gold point

American  

noun

1. the point at which it is equally expensive to buy, sell, export, import, or exchange gold in adjustment of foreign claims or counterclaims.

2. the melting point of gold, equal to 1036°C and used as a fixed point on the international temperature scale.

---

gold point British  

noun

1. Also called: specie point.  finance either of two exchange rates (the gold export point and the gold import point ) at which it is as cheap to settle international accounts by exporting or importing gold bullion as by selling or buying bills of exchange

---

Etymology

Origin of gold point

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

A spectacular promotion stunt by Swiss hotelkeepers backfired last week, sending the Swiss franc down below its gold point for the first time in months.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sterling exchange at New York seems "pegged" at the "lower gold point," and apprehensions regarding the stability of the English financial system seem definitely allayed.

From The Value of Money by Anderson, Benjamin M.

In fact, it may be asserted that the foreign exchanges very seldom go down to the export gold point, because gold begins to go before they can get there.

From Readings in Money and Banking Selected and Adapted by Phillips, Chester Arthur

And then it waves its aristocratic gold point in a way that completely settles the matter.

From One Year Abroad by Howard, Blanche Willis

A gold point, giving a warmer line, can also be used in the same way as a silver point, the paper first having been treated with Chinese white.

From The Practice and Science of Drawing by Speed, Harold