Gold Has Always Been a Store of Value. Fortifications, Too.

Another gem of a post from Cassandra Does Tokyo.  The circular logic of gold being a store of value because it has always been a store of value has been assailed by many a pundit, but Cassandra is thinking more along the lines of the fortifications that man has always erected throughout history…

For the moment, I will not question the foundations of the fears that Gold fulfills, nor will I question the time-honored pedigree it has acquired through history. But in my travels this summer I believe I have found another [possibly] ignored asset that should  be considered by both the fearful and disillusioned alike. Quite simply, I am thinking of Strategic Castle Fortifications. More specifically, those which are typically perched above or adjacent to strategic trade routes and valley passes for they more than others benefit from geographical positioning, at least as rare if not rarer than the yellow metal itself. Whether at the mouth of an ascending pass through the the mountains, or an entrance to a fertile alluvial valley between hills, or above a narrows in a trafficked river, such fortifications have extracted rents in time-honoured fashion since man was able to construct them. 

Just like the difficulties of excavation and tedious mining of trace amounts make gold scarce and by definition valuable.  This concept can also apply to the building of castles and ramparts or the dominion over naturally defensive territory. 

Get over to Cassandra to read more about this forgotten asset class. 

Source:

Golden Castles? (Cassandra Does Tokyo)