Why is gold so valuable?

[Bagpuss]

: "an asset is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it".

If I offer you 30p for a £1 does that make a £1 worth 30p?

[Doggy Styles]

If I offer you 30p for a £1 does that make a £1 worth 30p?

Ah, but here's the trick. I offer 31p.

[AtW]

however it is reliable so people invest in it as an alternative to cash or shares.

It is thought to be reliable alternative - or assumed even, just like with the houses.

Unless there is serious inflation nothing beats cash in terms of reliability (so long as banks don't go bust with your money).

[AtW]

If I offer you 30p for a £1 does that make a £1 worth 30p?

Is it one 30p coin baggy?

[bobhope]

Gold is valuable because of the (un) trustworthiness of governments.

If you could trust a government not to de-base the currency and not print loads of money, then there would be no need for gold.

Unfortunately, in the history of fiat money that has never, ever happened.

[EternalOptimist]

my brother used to work in a jewellers, every year or so they would take the overalls and throw them into the smelter. The tiny amount of gold that came out of a set of old overalls was enough to buy a new set.

One of his most important jobs was to sweep the floor. The sweepings were sifted for tiny fragments of diamond, which were sold on as industrial stock.

[Doggy Styles]

You can make diamonds... you can't make gold...

But I've heard that diamonds can be very dangerous.

[EternalOptimist]

Only if a bald war criminal in a wig shoots you with them...