Free Republic

Are we approaching a peak in the price of gold? According to several mainstream economists, we are indeed. But, they’re DEAD wrong and today I’ll show you why. See, their argument relies on the inflation-adjusted price of gold. In January of 1980, the price of gold reached a local peak near $850 per ounce. According to official U.S. inflation statistics, $850 in January of 1980 would be equivalent to $3,504 today. In the 45 years since then, gold has increased in value by nearly 300% to $3,346. That’s getting close to the “official” inflation-adjusted 1980 price of $3,504. So are...

Officials claim they used coins discovered inside a shipwreck off the coast of Colombia to prove the doomed vessel is the legendary San José that was carrying a $20 billion treasure when it sank. The Colombian government used an unmanned vehicle to inspect the wreckage of the 18th-century craft to prove it has found the lost Spanish galleon. The submersible carried out a non-intrusive investigation to document areas of the shipwreck that have yet to be photographed that contained coin-like objects, according to a study from Antiquity. Coins found in a hoard area in the ship’s stern were photographed and...

Whatever happened to the Donald Trump and Elon Musk visit to Fort Knox? You’ll recall the buzz from earlier this year. Trump and Musk loudly announced they were going to visit the U.S. bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky to make sure the U.S. gold was actually there. The press was invited to tag along. Musk claimed that his DOGE team was ready to “audit” the gold bars to see that there were none missing. I had my own views on the announcement (described below) but I certainly agreed this would be the mother of all photo ops. For the...

A stunning gold Saxon sword pommel that was unearthed in a field in Leicestershire, England by an 81-year-old woman has sold at auction for $22,000 (£16k).The rare 7th-century artifact was found in 2021 while the long-time metal detector enthusiast was searching a field during a local gathering of detectives.They told her that there was nothing to be found in the field where she was searching, but she persevered and found the gold pommel seven inches beneath the ground...Weighing 20.5 grams, the pommel -- which the Leicester Museum declined to purchase -- would have been fixed to the end of the...

A 350-year-old ring belonging to the Sheriff of Nottingham is set to fetch thousands at auction after being unearthed by a metal detectorist in a find 'worthy of Robin Hood'.The ancient, high-carat gold signet ring was uncovered by chance by a lucky detectorist on farmland in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, last summer.The treasure once belonged to Sir Matthew Jenison, who served as High Sheriff of Nottingham between 1683 and 1684 and looked after trees in Sherwood Forest.His family were known for gleaning wealth from a hoard of valuables left in their safekeeping during the English Civil War which were never reclaimed.The ring,...

A metal detectorist who discovered a gold mourning ring dating from the 18th century is overjoyed after it was declared a British treasure.Malcolm Weale unearthed the ring in a field in the eastern county of Norfolk last August and said he was 'shaking' as it sparkled in the sunlight.The lost jewelry is believed to be a memorial ring for Sir Bassingbourne Gawdry -- the 3rd Baronet of Harling -- who died in 1723, a year that was engraved on the inside.Mourning rings are worn in memory of someone who has died, typically bearing the name and date of death of...

Members of Congress Introduce Comprehensive U.S. Gold Audit Legislation By Jp Cortez Sound Money Defense League Friday, June 6, 2025 WASHINGTON -- As U.S. debt soars and foreign central banks stockpile gold, four members of Congress today introduced a bill to require the first comprehensive audit of America's gold reserves in decades. Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Addison McDowell (R-NC), and Warren Davidson (R-OH), the Gold Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 3795) would require a full assay, inventory, and audit of all United States gold holdings. Importantly, H.R. 3795 will also require full disclosure of all transactions...

First, the federal debt crisis has reached a breaking point, with skyrocketing interest payments now surpassing defense spending and on track to become the largest single budget item. This trajectory is unsustainable, signaling that a major financial reckoning is imminent. Second, the Trump administration views the US dollar as severely overvalued, believing it is crippling the economy and that urgent intervention is necessary…. Devaluing the dollar is a boon to debtors, especially the US government, allowing it to borrow in dollars and repay in dimes. Short of an outright default—which Washington is unlikely to do—a weaker dollar is the only...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared gold and silver legal tender. HB 999 maintains that these precious metals may be used in payments if they meet specific purity standards. The bill goes into effect on July 1, 2026, but many are confused as to what this will entail. As stated in the legislation: “Legal Tender; Revising the sales and use tax exemption for certain coin or currency; specifying that a person who claims the sales tax exemption bears the burden for determining whether the gold coin or silver coin meets a specified definition; providing a presumption regarding the purity requirements...

KEY POINTS -The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold to Singapore. -A growing sense of unease is driving the surge. - Wealthy investors are also opting for physical gold bars instead of paper for several reasons. The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold offshore as economic and geopolitical uncertainty roils markets — and Singapore is emerging as a favored destination. Not far from the city-state’s airport sits a six-story facility covered in onyx and fortified by tight security. Tucked behind its steel doors are gold and silver bars amounting to about $1.5 billion. Known as “The Reserve,” the storage facility...

