Gold Price History (Last 100 Years)

Gold's Price History (1915-2022)

From January 1925 to July 2022, gold increased from $19.25USD/oz to $1714.36USD/oz resulting in a total return of 8,806% or an annualized return of 4.26% per year. Throughout much of history, when the U.S was on the gold standard, the price of gold was fixed. However, once former President Nixon took the U.S of the gold standard, the price fluctuated and increased dramatically.

Historical Events in This Period

January 1st, 1933: New Deal (FDR)

The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939.

January 30, 1934: Gold Reserve Act

The United States Gold Reserve Act of January 30, 1934 required that all gold and gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be surrendered and vested in the sole title of the United States Department of the Treasury. It also prohibited the Treasury and financial institutions from redeeming dollars for gold, established the Exchange Stabilization Fund under control of the Treasury to control the dollar’s value without the assistance (or approval) of the Federal Reserve, and authorized the president to establish the gold value of the dollar by proclamation. 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt Broadcasting his First Fireside Chat Regarding the Banking Crisis, from the White House, Washington, D.C.

July 22, 1944: Bretton Woods Agreement Signed

The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the United States, Canada, Western European countries, Australia, and Japan after the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent states. The Bretton Woods system required countries to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars to within 1% of fixed parity rates, with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks at US$35 per troy ounce of fine gold (or 0.88867 gram fine gold per dollar).

Bretton Woods Conference room

July 23, 1965: Coinage Act of 1965

Enacted July 23, 1965, eliminated silver from the circulating United States dime (ten-cent piece) and quarter dollar coins. It also reduced the silver content of the half dollar from 90 percent to 40 percent; silver in the half dollar was subsequently eliminated by a 1970 law. 

Two stacks (unwrapped rolls) of Half dollars, demonstrating the effects of the Coinage Act 1965 in action - the stack of clad post-1971 half dollars can instantly be recognised by the reddish-brown copper cores visible from the edges of each coin, while the silver Walking Liberty half dollars have bright white edges and faces.

August 15, 1971: Bretton Woods Agreement Ends

On August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon announced his New Economic Policy, a program “to create a new prosperity without war.” Known colloquially as the “Nixon shock,” the initiative marked the beginning of the end for the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates established at the end of World War II.

Richard Nixon's presidential portrait.

June 01, 1981: Volker Raises Interest Rates

Paul Volker raised interest rates dramatically peaking at 21.5%.

October 19, 1987: Black Monday

The first contemporary global financial crisis unfolded on October 19, 1987, a day known as “Black Monday,” when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22.6 percent. 

March 2000: Dot-Com Bubble Peak

Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Composite stock market index rose 400%, only to fall 78% from its peak by October 2002, giving up all its gains during the bubble.

September 11th, 2001: September 11th Attacks

A series of four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda.

September 11 attacks in New York City: View of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty.

January 2008: Start of the 2008 Financial Crisis

The financial crisis of 2008, or Global Financial Crisis, was a severe worldwide economic crisis that occurred in the early 21st century.

January 19th, 2020: CDC Confirms First US Coronavirus Case

 A Washington state resident becomes the first person in the United States with a confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, having returned from Wuhan on January 15, thanks to overnight polymerase chain reaction testing. 

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Famous Investors on Gold

Warren Buffet on Gold

"It doesn't do anything but sit there and look at you."

Ray Dalio on Gold

"Over the long run, the price of gold approximates the total amount of money in circulation divided by the size of the gold stock"

Robert Kiyosaki

“Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions, and race. A person may not like someone else’s religion, but he’ll accept his gold”