"Gold ... has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative," Buffett said in his 2011 annual letter. Meanwhile, if you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end." Gold hit a new, all-time high above $2,400 an ounce on Friday, enjoying its third straight week of gains. Silver buying spree Buffett's vocal criticism of gold doesn't mean that he's never dabbled in precious metals. In the late 1990s, the Ben Graham acolyte went on a big silver buying spree, with Berkshire owning 129.7 million ounces of silver.

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Persons: — Warren Buffett, Buffett, Gold Buffett, Croesus, Berkshire Hathaway, Ben Graham acolyte Organizations: Oracle, Investors, Berkshire Locations: East, Europe, Asia, Omaha, United States