Clutches for Less

Posts Tagged ‘history of gold’

Gold has been mined for at least 5,000 years, a long time before a practical use could be found for the metal – primarily it was sought after because of its use in making jewelry and it never lost its golden luster. The luster attracted man's eye and still does to this day, it shines brightly and it does not rust or lose its luster as it ages.

Gold is also soft and easily worked which lends it to being shaped into whatever decorative adornment the craftsman’s imagination can conceive – some of the most intricate designs of jewelry from ancient times have been uncovered, despite the thousands of years that may have elapsed since being formed, precisely because of these qualities which gold has.

Gold is also rare, which adds to the perceived value of the metal; if you were to gather all the gold that has been mined from the start of men seeking out this precious metal, right the way to the present day you would have a cube of gold measuring a little of 70 feet square – you could drop it in the average sized home! Most of the gold in circulation today has been mined since the turn of the 20^th Century, even with all the hype of the California Gold Rushes in the late 19^th Century.

As a monetary system developed, gold was a leading support of the economic system of coutries all over the world as the moved from agricultural-based economies to industrail-based economies. Gold was used initially for minting coins with the sovereign or ruler of the country stamping their faces and marks upon the coinage to demonstrate a quality standard. The value of a coin was inherent in the value of the gold which it contained – in essence a dollar’s worth of gold went into creating a dollar gold coin.

As societies continued to develop, gold was used less and less in the actual coinage and instead, was used to provide the asset backing to the paper currency which was issued – paper currency is simply a “promise” by a country’s central bank or treasury department. This led to countries around the world buying gold bullion simply to store in a repository so they had the value of gold to back up the value of the currency they were issuing. the value of currency was governed by how much gold the country had stored - not their industry or financial base. In the latter parts of the 20^th Century this practice waned as economies grew and outstretched the gold that was available to back the currencies; this proved no obstacle to issuing more money however, as the link between gold and money was decoupled (Switzerland being the last country to do this in 1997).

Gold’s success stems initially from its appearance and malleability, but as society has developed it has played a far more crucial role in underpinning the development of modern society and economic development. Gold was a common reason for exploration; American might never have been discovered but for man's fascination with this precious metal.

There are few metals that can be said to be older than gold and in fact according to historians the discovery of gold took place well before the year 3600 B.C. The lure of and the lust for gold has continued unabated since the very early days when gold was first discovered and many people, rich and poor will completely lose their heads at the prospect of owning sufficiently large amounts of gold whose yellow colored beauty dazzles everyone and this is why gold jewelry has a special place in everyone’s minds and hearts.

Earliest Users Of All Gold Jewelry

It seems like the earliest users of gold jewelrywere the Egyptians and examples of such use can be seen in the many rock carving and paintings that are found all over Egypt. The Egyptians were the first to find the way for gold extraction and it’s purification to make some very useful gold jewelry. All the mighty Egyptian kings and queens used gold jewelry which suggests that this nation had a great tradition as far as use of gold went.

But, gold jewelry has been used by other peoples as well and there are many references to their use in epics as well as in religious inscriptions and the Book of Genesis and also Exodus XXV too have many references to use of gold. Even Homer and Sophocles and also Herodotus and Pliny have mentioned use of gold jewelry – all of which shows that the history of gold goes back some five thousand plus years.

Gold in its natural form can be found in various kinds of places including in mountains, lakes, seas and deserts and even in the plains. A lot of places are there where one can find more purified gold in comparison to the others. However, the purest form will generally not exceed ninety-two percent purity and it is such type of gold that is used in making the finest gold jewelry.

Gold jewelry is famous for being an indicator of a person’s wealth and social standing and it also lends for making very intricate designs which means that you can expect to find some truly outstanding examples of gold jewelry that normally adorn the famous jewelers’ retail outlets whose showcases are emblazoned with the most intricately crafted items of gold jewelry.

Rose gold jewelry is typically seen in the form of engagement rings that are made out of rose gold. Such rings are very attractive as they come in very unique colors and the designs too are more intricate than is the case of other forms of gold. In fact, the right kind of such jewelry item will make you think that it is an item of antique jewelry; and, not a modern creation.