History of Gold

A DAZZLING HISTORY

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Why is gold so coveted? Since the beginning of time, the intrinsic beauty, warmth, sensuality and spiritual richness of gold has earned it the pride of place as the jewellers’ favourite metal. Gold has inspired craftsman to create objects of desire that unite us with our emotions. In the middle Ages, alchemists attempted to use their magic to make gold from other metals. They believed that gold was a source of immortality, and so it was used in medicines to fight old age and prolong life

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For thousands of years gold has been the fascination of many Kingdoms – the Greeks, Egyptians, Aztecs and Romans fought and often died for it. Gold has been inextricably linked with the sun throughout history. Often described as sunshine you can touch, gold has been revered in almost every culture as the very essence of the sun. Today our need for the sun’s warmth is reflected in our desire for the sensual pleasure of gold. Beautiful, desirable and incorruptible, gold has been a constant source of inspiration for countless civilisations, a continuous thread connecting worlds to worlds, generations to generations, and lives to lives.

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Its rarity and beauty have inspired numerous magical stories. Gold has been used in medicine for centuries – it was believed by some prehistoric cultures to be a magic cure. The legendary King Midas of Greece was said to have had the power to turn everything he touched into gold. The primaeval Egyptians identified gold with power; the amount of gold in a tomb indicated the importance of the person buried there. Although most Egyptian tombs were robbed centuries ago, perhaps the most famous of all was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. This was the tomb of King Tutankhamun who ruled Egypt in the mid 1300s BC.

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Tutankhamun’s mask of beaten burnished gold was inlaid with glass and semi-precious stones. It was lifted from the face of the 18-year-old king who died in 1352 BC.

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Gold was originally used as currency and paper money produced was based on actual reserves of gold held by the government or bank. In ancient Lydia (now western Turkey) the last King, Croesus, issued the first gold coins showing two royal symbols. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries many countries minted coins but after the First World War the minting of coins was largely suspended because supplies of gold were low. Currently a great range of gold products is available to investors. Coins are issued by various governments and are minted in a variety of sizes ranging from 1oz. to as little as 1/10oz. The most popular gold bullion coins are the Britannia, the Australian

Nugget, the Canadian Maple Leaf, the South African Krugerrand and the American Eagle

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Although gold is probably the oldest metal to be worked by man, it has endured the test of time and found a place in today’s modern technology. Experts soon realised the exclusive qualities gold has to offer and have applied it to many modern processes. For example, gold is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and so has been widely used in the electrical and electronics industries. Gold plating can be used in the circuitry of calculators, telephones, and even your own tape recorder. Gold has been used on artificial satellites and space vehicles. Indeed the first step onto the moon would not have been possible without gold. Astronauts going into space use gold on their helmet visors and space suits to reflect the intense radiation of the sun.

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Other fascinating information on the history of gold can be found in the Discovery section.

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