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$22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

npr.org

1–10 of 39 posts

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#2
Am I the only one who had flashes of being a little kid watching Indiana Jones pop into his head after reading this?

It would be nice if they could use the gold for something beneficial to the people of the area (improve roads or schools or something), but its naive of me to think they can easily sell this stuff. Maybe loan the treasures to museums for a fee?

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#3

Am I the only one who had flashes of being a little kid watching Indiana Jones pop into his head after reading this? It would be nice if they could use the gold for something beneficial to the people of the area (improve roads or schools or something), but its naive of me to think they can easily sell this stuff. Maybe loan the treasures to museums for a fee?

You are definitely not the only one (although I never watched Indiana Jones; pop culture osmosis is an amazing thing).

The article did mention that a lot of the historic pieces are probably going to end up in museums, depending on the outcome of the discussion about who should control the riches. It would not surprise me if a small amount of it is sold at auction, either to museums or private collectors. Renting them out or loaning them to museums would be a much better outcome, though - I hate to hear about works of art that are held in private collections, and not even sporadically publicly viewable.

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#4
Current reports (see BBC online) mention amounts in the 100s of millions, not billions. That said the latest today was that they had to stop when they forced a door only to find an all iron door just behind it. They are taking a break so that the local supreme court and other authorities can talk things over (most likely preliminary division of the spoils?)

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#5
>$22 billion [...] is likely a conservative estimate [...] the panel is simple counting and weighing the valuables. "Their value, including antique value, is not being assessed"

A quick back of the envelope calculation indicates $22 billion corresponding to 450 metric tons of gold. This is an immense quantity: India's current gold reserve is about 615 tons [1], and there were recent years when it dropped under 400. I will take this report with a grain of salt until it receives very strong confirmation.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_reserve#Officially_reporte...

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#6
India had thousands of such temples for example, Somanatha etc. from which Arabs, Mughals and the crazy British took from it. When British came to India, india was the richest country and when they left India, India was the poorest country. Whites people have bad culture.

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#7
post #5

>$22 billion [...] is likely a conservative estimate [...] the panel is simple counting and weighing the valuables. "Their value, including antique value, is not being assessed" A quick back of the envelope calculation indicates $22 billion corresponding to 450 metric tons of gold. This is an immense quantity: India's current gold reserve is about 615 tons [1], and there were recent years when it dropped under 400. I…

The find includes gems too, diamonds, etc. So those push up the value immensely, and command a higher value per kg than gold (I'm assuming).

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#8
post #5

>$22 billion [...] is likely a conservative estimate [...] the panel is simple counting and weighing the valuables. "Their value, including antique value, is not being assessed" A quick back of the envelope calculation indicates $22 billion corresponding to 450 metric tons of gold. This is an immense quantity: India's current gold reserve is about 615 tons [1], and there were recent years when it dropped under 400. I…

The find includes gems too, diamonds, etc. So those push up the value immensely, and command a higher value per kg than gold (I'm assuming).

The article mentions gold coins and gold statues encrusted with gems, and that they're estimating the value by weight only. Since the encrusted gems can't be weighed separately, and furthermore the value of a precious stone strongly depends on quality not just weight, the estimate can only be based on the weight of the precious metal, IMO.

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#9
post #4

Current reports (see BBC online) mention amounts in the 100s of millions, not billions. That said the latest today was that they had to stop when they forced a door only to find an all iron door just behind it. They are taking a break so that the local supreme court and other authorities can talk things over (most likely preliminary division of the spoils?)

A small correction, you should be telling 'local court' not 'local supreme court'. Supreme court is the highest court of law in India and this opening of vaults of temple is being supervised by the Supreme court.

Re: $22 Billion In Gold, Diamonds, Jewels Found In Indian Temple

#10
post #5

>$22 billion [...] is likely a conservative estimate [...] the panel is simple counting and weighing the valuables. "Their value, including antique value, is not being assessed" A quick back of the envelope calculation indicates $22 billion corresponding to 450 metric tons of gold. This is an immense quantity: India's current gold reserve is about 615 tons [1], and there were recent years when it dropped under 400. I…

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