$7,500 GOLD BY THE END OF THE DECADE?

"Gold can easily triple by the end of 2030," declares Maurice H. Rosen, the prominent Plainview, New York, gold coin prognosticator and award-winning writer.

- SCOTT A. TRAVERS

"Continued devaluation of the dollar from the National Debt increasing from $35 trillion to $60 trillion will propel gold to heights that I imagined for a long time." Gold in the earliest coins was mixed with silver in an amalgam known as electrum. Ancient artisans learned how to separate the metals so that coins containing just gold or silver could be struck.

GOLD'S HISTORIC ROLE

Gold's chief function is to serve as a store of value. If we go back to the creation of the Federal Reserve in December 1913, the dollar has lost over 98 percent of its value and purchasing power.

One of the mandates of the Fed was to preserve the value of the dollar, so it's been a dismal failure in that regard. In 1913, the official value of gold was fixed at $20.67 an ounce. Since then, its value has risen to about 100 times that amount and pretty much matches the 1913 value of the dollar before that 98 percent loss of value. Gold, unlike the dollar, has preserved the purchasing power it enjoyed 100 years ago.

Over the years, you can point to specific periods when gold lagged a bit. It's undeniable, though, that from the year 2000 until now, gold has made up for the previous 20 years' lack of performance.

Gold's value is based partly on its beauty, partly on its indestructibility, partly on its malleability— and mostly on its rarity. It is generally accepted that throughout human history, only about 244,000 tonnes of gold have been mined. That comes to about 7.8 billion ounces.

INSURANCE OR INVESTMENT?

Should gold be viewed as insurance or an investment? Each case is different and will be guided by the financial situation.

First, gold should be regarded as insurance-protection against unforeseen setbacks in other assets' value.

From a low of $248 an ounce at the start of the 21st century, gold has seen an increase of about 1,100 percent.