Daily Gold Prices
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On 12 September 1919, the Bank of England made arrangements with N M Rothschild & Sons for the formation of a free gold market in which there would be an official price for gold quoted on any one day. At 11.00 am, the first Gold Fixing took place. The price of gold was fixed at £4.18s.9d per fine ounce. The bids were made by telephone for the first few days, but then it was decided to hold a formal meeting at New Court. The daily Gold Fixing commenced in 1919, and was suspended between 1939-1954. It was again suspended for a very short period of two weeks in 1968.
Record of the Daily Gold prices
No single official record of the daily gold price appears to have survived in the records kept by N M Rothschild & Sons it seems incongruous that such an account would not have been compiled. It is possible that such volumes remain with the records of the business, but they have not yet come to light. A few private notebooks, kept by staff involved in the Fixing have survived, as do commemorative posters produced by N M Rothschild & Sons. A series of price books, including information about gold, silver and copper prices will be found in 000/2327.
Daily Gold prices 1919-1968
To coincide with the centenary of the Gold Fixing in September 2019, The Rothschild Archive has created a new microsite dedicated to the history of Rothschild and Bullion. For the first time, a comprehensive list of the daily Gold Prices 1919-1968 is available to researchers on this microsite. The information has been compiled from three main sources: The Fifty-sixth Annual Report of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Royal Mint, which covers the period 1919-1925; Quins Metals Handbook and Statistics, which covers the period from 1921-1965 and the Metal Bulletin, a magazine published twice weekly for the London metals market, covering the period up to 1968. (Note: the Rothschild Archive London does not hold copies of these; these publications were sourced from The British Library). The Rothschild Archive London is grateful for the support and advice of Dr Fergal O'Connor (Cork University Business School) in finding, compiling and presenting this data. A Rothschild Research Forum account is required to access this microsite. Apply for membership of the Rothschild Research Forum here » Go to the Bullion microsite »
Daily Gold prices 1968-present
Historical data of the daily gold prices from 2 January 1968 to the present are available on the website of the London Bullion Market Association. Daily Gold Prices 1968-present »
Printed Annual Bullion Letters, Reviews and Circulars, 1919-1953
000/2329 (NMR 148/21), 3 files
Retained in the Royal Mint Refinery, sundry correspondence files (NMR 148 series) is a collection of printed Annual Bullion Letters, Annual Bullion Reviews and Bullion Circulars produced by Pixley and Abell, Samuel Montagu & Co., Sharps & Wilkins, and Mocatta and Goldsmid. The publications give information about the prices of gold and silver, gold and silver movements and summaries of transactions and activity in the markets.
- Annual Bullion Letters, Reviews and Circulars, 1919-1944;
- Annual Bullion Letters, Reviews and Circulars, 1945-1949;
- Annual Bullion Letters, Reviews and Circulars, 1950-1953.
Royal Mint Refinery (and Bullion Department): Gold and Silver daily prices and fixing orders (NMR 107 series) and Market books (NMR 108 series), c.1959-1990
000/2327 NMR 107 and 108 series), 5 boxes
Papers of The Royal Mint Refinery (and Bullion Department) in NMR file series 107: gold and silver daily prices and fixing orders and NMR file series 108: Market Books. The series includes later papers of NMR concerning the daily prices of gold and silver.
The Daily Gold Fixing: 75th anniversary poster, 1994
000/629, 6 items
Poster produced by N M Rothschild & Sons Limited to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Gold Fixing in 1994: N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, Seventy-Five Years of the Gold Fix [sic], 1919-1994; 3 unframed copies; 1 unframed copy (in Russian); 1 copy in black frame; 1 copy in brown frame. The poster shows an annotated chart of movements in the gold price between 1919-1994.
The Daily Gold Fixing: 80th anniversary poster, 1999
000/2085, 10 items
Poster produced by N M Rothschild & Sons Limited to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Gold Fixing in 1999: N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, Eighty Years of the Gold Fixing, 1919-1999; 1 poster in brown frame, (limited edition 1/80); 1 poster in gold frame, (limited edition 51/80); 4 unframed posters with 'gold' line printing; 4 unframed posters with plain gold line printing. The poster shows an annotated chart of movements in the gold price between 1919-1999.