Gold price facts and milestones

Jan 8 (Reuters) - The spot gold price XAU= surged to a historic high above $875 an ounce on Tuesday on fresh bouts of fund buying, backed up by a weak dollar and firm oil.

At 1005 GMT gold was quoted at $873.20/$873.90 an ounce, having hit a record $875.80 earlier.

Gold was fixed at a record high of $850 an ounce in January 1980 as high inflation linked to strong oil prices, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the impact of the Iranian revolution prompted investors to heavily buy the metal.

After adjusting for inflation, the 1980 record high price was $2,079 an ounce at 2006 prices, while the real average price in 1980 has been calculated at $1,503, according to precious metals consultancy GFMS.

Based on the London PM fix, the actual average price of gold was $614.50 an ounce in 1980, more than double the average $304.69 the previous year. The metal fell as low as $481.50 in 1980.

Gold's average price was about $604 an ounce last year and the average for 2007 stood at more than $680.

Following are key dates in gold's trading history since the early 1970s:

* August 1971 - President Richard Nixon takes the dollar off the gold standard, which 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 - United States devalues dollar to $38 per ounce of gold.