[Atlas Sneezed]

To put the 1979 bubble in perspective:

In August of 78, Gold broke through the $200 barrier after years of trading in the $100-200 range. (Paper bugs were worrying that it was a bubble).

By September of the next year (1979), gold doubled its record, hitting $400 (one-third of that gain coming in the final two weeks of the period).

In the following 15 weeks, gold doubled AGAIN (with half of that rise in the last two weeks of the period).

THAT, my friends, might be an indication of a bubble.

Note that the price stabilized in the $300-400 range for years to follow (with ample opportunity to sell at over $500, so unless people bought in the final month (after gold had more than doubled an all-time high in a year), they enjoyed ample gains.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Here's the comparison:

I'll leave it to others to overlay these, but it's pretty clear that the past pattern is not being repeated presently.

I got these from a very handy charting site:

http://quotes.post1.org/historical-gold-price-chart/