What $100 in 1990 was worth — measured in gold

The price of gold didn't get more expensive. The value of the Australian dollar fell.

91.5%

of the Australian dollar's value, gone — measured in gold, since 1990.
It now takes 11.7× more dollars to buy the same ounce.

In 1990, $100 bought 0.2 oz of gold at $492/oz. Held as metal, that same money is worth $1,171 at today's gold price of $5,761/oz (spot as of 2026-08-02).

Same $100. Three rulers.

Measure	$100 from 1990, today	Multiple
Official story — AU CPI (ABS via FRED)	$245	2.4×
Money created — M3 broad money	$1,327	13.3×
In gold — honest weight, valued today	$1,171	11.7×

The gap between 2.4× (CPI) and 13.3× (M3) is official inflation understating the money actually created. The gap between 13.3× and 11.7× (gold) is the flight to hard money — gold outrunning even the printing.

1990 in the fiat story

"The recession we had to have" opened the decade; inflation targeting arrived in 1993. Gold spent the nineties in a global bear market, which made the Australian dollar look sounder than it was.

Try your own numbers

The In Gold calculator runs any amount and any year — AUD from 1971, or see 1990 in USD.

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Method. Gold weight = amount ÷ the gold price of that year; "today" figures rebase the same amount by CPI, money supply, and gold spot. Deterministic — no estimates, no models, no AI in the number path. Annual averages. Sources: FRED CPIAUCNS, FRED M2SL, MeasuringWorth, GoldAPI live spot. Not financial advice. In Gold — the calculator · API
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