$200,000 in gold

mrcommem

I just completed watching the movie "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly". At the end 8 bags of gold coins are recovered from a grave. I would calculate that each bag contained $25,000 in gold coins. Clint Eastwood put 4 bags on his horse and road off. It seems to be that the average horse would be unable to carry Eastwood and 4 bags of gold. My calculations show that $100,000 in gold coins would weigh about 362 lb. avoirdupois. Am I right? Do we have any horse experts out there?

GRANDAM

It was just a movie,,,,,,,,,

1northcoin

300 pounds is about the maximum unless we are talking about a pack horse.

"The general standard in the USA is that a horse can carry 20% of its body weight. And, the general standard in the UK is that a horse can carry 10% of its body weight. So, your standard horse weighs about 1200-1500 pounds. In the USA, the standard would then be that a horse of that weight could carry 240-300 pounds."

https://horsesciencenews.com/horseback-riding/how-much-weight-can-a-horse-carry.php

ricko

Horses were more rugged in the old days All that long haul riding over hill and dale.... Cheers, RickO

PerryHall

How did you determine each bag had $25,000 in gold. I thought the standard gold coin bag had $10,000.

Catbert

I was watching this movie last night. Clint was looking parched in the desert!

Off_Cent_er

If you haven't seen Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, I recommend watching them, to complete the Dollars Trilogy.

pocketpiececommems

@1northcoin said:
300 pounds is about the maximum unless we are talking about a pack horse.

"The general standard in the USA is that a horse can carry 20% of its body weight. And, the general standard in the UK is that a horse can carry 10% of its body weight. So, your standard horse weighs about 1200-1500 pounds. In the USA, the standard would then be that a horse of that weight could carry 240-300 pounds."

https://horsesciencenews.com/horseback-riding/how-much-weight-can-a-horse-carry.php

Isn't that about the weight of President Taft on his horse

mark_dak

@GRANDAM said:
It was just a movie,,,,,,,,,

And a great one at that!

WillieBoyd2

Men and horses were tougher in those days:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Bag of coins

mrcommem

@PerryHall said:
How did you determine each bag had $25,000 in gold. I thought the standard gold coin bag had $10,000.

In the movie there was a total of $200,000. Eight bags were taken out of the grave. (200,000 / 8=$25000)

Smudge

Well, in today’s money 100 Troy ounces would about do it. Watching westerns I always have to remember to add two zeros when an amount of money is mentioned.

Tibor

Tomaska on his infomercial shows bags that held gold shipped to Europe just before the
FDR freeze. I don't think they could hold more than 100-150 Double Eagles. May be just
artistic license.

Steven59

Surprisingly them bags maintained their shape pretty well for having all those heavy coins in them........

jkrk

Brings to mind 2 movies:

1)Was a porno set in Vegas. The male was asking how much for good time? They were talking about lbs of gold for payment. I'm thinking....it's similar the bitcoin miner used used bitcoin priced at 10cts/ea to buy a pizza. Can I have a do over?

2)Treasure of the Sierra Madre....

Howard.. "Water's precious. Sometimes may be more precious than gold".

Same movie..

Howard : Say, answer me this one, will you? Why is gold worth some twenty bucks an ounce?

Flophouse Bum : I don't know. Because it's scarce.

Howard : A thousand men, say, go searchin' for gold. After six months, one of them's lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That's six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin' over a mountain, goin' hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin' and the gettin' of it.

Flophouse Bum : I never thought of it just like that.

Howard : Well, there's no other explanation, mister. Gold itself ain't good for nothing except making jewelry with and gold teeth.

BustDMs

So....what was the name on the grave where the gold was buried?

And Happy Birthday Blondie!

yosclimber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnsK5dckMBo
Yeah, speaking of Civil War casualties on Memorial Day.

clarkbar04

Loved the trilogy. And the score.

1Mike1

@BustDMs said:
So....what was the name on the grave where the gold was buried?

And Happy Birthday Blondie!

There was no name on the grave where the gold was buried. However, it was located next to Arch Stanton's grave. Did you know the skeleton in Arch Stanton's grave was a real skeleton and it was a female who's bones were owned by her daughter? She loaned the skeleton to the movie. Also near the end of the movie when Blondie comforts the dying soldier with a cigar and his coat he picks up his famous poncho that was seen in fistful of dollars and for a few dollars more. Almost like the movie predates the dollar movies which it doesn't, but an interesting scene.

1Mike1

Another movie using gold coins for transactions is John Wick. Set in modern times it has a lot of guns, knives, and hand to hand combat. A lot of action packed into these movies, there are three as of now and plans are on to make four and five soon. The first and second are my favorites so far. I think some of you would like the movie.

Namvet69

Which brings to mind the Maltese Falcon, if solid gold how much did it weigh? Peace Roy

thebeav

@BustDMs said:
So....what was the name on the grave where the gold was buried?

'Unknown'

CaptHenway

Then there is the reality that the U.S. did not have enough gold to pay common soldiers in gold each month.......

moursund

@1northcoin said:
300 pounds is about the maximum unless we are talking about a pack horse.

"The general standard in the USA is that a horse can carry 20% of its body weight. And, the general standard in the UK is that a horse can carry 10% of its body weight. So, your standard horse weighs about 1200-1500 pounds. In the USA, the standard would then be that a horse of that weight could carry 240-300 pounds."

Booya! USA! USA! Our horses are twice as strong as those rickety limey bastards!

That's because our horses drink black coffee, and their horses drink weak tea...

🧐🐎