The Archive
26 long-form pieces across history, markets, industry, craft, mining and science. Filter by desk, re-sort, or search the full text of every issue.
Markets
Governments report holding roughly 36,000 tonnes of gold — a figure quoted everywhere and verified almost nowhere. Between the published number and the physical bar sits a chain of certificates, custodians and fifty-year-old count sheets. This is an attempt to walk that chain honestly.
11 September 2026 · 22 min read
Markets
For two decades the gold price could be read off an inflation-linked bond screen. Then, somewhere after 2022, the relationship stopped behaving — and the argument about why has become the most consequential debate in the metal's market.
8 September 2026 · 25 min read
Markets
Beneath the Bank of England and beneath lower Manhattan sit two of the largest concentrations of monetary gold on earth, moved between anonymous compartments by a handful of porters who never touch the metal with bare hands. This is how sovereign gold is actually stored, audited and, occasionally, brought home.
18 August 2026 · 22 min read
Markets
Most of the world's gold exposure is a contract, not a metal. Futures, unallocated accounts and exchange-traded funds each promise gold in a different way — and the differences only become visible when the market stops working.
17 August 2026 · 23 min read
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