Unusual Items: US Mint ‘Gold Disks' Made for Oil Payments to Saudi Arabia

``In the 1950's, numismatists were puzzled by these "discs" until-in 1957 -- the story emerged in The Numismatist. Aramco, required to pay royalties and other payments in gold to the Saudi government, could not obtain the gold at the monetary price fixed by the United States so the U. S. government specifically began to mint the "discs" -- actually bullion in coin form for these payments. In 1945, for example, the mint turned out 91,210 large discs worth $20, and, in 1947,121,364 small discs worth $5, according to The Numismatist.'' -- Very interesting; I have heard that the Saudis have always been getting paid in gold for their oil "on the sly"... this would qualify as strong supportive evidence (though conceivably, they moved to some more modern, and/or more roundabout way of getting it done since)