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During WWII, the UK shipped 1,600 tons of gold worth $160 billion today to Canada to avoid Nazi seizure. “Operation Fish” successfully transported the gold without loss.
Money – you can’t take it with you, but you can definitely send it for a long time. The British proved this during World War II, when they shipped some 1,600 tons of gold – the equivalent of $160 billion dollars today – from their banks to Canada to avoid its potential seizure by Nazi Germany. Dreamed up by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “Operation Fish” was a scheme to ship all of the UK’s gold reserves to the safety of North America, specifically to an Ottawa bank vault. Throughout the summer of 1940, ships carrying loot in crates marked as containing “fish” made the crossing across the Atlantic without the loss of a single shipment. That was quite an achievement, considering the might of the German navy, which sank hundreds of ships early in the war. Of course, the Germans never made it to British shores and the gold eventually made it home in perfect condition.
All that glitters:
The world’s largest gold bar is 17.9 inches (45.5 cm) long, 8.9 cm (22.5 inches) wide and 6.7 cm (17 inches) high.
Olympic gold medals are made almost entirely of silver; they also contain 6.16% copper and 1.34% gold.
About half of all gold ever mined comes from the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa.
