I remember late 1979/early 1980 very well. I was working in an office at the corner of 47th and 6th in Manhattan. I could see the diamond district. As the price of gold ran up $650/oz. (1979 $s) and silver ran up with the Hunt corner to about $50/oz. I could see lines of people out the doors of the jewelers selling old rings and candlesticks.

When gold hit $800 the Federal Reserve could have paid off its liabilities, and liquidated solvent.

We got married in April, 1980. I bought our wedding rings when gold peaked over $800 in January of that year, I call it a bargain, the best I ever had.

There is no comparison between economic conditions then and now. Jimmy Carter had lost control of the country's money supply. Inflation was running over 12%/yr. Interest rates were going up to 20%. Carter was forced to surrender control of monetary policy to Paul Volker. There was the smell of panic. We do not face similar conditions.  What's really interesting is if you plot the real gold price (in the dominant civilization of each time period, I guess) back to ancient times. The closest I could find is this:

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/images/600yeargold6.gif

(I wonder if Buffett 's finally in the black on all that silver he bought...)