Fun on Friday: Umm…That’s Not Gold

So, here’s a little nugget I dug out of the deep, dark depths of the internet this week.

A truck driving along a major highway in South Africa lost its load. This caused a major frenzy, not to mention a horrendous Los Angeles-style traffic jam. And what did this truck dump that resulted in such chaos?

Gold!

Well, it was supposedly gold. But I have to admit, I’m skeptical for a number of reasons.

First off, I find it highly unlikely that a truck full of gold is just meandering down the highway with no security. If a truck actually spilled gold, wouldn’t you think whoever owned it would make some effort to secure the area? I mean, if I had a truck full of gold, I would certainly take some kind of security precautions. If you watch the video, all you see are people wandering along the highway picking up gold. Heck, I don’t even see any cops. Surely there would be cops, right?

Well, maybe they were directing traffic to keep our eager gold seekers from getting run over by traffic whizzing along the highway.

Anyway, I kind of have to wonder if the people picking up whatever the truck spilled actually believed it was gold. I mean, look how calm everybody was. They’re just wandering along picking up stuff as if gold falls off trucks along the M2 every day.

“Hey Bob! Did you hear? Gold fell off a truck again. Yeah. Over on the M2. I think I’m going to go down and grab a little. OK, see ya there!”

To be honest, if I was trying to haul off some gold that just fell off a truck along the side of the road (and please don’t take this as a recommended course of action), I think I would have a little more sense of urgency then these people did.

I have to admit though. It kind of restores your faith in humanity. The gold-seekers were so friendly. No pushing. No shoving. People were laughing and chatting among themselves. It’s like, “Ah, no worries man. There’s enough gold here for everybody.”

I’m pretty certain if this ever happens in any major US city, somebody’s gettin’ shanked.

Anyway, back to the “gold.”

There was a picture tweeted out by EWN traffic. It shows somebody holding a piece of this alleged yellow metal.

A truck has shed a load with what appears to be pieces of gold according to eyewitnesses on the M2 East near the Denver exit – if you are nearby please send us pictures on Whatsapp on 079 947 7020 – heavy traffic delays. pic.twitter.com/6ZFazkaCjO

— EWN Traffic (@EWNTraffic) February 13, 2018

Looking at the photo, I’ve come to the conclusion that the truck lost a load of BBs – which I know are easy to confuse with gold…apparently.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “OK, enough of your speculation, Mr. SchiffGold guy. What was on the truck?”

Well, I’m sorry. I don’t know.

It seems South African news has the same problem as American news. They breathlessly report the “breaking news,” but never offer any follow-up. A pretty extensive Google search didn’t turn up any stories revealing what the truck was actually hauling.

At any rate, I think it’s pretty safe to say you aren’t going to strike it rich waiting along the interstate for a truck to dump some gold at your feet. If you want to invest in the yellow metal, I recommend you give one of our SchiffGold precious metals specialists a call at 1-888-GOLD-160. They can get you started, and there is no risk of you getting run over by speeding traffic – unless you make that call from the middle of the road.

Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. We dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals and the economy, and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Click here to read other posts in this series.