The Incas referred to gold as the "tears of the Sun."

Homer,in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," makes mention of gold as the glory of the immortals and a sign of wealth among ordinary humans. In Genesis 2:10-12, we learn of the river Pison out of Eden, and "the land of Havilah, where there is gold: and the gold of that land is good?"

As far back as 3100 B.C., we have evidence of a gold/silver value ratio in the code of Menes, the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty. In this code it is stated that "one part of gold is equal to two and one half parts of silver in value." This is our earliest of a value relationship between gold and silver.

In ancient Egypt, around the time of Seti I (1320 B.C.), we find the creation of the first gold treasure map now known to us. Today, in the Turin Museum is a papyrus and fragments known as the "Carte des mines d'or." It pictures gold mines, miners' quarters, road leading to the mines and gold-bearing mountains, and so on.

Where is that gold mine located? Well, you know how it is with treasure maps - there's always something a little vague about them, to throw you off the trail.

Modern thought is that it portrays the Wadi Fawakhir region in which the El Sid gold mine is located, but the matter is far from settled. Jason and the Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece around 1200 B.C.

That Greek myth makes more sense when you realize that the fleece that it refers to is the sheep's fleece used in the recovery of fine placer gold.

Early miners would use water power to propel gold-bearing sand over the hide of a sheep, which would trap the tiny, but heavy, flakes of gold. When the fleece had absorbed all it could hold, this 'golden fleece' was hung up to dry, and when dry would be beaten gently so that the gold would fall off and be recovered.

This primitive form of hydraulic mining began thousands of years ago, and was still being used by some miners as recently as the California gold rush of 1849.

The first use of gold as money occurred around 700 B.C., when Lydian merchants produced the first coins. These were simply stamped lumps of a 63% gold and 27% silver mixture known as 'electrum.' This standardized unit of value no doubt helped Lydian traders in their wide-ranging successes, for by the time of Croesus of Mermnadae, the last King of Lydia (570 -546 B.C.), Lydia had amassed a huge hoard of gold. Today, we still speak of the ultra-wealthy as being 'rich as Croesus.'

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A History of Gold and Silver

he following story is based on the historical outline by The National Mining Association

What is it about gold that when it was first found in the area of Eastern Europe, 4000 BC., a human being decided to pick it up? Long before it had become one of the most desired materials known to practically every culture around the world, something made the first person decide to reach down with their hand and collect it.

Perhaps it was the shine, color or shape. It might have been smooth or part of another mineral that had to be separated. This person could not have had any idea of the effect gold would have on humanity. They had no clue that men would work to find and purify this metal, or that they would collect large amounts of it and die to protect it as well as launch campaigns of war to get it from another group of people. They had no idea that some of the most beautiful art work ever made would be covered with this substance they now held in their hand.

It was the people in the area of the Transylvanian Alps or around Mount Pangaion in Thrace who first mined it and began to use it for decorative purposes. Being a decoration, it was appreciated probably because of it’s color and shine. It is so different from the plain dirt of the earth in color and texture. It is not like rocks, even the colorful ones because of it’s malleability. Gold shines even when it is not wet. It is not like some other metals in that it does not rust or change appearance. It seemed to be the perfect material for decorative purposes and indeed may have inspired the idea of decoration in the first place.

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After initial uses of gold had evolved, it’s decorative purpose began to have a more refined appearance. Maybe a man had the idea to create something that his wife would have liked or perhaps, his wife designed it herself and suggested it to her husband. This was not written down on the clay tablets used at the time, but rare examples of their work is found in museums around the world.

A sense of highly refined adornment was apparently the reason that the middle eastern mind of the people of the Sumer civilization in Southern Iraq, circa 3000 BC., began to make jewelry. They developed a skill and sophistication of design that is still in use today. Consider the repeating designs use in their modern architecture or carpets and how the designs loop through each other. Notice how the designs have balance and elegance.

Now, consider the elegance of a repeating loop of gold which creates a chain necklace. It is able to fall along the shape of a womans neckline, colar bone and chest. A solid wire of gold would not be able to do this, but the interlocking loops of gold allows the chain to move with the grace of the body and lay against the form. It also allows for movement when the body is in action. The beauty of gold against olive skin may be one reason to think that the idea came from the mind of a man, but no one knows for sure.

A sense of engineering and creativity had to be part of the puzzle in Iraq. There was a basic ability that was developed which is part of the beauty. The engineering of the chain allowed for the movement of the already malleable gold. It was adding another step to the dance that kept on developing as other people began to use gold and develop their own reasons and explanations for it’s being a part of creation.

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When the Kings of Egypt began to utilize gold jewelry and take it with them to their graves, a new effect came into being. They had their belief in the afterlife and all that was needed for that, but it also left a picture of their culture and beliefs preserved in their art, which was rediscovered in relatively modern times.

In 2500 BC., Egyptian King Djer, of the first Egyptian Dynasty, had his gold jewelry buried with him in his tomb at Abydos, Egypt. He might have been the first, but was certainly not the last or most notable. The artifacts from the tomb of King Tut have traveled around to the worlds greatest museums. Millions of people have seen the golden treasures especially the gold canopic coffinette.

