The Dutch central bank confirmed this week that it had moved tonnes of the country's gold out of North America, saying the relocation would make it "better prepared for severe crises". About 86 tonnes from a combined total of roughly 313 tonnes held in the US and Canada were moved to London "in view of increasing geopolitical unrest", so the metal could be "readily available for use in a crisis situation".
That naturally raised questions. Why were the Dutch doing this? Were they bracing for a major economic shock? It seems not, but the move clearly responded to an unstable and uncertain world, with trade and military conflicts prompting countries to take precautions and keep their gold closer to home.
Earlier this year, France announced it had removed its gold reserves from the US and brought them back to its own shores. Germany's Bundesbank also transferred more than 216 tonnes of gold from storage abroad, with 111 tonnes coming from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris, over a few years ending in 2016.
This strategy has been used before in times of global instability. "Some European central banks moved part of their gold holdings to New York during the Cold War," said research analysts Lina Thomas and Daan Struyven of Goldman Sachs.
Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, told the BBC that while wars and trade tensions were "playing into some of these decisions", they did not "top the list" of motivating factors. Inflation, interest rates and having gold in a place where it can be traded quickly also played a role.
"I don't get a sense that there's an impending doom," Cavatoni said, "but what I do think is people are being better educated around how to manage their reserve assets, growing their reserve assets, and actually thinking more effectively around how to make the most of those assets."
De Nederlandsche Bank said the gold removed from the US and Canada between March and August this year was now being held in the vaults of the Bank of England. "We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness," said the governor of the Dutch central bank, Olaf Sleijpen.
London was chosen because of its position as a major trading centre. If you want to buy or sell gold quickly in a crisis, London is the place to be, which makes the Bank of England a popular storage spot. The Bank is one of the largest custodians of gold in the world, with about 400,000 bars worth more than £200bn sitting underneath the 300-year-old institution in central London.
According to industry surveys by the World Gold Council, the Bank of England remains the most popular vaulting location, but central banks are increasingly diversifying where they store the precious metal. Where to store a country's gold is "increasingly top of mind for reserve managers", according to Thomas and Struyven of Goldman Sachs.
There are many ways to move treasure around in the modern world. The Dutch sold about 59 tonnes in New York and then bought more stocks in London, so that amount did not need to be shipped across the Atlantic. But more than 27 tonnes were "physically transferred" from the US and Canada to the Dutch town of Zeist, and a similar quantity was also sent from Zeist to London.
Companies that handle such operations are tight-lipped about how they work, but it is safe to say the security measures and planning are extensive to avoid the risk of a real-life Italian Job. Cavatoni said one standard approach to moving gold stocks is to sell the commodity in one place and buy it in another. "Let's say I want my gold in New York and I have it in London. I could sell it in London, buy it in New York, same day, same time, effectively book transfer without actually having to put it on any other logistical change."
Only a few select companies handle gold shipments across borders, one of which is Brink's Global Services, who told the BBC it had seen "increased demand" from central banks in recent times.
