The first “real job” I ever held was at Moutoux Orchard in Fairfax County, Virginia. Over the course of a long summer month I must have picked tens of thousands of peaches, slopped a fair number of pigs, and tore up a lot of dirt on an old 1950’s Massey Ferguson tractor — the first vehicle which I ever drove. I loved that tractor.

I was a young teen willing to rise early, work extremely hard, get covered head to toe in peach fuzz and swarmed by wasps for the better part of the day. It was the 70’s. The government’s socialist minimum wage requirements either did not apply to me or my employers were not concerned about them, because I made just over $2.00 an hour.

I saved every bit of that money and followed my father’s advice by converting the entire month’s earnings into the purchase of a single gold coin.

That was before gold hit $850 an ounce.

I kept the gold in a little leather pouch and often looked at it. It was not that I was fascinated with the gold itself as much as I was amazed that an entire month’s back-breaking labor could be reduced to the size of a little coin that fit in the palm of my hand.

This was my first practical introduction to free market economics.

(As a side note, the best part about my summer job at Moutoux Orchard was an event that would foreshadow part of my life work. At some point during the summer I discovered an amazing secret which had been hidden, or perhaps just long forgotten by the people of my community. The aged and ailing patriarch of the family who owned the farm was the cub reporter (an avowed evolutionist) who first broke the “Scopes Monkey Trial” story, bringing it to national prominence and the pages of history. I was given one opportunity to interview the former journalist, who was now frail, crotchety, and in his late eighties.)

Though the value in Federal Reserve notes of my gold coin would rise dramatically, I was preoccupied during the gold surge of 1980, and missed an opportunity to make nearly 300% on my coin.

In 1983 I was an “impoverished” college student in need of cash. I reluctantly brought the coin to a dealer and exchanged it for Federal Reserve notes. I remember having a sinking feeling at the time. The whole transaction seemed remarkably anti-climactic. I was not comforted by the cash in my hands. It felt as if I had just sold part of my childhood. Unbeknownst to me, the coin had ceased to be an investment and had become more of a symbol to me, a sentimental reminder of my father’s counsel and an unforgettable character-shaping summer.

More than two decades have passed since I sold my first Krugerrand. Today I enjoy teaching my own children about the very simple work and investment principles which my father taught to me, including an appreciation for hard money as a historically triumphant and God-blessed medium of exchange.

About once every month or so I take my children en masse to the local coin dealer for my own version of a fair exchange. I ask the dealer to take ten minutes to give my children a history lesson about the coins, or to teach them principles for valuing silver or gold dollars, and, in exchange, I will purchase from him a few silver coins. We all walk away happy — a profitable mixture of creative home education and financial investment.

Today was a great day to reflect on the golden lessons of the 1970s and early 80’s. Not only did the dollar tumble to a record low against the euro, but gold surpassed $433 an ounce, setting a sixteen year record high.

This lead financial analysts to comment that the gold market is starting to resemble its form in 1970s. In fact, today’s high made the current rally the second-longest since bullion was freely floated in 1971. Of course, there is one big difference between the gold surge of the 70’s and the present market. During the 1970’s, inflation was principally responsible for rising gold prices. This time the gold market is responding to national and international lack of confidence in the American dollar.

Today’s high of nearly $434 represents a 70 per cent rise over the past 42 months. True, we are a long way from $850 for an ounce of gold, but even those investment analysts who have traditionally been uncomfortable with gold, can not help but notice the trends: It appears that we are on the brink of setting the record as the longest gold rally of the modern era.

In any event, if you bought gold sometime over the last four years — congratulations! You made a wise investment. That’s great news. Now, here is better news: Gold and silver are great, but the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord is infinitely better (Proverbs 16:16).