Blog
The Money Behind the Name
In 1729, Thomas Prior was wrestling with a rather awkward problem: Ireland had gold coins, but people were struggling to find the change. Portuguese gold pieces known as moidores circulated at valuations which, he argued, had encouraged silver and other coins to leave the country. Having something valuable in your pocket was useful, although rather […]
The Silver That Had Two Jobs
In August 1942, Colonel Kenneth Nichols went to the US Treasury to ask if he could borrow 6,000 tons of silver. There was a war on, copper was scarce, and the Manhattan Project needed enormous electrical conductors for the equipment being built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Silver would do the job, provided he could get […]
The Debt Behind the Money in Your Wallet
If you have ever taken the time to look at a banknote issued by the Bank of England, you may have noticed that it carries the words “I promise to pay the bearer on demand”… Pay the bearer what, exactly? Twenty pounds for a twenty-pound note? Feels a bit like a circular conversation might be […]
The Fed Hiked. Gold Fell. Now The Real Test Begins.
Jan Skoyles takes us through Chair Kevin Warsh’s unanimous hike, the Fed dot plot signalling rates above 4% into 2028, PCE inflation at 3.7% with no return to 2% until 2029, the near 3-point gap with the White House 1% target, Treasury yields near 5%, and oil above $100. She maps three paths for bullion: […]
The Gold That Changed Its Passport
In March 1921, officials at the United States Treasury faced an unusual problem. Gold arriving from Europe appeared suitable for purchase by the American mint. It was easy enough to test both its weight and purity, and therefore establish its value. But they didn’t want it. The Treasury didn’t want it because the gold was […]
Russia Sent 100 Tonnes of Gold East. Is This How Dedollarisation Really Begins?
At the time of writing, gold is trading around $4,362 an ounce, down roughly 0.9% today, while silver has fallen more sharply to about $64.92, a decline of 3.3%. The immediate trigger was yet another uncomfortable US inflation report, in the form of August’s PPI. Producer prices rose 0.4% in August and 5.4% over the […]
What Would You Bury in the Garden?
What We Trust Six true stories about money, ownership and survival A six-part GoldCore Friday Read series using true episodes from financial and social history to explore what money is, what ownership means, why intelligent people speculate, where wealth becomes safe and what we are ultimately trying to preserve. At about three o’clock on the […]
Preparing for the Next System Shock: Central Banks Move Gold to London
A central bank governor says he never expects to use his country’s gold, but his institution has spent months, and real money, moving 86 tonnes of it across an ocean so it can be used the moment it is needed. That is a real contradiction and one that sits at the heart of our latest […]
Gold Hits $4,600 While Everyone Watched Canada Geese
Gold went from $4,085 to over $4,600 in the space of a month, while most of the financial press was distracted by US-Canada trade theatrics and the odd geopolitical curveball. In this month’s webinar, Jan Skoyles returns from leave to unpack what actually moved the market in August: Japan’s near $100 billion yen defence unwinding […]
