Page "Black Friday (1869)" Paragraph 3

In the late summer of 1869, Gould began buying large amounts of gold.

This caused prices to rise and stocks to plummet.

After Grant realized what had happened, the federal government sold $ 4 million in gold.

On September 20, 1869, Gould and Fisk started hoarding gold, driving the price higher.

On September 24 the premium on a gold Double Eagle ( representing of gold bullion at $ 20 ) was 30 percent higher than when Grant took office.

But when the government gold hit the market, the premium plummeted within minutes.

Investors scrambled to sell their holdings, and many of them, including Corbin, were ruined.

Fisk and Gould escaped significant financial harm.

( Note: The picture to the right of this document is the actual bid / ask price of gold that day from a chaulk board.

At the very peak gold traded at 162 dollars per ounce.

You can see the numbers if you look closely.

This was also confirmed by readings from Martin Armstrong.

That price high was not exceeded for over 100 years )