WORLD'S GOLD STOCK

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3446, 22 March 1932, Page 2

WORLD'S GOLD STOCK

IF IT STOOD IN A SOLID BLOCK.

If all the monetary gold in the world were cast in one solid block, it would form one cube only 31ft. in each dimension, On the face of it, it seems a grossly exaggerated statement, but it can be proved, writes T. J. C. Martyn, in the New York Sun. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, the total gold monetary stock amounts to approximately £2,260,000,000. Of this sum close on two-thirds is in the United States and France, the remainder being distributed throughout the world, with the Bank of England holding only about 5 per cent, of the total amount.

If we divide the above figure bv the statutory price, we get the number of fine ounces of monetary gold in this w0r1d—546,637,000 ounces. The next step is to reduce the troy ounces to grains This is done by multiplying the number of ounces by 480 (since there are 480 grains in one troy ounce). The result is 263,386,000,000 grains. We now divide the number of grains by 437.5, which represents the number of grains to an avoirdupois ounce, and we get 599,739,420 avoirdupois ounces. This number, divided by 16 (the number of ounces in one pound) gives the weight of the gold as 37,483,7141b5, or 18,741 tons.

The weight of a 12in cube of gold is 1204 pounds. If we now divide 1204 into the total number of pounds we get x the result 31,132.6528 for the total number of cubic feet. It is now only necessary for us to obtain the cube of this mass, which is 31 and a fraction.