I suspect this is another boring old fact-check error. US media reports, like the Washington Post, reports the gold bar weighing "25-pounds" which converts to: 364.583 Troy ounces, the customary weight unit for precious metals...or 400 (Avoirdupois) ounces, a far more common unit to an USA-ian. A journalist with a publishing deadline to meet goes to goldprice.com and sees 'ounces'. Spot gold from 26th Nov when the story hit the wire was USD$1060/Troy ounce. She multiplies 400 (Avoirdupois) ounces by USD$1060/Troy ounce, the Big Number for the headline is now US$432,000. If she had the time and inclination to fact-check, it should be 364.6 Troy ounces multiplied by USD1060/Troy ounce = USD$386,476 Australian media converts this to 25lbs to 11kg (actual=11.3398kg) which further muddles the issue. Looks like the Aussie press just looked at the AUD/USD exchange rate and propagated the error. As for 'odd weights', Montana is a gold mining region. It had minor gold rushes back in 1800s, mines still operate in the region. Wouldn't be surprised if this 25lb was from some local mine/refiner and passed along as a family heirloom.
I see RCS beat me to it, anyway:- I'll bet it was a standard 400oz bar. The referenced Montana Standard journalist (or somebody there) incorrectly converted to pounds using avoirdupois ounces: 400/16 = 25 And then The Age journalist sloppily called that 11Kg. But I've tried every permutation of screw-up that I can think of, and cannot account for how that 480KUSD figure was arrived at... However, I am sure that the cause of the discrepancy/error will be due to fact that information was transmitted via a journalist* (or Journalists*). (*journalist - A person who is fundamentally incapable of comprehending numerical information)
They are dead. Murdered for the gold. If economic times get much worse for people, this could become more common so be careful.
Yes, I thought so too. But the Montana Standard article was dated 26/11 and stated "... a 25-pound bar of gold that by Wednesday afternoon's price index would be worth roughly $480,000" Which would have been Wed 25/11, when the spot price was US$1070.5, but that makes only $428200...!?
