Gold's steady rise in pictures
A look at gold's movement since the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971
President Richard Nixon looks through a window at the White House Sept. 24, 1970 in Wshington, D.C. In 1971 Mr. Nixon announced the U.S. would be abandoning the gold standard.National Archives/Getty Images/Getty Images
By Deccember 1979 the mineral had rocketed to $524 (U.S.) an ounce, up 132 per cent from 1978. A picture shows 1-kilogram gold in Tokyo on Aug. 11, 2011.Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images
By June 1987 gold was closing at $441.75 an ounce. An employee of Japanese jeweller poses with 1-kilogram gold bars in Tokyo on Aug. 11, 2011.Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images
By December 1995 gold was worth $288.90 A customer looks at gold jewellery at a gold shop in Hanoi Aug. 11, 2011.Kham/Reuters
By 2001 it had dropped slightly to $276.90 an ounce. It would only rise from there. One-tael gold cubes are seen at a jewellery store in Hong Kong.Bobby Yip/Reuters
In 2003 it hit $402.70 an ounce by Dec.1. One kilogram gold bars are seen in this picture illustration taken at the Korea Gold Exchange in Seoul Aug. 9, 2011.Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters
By the end of 2005 gold had reached $502.50 an ounce. An artisan makes gold ornament at a workshop in Ahmedabad, India, Aug. 9, 2011.Ajit Solanki/AP
Two years later in 2007 it had jumped to $794.30 an ounce. Five-tael gold bars are seen at a jewellery store in Hong Kong in this Aug. 11, 2011 photo.Bobby Yip/Reuters
By the end of 2009 gold was trading at $1,096.95 an ounce. A 500 gram high purity 999.9 hallmark gold ingot before being sold at a Sberbank office in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk Aug. 12, 2011.Ilya Naymushin/Reuters
In August 2011 gold set a new record, reaching $1,800 an ounce. It had closed at $1,482.30 just weeks before at the beginning of July. Gold bars are displayed during a photo opportunity at the Ginza Tanaka store in Tokyo, in this Sept. 7, 2009 file picture.Yuriko Nakao/Reuters
A man melts down gold jewellery in Los Angeles, California Aug. 23, 2011.LUCY NICHOLSON