The FBI targets Screwtape

Well, it has been an exciting couple of days. First off, the Screwtape Files became the first on-line source to question the veracity of the now infamous story about tungsten-filled (or 'salted') gold story, which ruffled all manner of feathers around the gold- and silverogosphere. Since then, many other doubters have started to come out of the woodwork, and some serious examination of this story has begun.

This particular salted gold story may yet be proved to be true (although I personally doubt it, I have to admit), but the important issue was always about the challenging of dubious provenances of stories, and daring to question when certain others (including some mighty commentators) simply copy and paste.

I hope readers won't consider this too proud a boast, but the readership of Screwtape has been expanding of late, and we're delighted to welcome all our new readers and all the new people who have taken the time to comment on our articles. We always try hard to challenge, take the devil's advocate view, and never give in to group think. As I said in a recent comment: fans of Screwtape come here to hear the opposite of what they want to hear. Confirmation bias leaves one dead in the water in both Tradingland and Investingania.

Which makes us wonder all the more why even the Federal Bureau of Investigation now appears to have taken an interest in us.

Salted Gold or a Fishy Tale..? (UPDATED + Graphics) (AGAIN)

A long-standing allegation that one sees all over the gold- and silverogosphere is that most of the gold in Fort Knox is 'salted'. In other words, it's been fiddled about with so as to have a tungsten core.

Tungsten is a good metal to pick, as it is not ferromagnetic (so won't be picked up by electromagnetic detection techniques), does not significantly alter the weight of the gold bar, and - most importantly - is much cheaper than gold (around $400 per metric ton, rather than $1660 per ounce.)

Stories have abounded of these salted bars turning up in Hong Kong, and making their way into western central bank depositories, ETFs, and just about everywhere else. A lack of evidence has done little to hamper the progress of this on-line meme. Surely, if this practice was so prevalent, then someone, somewhere, must have a photograph of a salted bar?