At today’s gold spot prices, 250 kg of gold would be worth $12,503,668.00. This bar, about 17″ long and manufactured by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, is on display at the Toi gold mine. At 550 lbs, even without all the security measures that must be in place, they don’t have to worry about a single individual trying to haul this off.

In retrospect, this Lao Fu Zi cartoon makes a lot of sense, given the weights involved:

The large ingot must weigh over half a ton; in the days before the internet, I always wondered why wealth was represented by that strange hat-like object.

Shown above, an imperial gold sycee.

The internet is a massive time-sink for the undisciplined soul such as I, but it also feeds my thirst for knowledge. Trouble is, it’s like feeding from a fire hydrant.

The Old Wolf has spoken.