In December 1974, the US Treasury announced the first gold sale of 2.0m oz (62 tonnes) which took place via auction in January 1975. This was followed up by a further 0.5m oz sale in June 1975. The announcement of the first US Treasury sale was particularly interesting as it immediately preceded President Ford returning the right of US citizens (like those elsewhere in the world) to own gold from 1 January 1975 - for the first time since FDR abolished this right in 1934.

During 1975 and 1978-79, the US Treasury conducted a series of gold auctions which amounted in total to 17.0m oz (530 tonnes). Shortly after the US Treasury began to sell gold, the IMF adopted a similar strategy. In August 1975, it announced the sale of 50m oz (1,550 tonnes) of gold, of which 25m oz (778 tonnes) were sold in a series of auctions between June 1976 and May 1980. The other 25m oz. was sold in the form of restitution to its members at the (then) "official" price of SDR (Special Drawing Rights) 35/oz.

In aggregate, the US Treasury and IMF auctions totalled 42m oz (1,308 tonnes) of gold, but failed to stop the gold price reaching its all-time high of US$850/oz in January 1980. Indeed, one of the US Treasury auctions actually positively contributed to the gold price breaking through US$400/oz. This was the auction in August 1979 when Germany's Dresdner Bank bid for the entire allocation.

http://www.dollardaze.org/blog/?post_id=00298&cat_id=65