For those interested in the precious metals markets, gold prices will usually be charted in US$. The reasons for that are very obvious. For many years now international gold prices have been quoted in the “reserve currency” which, also for many years, has happened to be the US$. So far as the weight being quoted is concerned, the tradition has for a long time been the price per ounce of gold. The same is true of silver. One question we need to ask, however, is what can, and could, one ounce of gold actually buy at the beginning of the chart period and then again at the end. In other words, what have the gold price trends been when expressed in purchasing power rather than in simple US$ terms. Now to most people looking for a gold price chart, whether per ounce or gram, the time period to be covered will vary considerably. However, the tendency will naturally be skewed towards short term price history. Day traders may be most interested in today's history only, short term investors maybe daily charts going back a few weeks or months, and then longer term investors may look to 5 or 10 year charts as part of their research. The American Constitution stipulates that only the Congress can authorize coinage, and that such coinage should be gold or silver. Over recent years the massive revived interest by Americans in their Republic's Constitution, alongside the declining value of the US$, has lead to big interest in gold price history and the precious metal itself. It makes sense, therefore, to consider gold prices over the last 100 years or so and compare the purchasing power of gold compared to the purchasing power of a US dollar. So, let's take one example: a loaf of bread. Or rather, how much did bread cost then and now. In 1900 $20 could buy you about 200 loaves of bread, whereas today $20 would buy you only 6. Yes, SIX. Ok, you could be pedantic and say sizes and quality needed to be taken into account too. But the difference is so great, spurious accuracy is not relevant. You will be able to find many such examples, but cannot get much more basic than bread, and it is plainly obvious. Incidentally, an ounce of gold in the US today would buy about 575 loaves of bread. The history of gold, though, goes back thousands of years, and it has always been used as money, whether in China, India, Egypt or some other civilization or culture. This