The yellow metal is gaining popularity among some unlikely subjects.

You may have heard: The spot price of gold has risen above $1,100 an ounce, a rise of more than 20% so far this year. In fact, it's been reaching record highs over the past 20 months or so, passing through its previous high of about $850 an ounce, first reached in January 1980 then not again until early 2008.

It's not just commodities funds or investors, however, who are interested. More than a handful of diversified-stock mutual funds have added the metal, both in the form of gold bullion and gold exchange-traded funds (specifically SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) ). Sure, many funds have dabbled in gold miners from time to time, but the ownership of physical bullion is unusual.

Business as Usual, Kind Of
For some of the diversified fund managers that own gold bullion, it's business as usual. Take First Eagle. Legendary value manager Jean-Marie Eveillard had owned gold forever during his multidecade career. Although Eveillard retired at the end of March 2009, his successors have continued to own gold in all of the First Eagle funds run by advisor Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder: First Eagle Global (SGENX), First Eagle Overseas (SGOVX), and First Eagle U.S. Value (FEVAX).