Video Transcripts

When discussing precious metals, an important piece of information to consider is the gold to silver ratio, otherwise known as the mint ratio. The mint ratio is simply the price of one ounce of gold divided by the price of one ounce of silver. Portfolio owners can use the ratio as an exchange rate to…

Throughout time, gold jewelry has been a status of wealth in abundance. But there is also a rich history behind it. The gold we mined today most likely came from asteroid impacts during the late heavy bombardment era, 4 billion years ago. Gold was first discovered as small yellow nuggets around the world, explaining why…

Ownership of precious metals has a long history of safeguarding wealth during periods of economic downturn. Since 2000, gold, silver and platinum have proven to greatly outperform many other asset types. From a threatened U.S. dollar to ongoing geopolitical concerns around the world, there are a number of reasons that many people are deciding to…

Before the use of coins, Americans had many ways of obtaining goods and services they required. Bartering for goods was extremely common, along with the use of foreign coins. This all changed when the Constitution was drafted and the U.S. Coinage Act was passed in 1792, which was a regulation passed by Congress that established…

Numismatics is the study or collection of coins, tokens, metals, paper currency and related objects. The word numismatics is borrowed from the Latin word numismatis, meaning coin, currency, or stamp on a coin. This field also includes the broader study of money as a method of payment that people use to pay for goods or…

It is impossible to know when humans first began gold mining. However, archeologists have gold evidence dating all the way back to 4200 B.C., indicating that gold mining could be at least 7000 years old. Since then, gold mining activity has risen at an exponential rate. The World Gold Council estimates 190,040 tons of gold…

Tarnishing refers to the corrosive process that takes place when silver chemically reacts with hydrogen sulfide in the air. Much like how iron rusts when exposed to oxygen, silver becomes discolored when tarnishing takes place. Though rusting and tarnishing are both corrosive chemical reactions, only rusting compromises the strength of the metal tarnishing effects. Just…

Coin grading is the process of determining a coin's condition, typically on the scale of 1 to 70. Third party grading started in the late 1970s. Graders would examine a coin and, after determining its authenticity, would assign separate grades for its obverse and reverse, and then return it to the sender, along with a…

The world supply of gold is used in a variety of industries. Central banks, jewelry, and the technology industry all utilize gold in their procedures. Gold is used to back money, decorate, and also produce electronics. In fact, roughly all smartphones and GPS devices contain gold. Despite gold's prevalence in technological devices, mined amounts are…

Ton and tonne are two words that are commonly mistaken. Despite the phonetic similarity between the two, these systems of measurement differ significantly. Ton is a unit of measure most used outside of the United States. Tons used the metric system, a system of measurement which has been adopted as the international standard of measurement.…

One of the factors that makes Gold so unique is its malleability and ductility. In 2008, a chemist named Georg Steinhauser conducted a study showing the effects of wearing a gold ring when performing everyday activities. You can prevent wearable gold from being worn down by taking proper care of your precious gold jewelry so…

Gold has been used as a currency since some of the earliest civilizations known to man. Gold’s history as a coinage dates back to at least the ancient Lydians of 700 B.C. If you’re interested in learning more, watch this episode of U.S. Money Reserve’s “Did You Know?” A History of Gold as a Currency:…