I don't know if you guys have seen this. If it's already been posted then please do forgive me.... http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=7113
So what? The fact that most of the German gold reserves are in the US may be news for Mr Keiser, but that's about it. What Mr Heller writes at numismaster.com ... well, learning about the facts would have helped. Of course I don't blame you for not knowing this, but for "experts" such as Keiser or Heller it should not be news that most of the Bundesbank's gold reserves are stored in the US. Here is an article about this, in German, which is more than five years old. A member of the Bundesbank board, Mr Hans H. Kotz, talks about the locations outside Germany - Fed/New York, BoE/London, BdF/Paris. http://www.manager-magazin.de/geld/artikel/0,2828,306483,00.html And even then, this was "old hats". The gold has been there for decades. Christian
Well, learn something new everyday. This doesn't bother you at all? Let's see....if it were the other way around I think a lot of folks over here would be wanting to know how come?
Green it would bother me if it was the other way around , with US gold held by another country , but the way everyone buys forein pretty soon our gold will belong to the manufacturing countries . rzage
I did like this part of the article. "At the ANA convention, classic U.S. gold coins were strong. In particular, U.S. double eagles and circulated $5 Liberty coins rose significantly in price."
Thinking of the past is ok , just so we learn from it , something it seems like we have a hard time doing . rzage
Uh, people over here know "how come" - provided they are interested in such stories. As I wrote, all this is not new. Only a small portion of Germany's gold reserves is actually stored in Germany. Now as an American you may say, I do not trust anybody outside the US, thus our gold has to be in our home turf. Well, others think differently about such things - that vault in NYC has gold from more than 50 different countries AFAIK. From the Bundesbank's point of view it makes sense to store the gold near the place where it was acquired. Also, in the years of the Cold War, New York was considered safer than Frankfurt. Today gold reserves do not have the relevance any more that they had 30 years ago or so. How much sense would it make to transfer the "German gold" from New York City, London or Paris to some place in Germany? Think shipping and storage cost ... Christian
"PS" - Here is another article, also in German (and pretty long), about the country's gold reserves. Note the publication date: July 1, 2004 - again, more than five years ago. http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/maerkte/goldreserve-der-letzte-schatz-der-deutschen-526129.html What the Bundesbank does indeed not publish, according to that article, is periodical reports about the "distribution". So you won't find info such as "1234 tons of our gold are located in New York City, another 567 tons are in London, and 432 tons are ...", apparently for security reasons. If Heller (author of the numismaster.com article) did not know until very recently that most of Germany's gold is not in Germany - well, so what. But trying to turn that into a "stunning admission" or a "revelation", this is just silly. Christian
I think what you're not getting green is what chrisild meant when he said "safer". In Europe, and many other countries, the governments feel it is safer to store their gold in the US because of history. It was not uncommon in the past for one country, in Europe say, to invade another and simply take all of their gold and precious metals during a war. With their gold safely stored in the US, that is not likely to happen.
Maybe I should visit this place next time I am in NYC, hehe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Liberty_Street As mentioned before, other locations of "German gold" are London, Paris, Frankfurt, etc. On the other hand, it's not just "German gold" that is stored in Manhattan. This brochure http://www.newyorkfed.org/education/addpub/goldvaul.pdf (just came across it, via the Wikipedia page) has some more info ... and some impressive photos. Christian
OK guys, think I've got it now. World economics is not a strong point with me. Home economics (personal)....that's something I can understand. I remember reading a long time ago that gold from numerous countries was stored here in the US. Any time a major transaction was initiated they would just roll the gold from "country A's" area to "country B's". I never realized that a country would entrust it's entire stocks of gold to another. Maybe a portion but not the whole enchilada. Aside to Doug: Nice pictures of the new "digs" (Big Boys Toys).
Well, when you've had your whole enchilada stolen a few dozen times in the last 2000-4000 years you tend to get tired of it.
