Germany
Thuringia. The east-central German state of Thuringia is legendary even now for its golden history. The mountains of the south Thuringian Forest are known to contain plenty of small gold deposits. Gold mining in the area has been documented since at least 1200.
The gold stored in the U.S. was acquired by West Germany during a period of trade surpluses with the U.S. before 1970. The gold was never repatriated to Germany due to fear of invasion by the Soviet Union.
Total weight of gold holdings Germany 2000-2022
As of the fourth quarter of 2022, the weight of gold holdings owned by Germany amounted to 3,355 metric tons.
The largest gold holding country in Europe as of end 2021 was Germany, with over 3,359 metric tons.
The United States has the largest gold reserve, with more than 8,000 metric tons of gold. This was more than twice the gold reserves of Germany and more than three times the gold reserves of Italy and France.
The United States holds the largest stockpile of gold reserves in the world by a considerable margin at over 8,100 tons. The U.S. government has almost as many reserves as the next three largest gold-holding countries combined (Germany, Italy, and France).
Germany's got its gold back. The country's central bank announced Wednesday it has completed a program to repatriate gold bars worth nearly $31 billion from storage locations in New York and Paris.
Gold is a popular investment in German portfolios.
The Schwarza river is the richest in gold in Germany, and its valley has been known for its deposits of placer gold since the 12th century. In 1442, the rights to the gold deposits of the Schwarza valley were granted to the Counts of Schwarzburg.
The sale of UK gold reserves was a policy pursued by HM Treasury over the period between 1999 and 2002, when gold prices were at their lowest in 20 years, following an extended bear market. The period itself has been dubbed by some commentators as the Brown Bottom or Brown's Bottom.
Leading the recent spree has been China, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We have also seen a large effort by central banks to repatriate their gold from other countries, mostly from storage in New York and London. Venezuela started repatriating its gold in 2011, shipping 160 tonnes from New York.
South Africa: is the world's largest producer of gold, and its gold is known for its high purity. The gold produced in South Africa is usually between 14 and 24 karats, with some mines producing gold that is 99.99% pure. China: is the world's largest gold producer, and its gold is known for its high purity.
Goldmark (officially just Mark, sign: ℳ) was the gold standard-based currency of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.
The cheapest country to buy gold in is Hong Kong. The price of gold in Hong Kong is typically lower than the global average. This is because there is a large amount of gold trading activity in Hong Kong and it is one of the leading centers for gold refining and vaulting.
999.999—six nines fine: The purest gold ever produced. Refined by the Perth Mint in 1957. 999.99—five nines fine: The purest type of gold currently produced; the Royal Canadian Mint regularly produces commemorative coins in this fineness, including the world's largest, at 100 kg. 916—22 karat: Crown gold.
The Chinese market (SGE & SHFE)
The largest purely physical spot exchange in the world is the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Established in 2002 under close oversight of the People's Bank of China, SGE has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence that has mirrored China's growing importance in the gold market.
As of 2023, the Bank of England holds approximately 310 tonnes of gold for the UK. The Bank's vault, as seen below, holds all of Britain's gold reserves. Most is 24 carat gold but some, older gold is likely 22 carat or even 900 purity depending on the age and origin. The Bank of England's gold reserves.
Today, our gold reserves are held in three locations: the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt am Main, the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and the Bank of England in London.
Since the 1960s, Europe was holding most of the world's monetary gold. In the 1990s, several Western European central banks started selling gold to equalize their gold reserves among each other and large economies outside Europe.
If you have a preference for gold coins of high purity, look for ones with a stated purity of . 9999. Coins of this purity are produced in many countries around the world, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, and the United States.
Either way, there is financial uncertainty. Precious metals are the counterbalance to that uncertainty. Russia, China, Brazil, Egypt, India, Turkey, Qatar, and many other countries are stockpiling gold to overthrow the Dollar and ensure sovereignty.