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Why 400 oz. gold bars?

CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,471 ✭✭✭✭✭
Here's a dumb question I suspect cannot be answered:

Why is the (approximately) 400 ounce bar the gold standard (pun intended) for gold ingots? That's what you see when you see a picture of a vault at Fort Knox.

How long has the U.S. Treaury been making 400 ounce bars?

How was that weight picked, rather than, say, 200 oz. or 500 oz or???

At 400 troy ounces, we're talking about 30 avdp. pounds. There was no OSHA back then to say that that was the most an employee could safely lift. Was it just trial and error to see what worked best?

This sounds like a job for SuperBurdette!!!!

TD
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.

Comments

  • What would the value for 400oz have been at the time? Maybe that played a part.
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,924 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think that's a LBMA stipulation, and it *seems* to go back to the late 19th century. 12.5 kilos or there'bouts.

    That's my best guess. Maybe it's tied to whatever that federation of european standard gold coin .1867 ounce swiss/french/belgium/italy thing? Or maybe its sovereign-based?
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
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  • secondrepublicsecondrepublic Posts: 2,619 ✭✭✭
    Maybe that size is the closest approximation to an actual brick??
    "Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,471 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>What would the value for 400oz have been at the time? Maybe that played a part. >>



    At $20.67/ oz., 400 ounces = $8268.
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    When you figure that out then me tell why malt liquor is packaged as 40 ozers? 24 oz or 36 ozers not enough? Colt 45 baby..............MJ
    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......


  • << <i>When you figure that out tell why malt liquors packaged as 40 ozers? 24 oz or 36 ozers not enough? Colt 45 baby..............MJ >>



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  • fastrudyfastrudy Posts: 2,096
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  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,658 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Don't you love those scenes in movies, such as in "Three Kings" in which folks load dozen or so "gold bars" of this size into a duffel bag and carry it around?

    as for 400 oz, it's the right size for one big bar, comfortably moved by one person.

    it's like, why do you get 3 tacos in the value meal at taco bell? because 2 is not enough and 4 is too many.

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,254 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Don't you love those scenes in movies, such as in "Three Kings" in which folks load dozen or so "gold bars" of this size into a duffel bag and carry it around?

    as for 400 oz, it's the right size for one big bar, comfortably moved by one person.

    it's like, why do you get 3 tacos in the value meal at taco bell? because 2 is not enough and 4 is too many. >>



    Agree---400 oz is a handy size and a nice round number.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,471 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>London Good Delivery Bar >>



    Good information. So, I guess "400 ounce bar" is just a generic term for a wide range of weights that fall within a convenient size category. The refiners can pour gold into a mold and worry about the weight later, after it cools.

    Last year we had a customer inquire about buying a "400 ounce gold bar." We contacted a likely source, and he had one in stock that was something like 406.38 ounces. He said he could get one that weighed exactly 400 ouces, but it would take a while. The customer took the 406+ ounce bar.

    It is, indeed, heavy.

    TD
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • jmski52jmski52 Posts: 22,289 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well, you can't just stuff a 30 pounder into a pocket and walk off with it, either.image

    (As much as I'd like to.)
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,471 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Well, you can't just stuff a 30 pounder into a pocket and walk off with it, either.image

    (As much as I'd like to.) >>



    I could have gotten it into my pocket, but I would have needed six pair of suspenders!!!!!!

    image
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
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