gold bullionn.
/ˌɡəʊl(d) ˈbʊlɪən/, U.S. /ˌɡoʊl(d) ˈbʊljən/, /ˌɡoʊl(d) ˈbʊliən/ Gold in the form of bullion (see bullion n.2 2a); gold in bulk, esp. as distinguished from coins or manufactured articles. Also: coined or manufactured gold considered with reference to its value as raw material.In quot. 1548 perhaps simply: pure or solid gold (cf. bullion n.2 2c).
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1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. xxix He was in purple satten, his apparell and his barde full of Antelopes and swannes of fyne gold bullion.
1620 Proclam. James I for Restraint Trading Tobacco (single sheet) 29 June Other meane persons taking vpon them to trade....for Tobacco.., doe transport much Gold bullion and Coyne out of Our Kingdomes.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. v. 52 The price of gold bullion has fallen below the mint price.
1881 H. H. Gibbs Double Standard 69 The result would really be..that the Bank would always hold both Silver and Gold bullion.
1910 Washington Post 30 Mar. 4/3 The Federal reserve bank would have the power to buy and sell gold bullion and gold coin.
1992 Coin Monthly Feb. 48/2 Anyone who bought gold bullion in the form of ingots or modern coins during 1970 would have paid prices based on the current market price of $35 an ounce.
2018 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Feb. Jewellery, watches, gold bullion and cash worth up to £35 million was stolen during the extraordinary raid.
Compounds
gold bullion standard n. a system in which the value of a currency is defined in terms of gold bullion, and in which bullion may be exchanged for the currency at a fixed rate. Cf. gold standard n.Abbreviated GBS.
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1886 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 20 Feb. 5/4 All the circulating medium of a country should be..provisionally regulated by the gold bullion standard until some more perfect standard..may be discovered.
1933 B. Ellinger This Money Business i. 6 After the Act of 1925 it was only gold bullion which could be obtained in exchange for notes, and therefore it was known as the ‘gold bullion standard’ instead of the vaguer term ‘gold standard’.
1940 G. Crowther Outl. Money ix. 314 When gold coins do not circulate, but the Central Bank is nevertheless under legal obligation to buy and sell gold in exchange for currency at a fixed price..it is known as the ‘gold bullion standard’.
2012 Business Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 4 Oct. A gold bullion standard seems a more likely candidate, where US dollar notes are freely exchangeable for gold bullion at a fixed price.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1548