Beyond being desired for its beauty and many uses, gold was used to create coins (currency). Silver and copper eventually replace gold for the production of coins and paper currency was introduced. Paper currency was originally created as a receipt for gold, representing a certain amount of gold as its value. The value of gold is currently around $900 an ounce, but it has fluctuated greatly over the years. Today’s gold prices depend on its investment value on Wall Street, but this has not always been the case. The United States government fixed the price of gold so at $20.67 per ounce until 1934. It wasn’t until 1975 that gold became an entirely free market investment. Since then, the price of gold has varied from $200 an ounce to more than $1,000 an ounce. While the $850 an ounce price that it reached in 1980 is no longer a record, it is easily the highest amount when adjusting for inflation (roughly $2,176 an ounce by today’s standards).

Since its peak in 1980, the price of gold has stayed between $250 and $500 an ounce, and since September 2007, the price of gold has not dropped below $700 an ounce or risen above the $1,023.50 per ounce (a record set in March 2008).

It is largely speculative that the price of gold will continue to rise as economic times worsen, and is due in part to the historical fact that the value of gold rises as the dollar weakens.