About this episode

This episode explores the historical allure of gold and its impact on adventurers and the economy, particularly in the context of the Struben Brothers' gold hunt.

Gold sends a shiver through the spine of the adventurer, the merest hint drives men to acts of extreme bravery, or stupidity. Moderate men and women throw off their cloaks of social anonymity and travel thousands of kilometers in arduous conditions just to lay their hands on a Gramm or two of the yellow treasure. Gold fever is a pandemic even in the modern world, although the price of gold fluctuates based on world geopolitics and economics. What is this allure? Callous investors of the modern era decry gold bugs and their passion, sneering at the pursuit of a commodity that appears to have very little going for it other than it’s scarcity. Despite these days of blockchain, ETFs, polymarket and AI investor hullabaloo, the physical value underpinning billions is bullion. By the 1880s, gold was more than something to lock away in a vault or fashion into a king's crown. It had become one of the world's essential industrial commodities, prized because it would not rust, tarnish or corrode, and because it could be beaten into sheets so thin they were almost transparent. Gold leaf adorned the domes of public buildings, church altars, picture frames and the spines of expensive books…

People in this episode

Host: Desmond Latham

Topics covered

• gold mining
• adventure
• economic history
• industrial commodities
• gold fever

Keywords

• gold
• Struben Brothers
• South Africa
• Australia
• 1880s
• gold fever
• industrial commodities

Mentioned in this episode

Products: gold

Places: Australia, South Africa, Ridge of White Waters

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