Germany has 3,396 tons of gold worth €143bn (£116bn), the world's second-largest holding
Posted on 10/24/2012 7:36:13 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Germany withdrew two thirds of its vast holdings of gold from Bank of England vaults shortly after the launch of the euro more than a decade ago, according to a confidential report that emerged on Wednesday.
The revelation came as Germany's budget watchdog demanded an on-site probe of the country's remaining gold reserves in London, Paris, and New York to verify whether the metal really exists.
Germany has 3,396 tons of gold worth €143bn (£116bn), the world's second-largest holding
The country has 3,396 tons of gold worth €143bn (£116bn), the world's second-largest holding after the US. Nearly all of it was shifted to vaults abroad during the Cold War in case of a Soviet attack.
Roughly 66pc is held at the New York Federal Reserve, 21pc at the Bank of England, and 8pc at the Bank of France. The German Court of Auditors told legislators in a redacted report that the gold had "never been verified physically" and ordered Bundesbank to secure access to the storage sites.
It called for repatriation of 150 tons over the next three years to test the quality and weight of the gold bars. It said Frankfurt has no register of numbered gold bars.
The report also claimed that Bundesbank had slashed its holdings in London from 1,440 tons to 500 tons in 2000 and 2001, allegedly because storage costs were too high. The metal was flown to Frankfurt by air freight.
The revelation has baffled gold veterans. The shift came as the euro was at its weakest, slumping to $0.84 against the dollar. But it also came as the Bank of England was selling off most of Britain's gold reserves – at market lows – on orders from Gordon Brown.
Peter Hambro, chair of the UK-listed gold miner
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
bfl!
Beck was talking about this on his show this morning. He was encouraging STATES to take out their gold out of the Fed Reserve. Has him spooked.
Jet Jaguar,
Please ping your Goldbug list.
Thanks,
RT
Is Germany thinking of leaving the euro?
Thanks for the note.
Goldbug Ping.
I think what had Beck spoiled was the Chinese made tungsten-filled gold bars that were being found with Australian Mint stamps.
The point he made is that China is buying up gold left and right. I remember seeing a report on this some time ago.
LOL, stupid Germans. Boy oh boy, I thought they were supposed to be so organized, and so intelligent, and have such banking and business savvy.
And now i hear they have the 2nd largest Gold reserves of any individual nation. Don’t they know, holding gold is idiotic. On every gold thread here, i get an avalanche of reasons why nothing but a moron would hold gold.
Silly silly Germans,,so unsophisticated of them. Or,,,, maybe the gold haters here are the ones behind the curve?
That’s what I’m taking from this. They’re manipulating the gold market. i suspect we may be getting back to the ‘gold standard’ because of the economic uncertainty (which I hoped we would). And it was listed in the Republican platform, if I’m not mistaken.
How ‘bout somebody AUDIT U.S. GOLD RESERVES?!?!
Yeah, how would you like to be the auditor assigned to that engagement?
"Commission to set a fixed value for the dollar"
yitbos
GLD and IAU are big ETFs in which an investor can buy shares that are supposed to be backed by physical gold in vaults. I was big on these for a while, but sold my shares [for a decent profit] as I started to worry that vault or warehouse receipts of the gold may be found to not to be wholly back by the metal.
Of course that’s only a personal fear and not one that others would be wise to follow. I do believe a prudent investor should own some physical silver & gold in a safe place under one’s own control.
What if EVERY country loses faith that their gold is “real” was his point. Get your state to bring its gold home. Only then can they trust that it hasn’t been tampered with.
Thanks DB- I’m forwarding that link to my email list!
So, in the end, what’s worth more? Gold or lead?
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