The Key To The Gold Vault.pdf

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THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK
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GOLD VAULT
THE KEY TO THE GOLD VAULT
Indeed, there can be no other criterion, no
other standard than gold. Yes, gold, which
never changes, which can be shaped into
ingots, bars, coins, which has no national-
ity and which is eternally and universally
accepted as the unalterable fiduciary
value par excellence.
Charles de Gaulle
INTRODUCTION
As one of the metallic elements in the earth’s crust, gold
is as old as the planet itself and is found and extracted
on all continents. It is referred to by many as the “king
of metals” and always has been assigned a role far
beyond its value as a commodity.
nations and international organizations that choose to
leave their monetary gold reserves in custody with it.
This publication outlines the history of gold and
explores its financial significance and the unique role of
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in storing and
safeguarding the exquisite metal.
Gold has been coveted by the great and wealthy —
from pharaohs to modern-day heads of state — as a
means of ostentation. It has been desired by the com-
mon folk for its beauty of appearance and beloved by
goldsmiths for its splendid working qualities. Gold has
provided material for great artists, novelists, and poets.
And, over the years, it has been used to decorate cathe-
drals and palaces, to honor Olympic medalists and
movie stars, and to celebrate 50th wedding anniversaries.
Exemplifying supreme appeal and arousing human
desire, this metal, above all others, has been used for
centuries as a medium of exchange, a measure of value,
and a store of wealth.
LE GRAND MYSTIQUE
One of the oldest civilizations known to man, the
Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who lived in what is mod-
ern-day Iran and Iraq, first used gold as sacred, orna-
mental, and decorative instruments in the fifth millenni-
um B.C. Around the same period, the early Egyptians —
the richest gold-producing civilization of the ancient
world — began the art of gold refining. Like the
Sumerians, the Egyptians used gold primarily for per-
sonal adornment, rather than for monetary purposes,
although the kings of the fourth to sixth dynasties
(c. 2700 - 2270 B.C.) did issue some gold coins.
The gold you see in the vault of the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York attracts more than 25,000 visitors a
year. It is the world’s largest accumulation of gold and
belongs to approximately 60 foreign governments and
central banks and international monetary organizations.
Only a very small portion of this gold belongs to the
U.S. Government. The Federal Reserve Bank does not
own the precious metal but serves as guardian for the
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The first large-scale, private issuance of pure gold coins
was under King Croesus (560-546 B.C.), the ruler of
ancient Lydia, modern-day western Turkey. Stamped with
his royal emblem of the facing heads of a lion and a bull,
these first known coins eventually became the standard
of exchange for worldwide trade and commerce.
Following the collapse of the Lydian Empire in 546
B.C., the Persians gained control of Asia’s richest gold
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sources, which gave it far greater power in the world.
The standard gold coin of the Persian Empire was the
daric, named after Darius the Great (521 - 486 B.C.).
Alexander the Great of Macedonia (336 B.C. - 323 B.C.)
subsequently established a rival coinage system that
served as one of the important factors in his conquest
of Persia and the movement of gold into Europe. Later,
Emperor Augustus (31 B.C. - A.D. 14) was the first
Roman to establish a golden currency, known as the
aureus, which helped spur the dynamic expansion of
the Roman economy.
As history has shown, humanity was of secondary con-
cern. By 1521, Spain had overthrown the Aztecs, and
Mexico, with its vast stores of gold, became part of the
Spanish Empire. Soon thereafter, Spanish explorers con-
quered the gold-rich Inca civilization of Peru and
destroyed its golden sun temples, which were covered
in ornaments of dazzling beauty.
Although they acquired immense wealth, the Spaniards
continued their quest. The myth that gold was created
by the striking of the sun’s powerful rays against mud
led the Spanish Conquistadors to search in areas where
By the time the Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th cen-
tury, gold had been used as both a tool of trade and a
means to accumulate wealth for many hundreds of
years. For medieval Christianity, though, gold remained
a mystical symbol of eternity and light, as represented
in such objects as crowns, halos, and altars.
wide tropical rivers flowed. Soon, rumors began to cir-
culate of a fabulous city along the equator — El Dorado
— where the houses and lake were made of solid gold
and the people wore fabrics of gold.
As these stories spread, other Europeans began to
finance expeditions in search of the great source of gold
During the 16th century, as the New World was being
explored, gold currencies became prevalent in Europe.
After Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in
1492, other expeditions set sail to uncover the gold trea-
sures rumored to lie in these distant lands. King
Ferdinand V of Spain issued the order, “Get gold,
humanely if you can, but at all hazards get gold.”
proclaimed to lie somewhere in South America. Sir
Walter Raleigh, the British explorer, obtained a special
grant from Queen Elizabeth I in the late 1500s that
allowed him to search for the mysterious South
American city. Raleigh, after returning empty-handed,
wrote a book,
The Discoverie of the Large, Rich and
Beautiful Empire of Guiana,
detailing everything
“known” about the great city. Although no one ever dis-
covered such a city, belief in the legend kept searches
Early Egyptians, the richest gold producers of the ancient world,
began the art of refining around the fifth millennium B.C.
going for centuries.
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