You can find many unusual things in gardens, but stumbling upon a treasure worth millions of Dollars isn’t exactly common. Michel Dupont, a 52-year-old farmer from Auvergne, accidentally discovered a gold deposit on his land valued at 4 billion Dollars. This discovery stands as one of the most significant finds in French history. However, Dupont’s joy was short-lived, as the government soon informed him that everything found beneath his garden legally belongs to the state. The discovery occurred while Dupont was walking along a stream on his farm and noticed a strange shimmer in the water. He dug into the...

The U.S. Federal Reserve just pulled off something stealthy — over four days last week, without fanfare, the Fed vacuumed up $43.6 billion in U.S. Treasurys. That’s $8.8 billion in long-dated 30-year bonds on May 8 alone, plus another $34.8 billion earlier in the week. Not exactly small change. Quietly returning to the quantitative-easing trough isn’t standard Fed housekeeping — it’s like a bank robber returning to the scene because he forgot his car keys.

Gold has become such a hot commodity that Costco is apparently limiting how much its members can buy. The warehouse retailer began selling 24-karat gold bars to its members in 2023, with a limit of two bars per person. Now that limit has changed to one per transaction and a maximum of two bars per 24 hours, when you look on the retailer website, as previously reported by Business Insider. The price for a 1-ounce South African-made gold bar is $3,279.99, much higher than the $2,000 they were going for 19 months ago, shortly after Costco began selling them. However,...

The U.S. Federal Reserve just pulled off something stealthy — over four days last week, without fanfare, the Fed vacuumed up $43.6 billion in U.S. Treasurys. That’s $8.8 billion in long-dated 30-year bonds on May 8 alone, plus another $34.8 billion earlier in the week. Not exactly small change. Quietly returning to the quantitative-easing trough isn’t standard Fed housekeeping — it’s like a bank robber returning to the scene because he forgot his car keys. Let’s talk straight: This isn’t tightening. It’s stealth easing. It’s monetary policy on tiptoes. Some traders have begun to notice, and smart investors should too....

By Charlie Garcia What do central banks know that the rest of us don't? Something suspicious is happening with gold. Not the kind of suspicion when your neighbor suddenly buys a Ferrari. I mean the kind when a guy in dark glasses unloads mysterious crates at 2 a.m. In the first two months of 2025, America quietly imported more than 600 tons of gold from London and Switzerland, according to World Gold Council data - enough to make King Midas blush. Officially, economists at many major banks waved it away as a statistical oddity. "Relax," they said. "It's just bullion...

During the relief rally staged by markets after the U.S.-China trade deal, the price of gold faltered and now stands 5% below its peak set in the first week of May. But steepening futures contracts and central bank purchases suggest that underlying demand is robust and this year's rally still has legs. As illustrated by this chart from Correlation Economics -- https://x.com/GoldForecast/status/1922182749676245468 -- the gold futures curve is steepening -- a bullish indicator. Traders are betting prices will rise. Given the extent of the rally in risk assets with the S&P 500 rebounding 15% from its April trough, a much...

Scientists at CERN have turned lead into gold during high-speed experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), achieving a phenomenon once confined to ancient legend. The findings, published by the ALICE collaboration in Physical Review Journals, confirm that gold atoms can form under extreme conditions created during heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. While the transformation is temporary and cannot be harnessed for practical use, it marks a major scientific milestone. For centuries, alchemists have attempted to turn common metals into gold. This concept, once dismissed as pseudoscience, has now gained experimental footing. Researchers achieved the result by accelerating lead nuclei...

Two miners made an unforgettable discovery in 1869: a gold nugget the size of a human. But the real surprise came when they tried to weigh it. The world’s largest ever gold nugget, discovered in 1869 during the Australian gold rush, remains a symbol of extraordinary wealth. Weighing as much as an adult man, the Welcome Stranger gold nugget, uncovered by two Cornish miners in Victoria, Australia, would be worth millions today. The “Welcome Stranger” Nugget On February 5, 1869, two miners, John Deason and Richard Oats, stumbled upon what would become the largest gold nugget ever found. “It is...

U.S. banks will have a much harder time manipulating gold prices in the futures markets when Basel III regulations start applying to them on July 1, London metals trader Andrew Maguire says in this week's edition of Kinesis Money's "Live from the Vault" program. Pricing power in the gold market has already shifted from the New York Commodities Exchange to Asia, Maguire says, and will shift even more after July. Even now, Maguire says, China has been using smashes in the futures market to acquire as much physical gold as is available. The program is 45 minutes long and can...

The dollar keeps losing value with accelerated devaluation appearing inevitable, stocks seem inflated, and bonds don't seem good either. Gold and silver seem poised to go much higher, but the fees seem high for precious metal IRAs. Thoughts?