,770 | $20.55 | 19,119 |
| 2024 | $2,386 | $28.27 | 21,488 |
| 2026 | $4,609 | $69.41 | 23,218 |
M2: FRED M2SL. CPI: FRED CPIAUCSL. Metals: annual averages (LBMA / COMEX); 2026 is latest, not a completed year. M2-implied price = start price × (M2 now ÷ M2 then). Compiled desk — not a live feed.
Read next
The desk is the numbers. The articles explain why they matter.
The idea
Definitions only: hard money versus fiat, purchasing power, and what “backed” does and does not mean. Dated events live under History.
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What happened
Five chapters from ancient coinage to 1971. Weimar, the Fed, and the Nixon shock live here — not under the definitions.
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How to handle metal
Bars versus coins, premiums, storage, fakes at a high level, and a first-ounces checklist. Neutral and educational.
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Current figures
Official book value, central-bank gold, the gold–silver ratio, and physical silver demand by country — dated market facts. Not sound-money history, and not how to buy a bar.
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