TIMELINE - Gold bags new all-time high, continuing meteoric rise

Reuters - Gold rose to a fresh record high $1,104.80 per ounce on Monday, with investors scurrying for a safe haven after a softening U.S. dollar and bleak jobs data underlined the shaky pace of economic recovery.

Here are key dates tracing gold's trading history since the 1970s, and it's historic post-September 2009 rise:

* August 1971 - United States President Richard Nixon takes the dollar off the 'gold standard', which fixed paper notes' value to a pre-set quantity of gold. It had been in place, with minor modifications, since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 fixed the conversion rate for one troy ounce of gold at $35.

* August 1972 - U.S. devalues dollar to $38 per ounce of gold.

* March 1973 - Most major countries adopt floating exchange rate system.

* May - U.S. devalues dollar to $42.22 per ounce.

* January 1980 - Gold hits record high at $850 per ounce. High inflation because of strong oil prices, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the impact of the Iranian revolution, prompts investors to move into the metal.

* August 1999 - Gold falls to a low at $251.70 on worries about central banks reducing reserves of gold bullion and mining companies selling gold in forward markets to protect against falling prices.

* October 1999 - Gold reaches a two-year high at $338 after agreement to limit gold sales by 15 European central banks. Market sentiment toward gold begins to turn more positive.