Charlie and the Golden Ticket

Although things have been quiet, gold related discussions still boil away in the background with one gold vault in particular always moving back into the center of discussion: the Bank of England vault with its 400,000+ gold bars (holding approximately five times the current inventory of GLD).

The vault was recently visited by Prince Charles (link, with photos), Bron Suchecki asked me if the new photos showed any additional clues about the vault interior. Unfortunately the answer is no. The visit appears to have taken place in the main display vault which is already well known. I have updated our 2013 diagram with Charlie's estimated positions marked in blue.

If you can, show who's boss by getting photographed next to lots of gold!

The average rate of photographic disclosure via royal visits puts us way behind in any effort to map the interior, which is disappointing since there always seems the chance of catching out the big boys with definitive proof of collusion, corruption and the like. Unfortunately this is a pipe dream - the bank is in complete control over information which get released ... you see what they want you to see and nothing more. Even if we were somehow able to obtain a digital copy of their entire bar list, the best we could do with that info is match those numbers to other known signatures in GLD and other central bank holdings (where partial information exists) but it still wouldn't be enough to reveal any substantial shenanigans. In this respect they hold all the aces in this game.

This should not discourage us, and the fabulous inner workings of the chocolate factory shouldn't be kept under wraps. If there are any folk out there who have additional photography of the BoE vaults, feel free to send it through to bullionbars (at) hotmail.com and I'll update the layout graphic. Additionally if there are any BoE insiders who want to leak a bar list (even to tease us), please send your material using a pseudonym to the same address after verifying your life insurance is current.

The Nexus

It’s time to delve into the murky waters of the nexus between money, central banks, governments, banks, and humankind. Most of my thoughts are focused on the present and the future, rather than the past, so that means there will be a certain amount of informed speculation. It’s much more interesting to look forward and consider where we are going (using current/recent events as a guide) rather than be constantly looking backwards for a guide to the future. Everything is subject to change at all times, so it’s best not to have a fixed view, but to treat matters on the balance of probabilities having considered all available evidence. So, some readers may need to cast aside any existing biases and prejudices they may have around this rather meaty subject, as the future is likely to make those biases irrelevant.

Where to begin? I’ll start by stating that I have seen plenty of evidence that money is and always has been debt, and that it simply evolved that way. The best anthropological evidence of this evolution is contained in the early sections of David Graeber’s book ‘Debt: the First 5,000 Years’.

Bank of England Vault Floor Layout (updated)

The Bank of England Virtual Tour is pretty neat - specifically the 360 degree rotatable picture of the main gold vault. 'Crazy to do from a security perspective', so interesting to consider the need for transparency was greater than the need for secrecy. The website/app is great fun for anyone liking shiny things.

I wanted to explore a few additional details, create a historical record for posterity and completely debunk the 1,300 tonnes of leased gold idea before it gains too much traction in the metals space. Primarily though, the main purpose of this article is to highlight extra detail - insofar as it helps reduce the social distance between us and that big stash of gold.