Kamal Ghorui
A long time ago, Egyptians buried their boy king, Tutankhamun, with a huge treasure of gold. That was 3,349 years ago! If Tut walked out of his tomb today, all that gold would make him worth at least $20 million. Not bad for a teenager, even if he’s “born again”!
Tut’s treasure weighs about 120 kilograms. But here’s a fun question: if Tut could choose, would he wake up today, or wait a bit until gold becomes even more valuable? Right now, one ounce of gold costs about $5,250. Experts think it could reach $6,000 or even $6,300 later this year. When big world events happen, like Russia invading Ukraine four years ago, gold jumped all the way to $2,000 — a record then. And after recent military actions, it rose 5% in a single day! Gold goes up and down depending on wars and money problems, which makes Tut’s decision tricky.
But gold wasn’t always like this. Before 1971, its price stayed pretty steady for hundreds of years. If Tut had come back any time, he wouldn’t have had to worry about money. In 1717, Isaac Newton — yes, the same guy famous for falling apples — set the price of gold while working at England’s Royal Mint. He also invented the ridged edges on coins so people couldn’t cheat. After Newton set the price, it barely changed for 200 years, even during big wars like when Napoleon invaded Europe.
During World War II, the U.S. set gold’s price to $35 per ounce. But in 1971, President Nixon made a big change: he stopped letting other countries trade dollars for gold. From that moment, gold started moving on its own. By 1979, one ounce went from $193 to $615! That’s because gold is a safe place to keep your money. When people don’t trust paper money, stocks, or even cryptocurrencies, they turn to gold.
Even today, gold has become much more expensive compared to silver or oil. A long time ago, 1 ounce of gold was worth about 12 ounces of silver. Now, it’s over 60 ounces! Its price moves fast and often shows when the world is nervous.
So, if Tut could choose, maybe he should wait for the next big world event. His gold could make him richer than ever!
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