Did you know?

$19.39 fixed (1792–1833) The US Mint Act of 1792 pegged gold at roughly $19.39/oz. For four decades, the price was literally a law, not a market.
$20.67 fixed (1834–1933) The Coinage Act of 1834 reset the peg slightly higher. This rate held with remarkable stability for nearly a century through the Civil War, industrialization, and World War I because the US and major economies were on the gold standard. Any "price" movement you see in this era is mostly nominal dollar fluctuations, not gold moving.
$35 fixed (1934–1971) FDR's Gold Reserve Act 1934 devalued the dollar and reset gold at $35/oz. This became the anchor of the Bretton Woods system after WWII, with most currencies pegged to the dollar, which was pegged to gold. The price barely budged for 37 years.
Free float (1971–1980) Nixon's closure of the gold window in August 1971 ended convertibility, and gold was finally allowed to trade freely. The result was explosive: from $35 to $615 by end of 1980, with an intraday peak of ~$850 in January 1980 driven by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iran hostage crisis, and rampant inflation. That represents roughly a 24x increase in under a decade.
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