Late yesterday the bullion desk manager let me know that one of "my clients" had sold up. By "my clients" she meant clients I knew from when I worked on the desk, which was a long time ago.
This client bought $400,000 of gold about 15 years ago and sold it yesterday for $1.2 million. He and his wife are now in their seventies and are now drawing down on their nest egg.
Sometimes I've asked myself whether working at the Mint is of any benefit to society, whether it is a productive job - we don't make anything useful like cars or food - we just melt and stamp and store metal.
It is days like yesterday however that give me a boost and make me feel like I am doing something useful.