As far back as last October, John Hathaway believed gold’s breakaway performance from other commodities signaled rough times ahead for financial assets. That proved true — and that’s the kind of insight that has led the Manhattan-based Hathaway’s $1.1 billion Tocqueville Gold Fund to its own breakaway performance. The fund is up nearly 12% this year, versus 9% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 17% for the XAU, the Philadelphia Exchange’s Gold and Silver sector index, which has benefited from an overweight position in copper-producer Freeport-McMoRan (FCX). That follows on the heels of last year’s 39% and average annual returns the past five years of 27%, versus 14% for the S&P and 20% for the XAU according to Barron’s.

We ain’t seen nothing yet if he’s right about gold heading higher. Hathaway spoke with us from Colorado, where he was attending the industry-sponsored Denver Gold Forum.

Barron’s: Is gold finally getting some respect?

Hathaway: There is a lot more interest, but I am not sure respect. It is still a marginal space for most investors.

What’s driven the price to nearly a 30-year high?

It’s associated with the liquidity squeeze and the Fed rate cuts. I was in Ireland recently, and the papers were full of news on Northern Rock, the big mortgage provider in the U.K. that essentially had a bank run. To some extent, injections of liquidity make currencies, whether the pound or Euro or dollar, suspect. One obvious response is to go to gold.

Read it here: $1000 Gold