”Alright. What?”

”What does gold, in terms of finance, mean to you?”

”Nothing. I don’t invest in it. As an asset it’s too difficult to play.”

”Fair enough. What you just implied right there, though, was your perception that gold is a commodity.”

”That’s true. Is this what your story is about? The commodities market; or more precisely, the precious metals market?”

”No. Or, not entirely. But hold that perception of gold to one side, if you will.”

Bette licked her lips, and waited patiently for him to continue.

”There is a long tradition not only in finance but also in, well, monetary policy of governments since antiquity, for want of a better term, of thinking of gold as not just an asset, but as THE asset to hold.”

“Most people would think that this would seem irrational, since you can’t actually do anything with gold.”

Bette nodded. Can’t disagree with that. 

“But you’d be surprised that the biggest hoarders of gold in the world even up to today are some of the most advanced countries in the world. And the rapidly developing countries are beginning to accumulate tons of it, also.”

Bette nodded her head, “Well, as Tacitus described it, when he was a senator in Ancient Rome, “Gold and Power, the chief causes of war.”

“Many leaders since then have echoed pretty much the same thing,” she continued, “like Charles de Gaulle.”

Tycho smiled approvingly. He pulled out his wallet, and fished out a worn card from it. He smiled at Bette, who’d raised her eyebrows in question marks.

“Since you mentioned him,” he looked at the card, preparing to read something out from it, “To quote Monsieur de Gaulle, “There can be no other criterion, no other standard than gold. Yes, gold, which never changes, which can be shaped into ingots, bars, coins, which has no nationality, and which is eternally and universally accepted as the unalterable fiduciary value par excellence.”
A true gold man, it looks like, Bette thought. “So one approach, gold as a commodity, relies on the basic principle of buying assets: low and selling high,” she mused out loud, “while the other approach, gold as the ultimate asset, precludes selling, at all. Maybe even rarely.”

“Perfect,” Tycho responded, and then paused, before explaining further, “hold those two, ultimately, divergent theories in your head, if you would, please. Because the importance of what I’m going to tell you will only make sense if you can link parts of what I say to the structure of those diverse theories.”