Storing gold in tombs may have seemed like the thing to do at one time, but as more value was given to gold, things changed. The graves of the Kings were plundered in the centuries after their burial, but some survived in tack, until the 1800′s, when research begins by European archeologist. We don’t want to call this “research” plundering, or do we? Lets say that it’s not plundering in the classical sense. At least the art work is not being melted down and sold in a pawn shop. It is on display in museums around the world.

Perhaps they didn’t find all the hidden rooms in the pyramids. There could be vast quantities of golden artifacts still waiting to be discovered. These rooms are still hiding from anyone who wants to gain entry. The builders made it more difficult to get to the valuable contents Who knows what is yet to be discovered in the hidden vaults of the pyramids? I’d be careful just in case the pyramids were designed to come crashing down on anyone who moves a certain stone which could be a door to the real vault.

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Around 1500 B. C. Egypt became very wealthy in gold coming from Nubia. During this time, gold was becoming the medium of exchange among the nations of the middle east. The Shekel coin had a weight of 11.3 grams which was a standard weight. It was made of two thirds gold and one third silver.

After hundreds of years trading everything from goats and beans, to knives and hardware, a standard item that was acceptable to everyone had emerged. This item was gold. It was bound to happen that one thing would be so universally accepted so as to become money. They didn’t have mirrors at the time. Perhaps gold gave them a nice reflection of themselves?

No doubt, once it became the currency, it’s prestige rose unlike any other material. At one time, a man might have been judged rich by the amount of land or cattle he had. Perhaps it was the amount of power he had over others. All of this was changing in a way that was obviously more organized in spite of the pitfalls that were to follow.

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After the establishment of gold as money, there must have been a haphazard way of determining the value of a piece of material that may or may not be pure gold. This inconsistency allowed the purchaser to get more goods or services while using less actual gold since one could not see inside of a rock with a vein of gold. Sometimes it must have worked in favor of the seller as well.

In it’s natural form, gold might be in a solid nugget. It could be a vein in quartz or rock. If other materials were still mixed with the gold, the weight of the gold could not be accurately determined. It would have to be separated from other natural materials before it could be considered pure and be given an exact monetary value.

In 1350 BC, the Babylonians began to use fire assay to establish a test to purify gold. They could pronounce a certain purity of the gold. This gave more confidence in the use of gold as currency and no doubt helped build a trust in Babylonian gold as opposed to other regions where it might still have been mixed with other materials.

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Gold has a softness that is unique among metals. It can be hammered down to very thin layers without splitting. It can then be used as a layer over wood, other metals or materials so that less gold is needed to cover the area in view. So instead of having a box of solid gold, it can be made of wood and covered with gold leaf, a very thin layer. The box will then look like solid gold.

In 1200 B.C., the Egyptians began beating gold into a thin layer. They also alloyed it with other metals some of which were harder. Mixing with other metals might change the color of the gold as well. The mixing of one metal with gold might give it more durability. Pure gold is soft and can be manipulated or scratched easily so adding other metals to give it more durability could serve a specific purpose depending on the intended use.

The Egyptians proved to be very creative and developed the lost wax method of jewelry making. This is done by carving the desired jewelry shape in wax, covering it in clay and heating it so that the wax is melted. The wax flows out of a small hole in the clay. As the wax leaves, the shape is ready for the melted gold to be poured into the mold created by the wax design. Once the gold is cooled and hardened, the clay mold is broken away from the gold jewelry formed by the lost wax.

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Also around 1200 B.C., gold dust was recovered by people living on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. This natural shape of gold deposit is very small, sometimes as small as grains of sand and has to be recovered very carefully.

How the use of sheepskin came into use is unknown. After careful observation, they noticed that gold was heavier than the sand and therefore fell deeper into the wool, than sand. It could have been that someone dropped a skin in the water, which passed over it making deposits of gold. Later, someone found the skin, picked it up and after drying, noticed that there was gold embedded in the wool.

The use of sheepskin was deployed here by slucing the sands through the wool, which after drying are shaken to dislodge the gold dust. This worked well because the weight of the gold is heavier than the sand it was found in. As the sand and gold was dropped on the sheepskin, the water passed over it while moving through the stream. This pushed the light sand away while the heavier gold had more of a tendency to settled down into the thick wool of the unshorn sheepskin. Once the wool was dried, it was shaken out to free and collect the gold dust.

The Greek Mythological story of the “Golden Fleece” incorporates this form of gold gathering. Jason and the Argonauts go out searching for the Golden Fleece of the winged ram Chyrsomallos. The purpose of obtaining the fleece was to place Jason on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. The story was developed during the time of Homer (eighth century B.C.).

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The Chinese have always been great in business. They are creative, ordered and very industrious. As gold spread around the world as a form of currency, the Chinese began to use small squares of gold as a legal form of money. Uniformity of the squares encouraged an equal value to be traded. This happened in the year 1091 B.C.

Coins, as we know them today, were first made in 560 B.C., in Lydia, a kingdom of Asia Minor. A determined weight of pure gold was measured. Some sort of indent or stamp was used to identify the coins, perhaps of a governmental leader or mythological character. Imagine the person who came up with the idea to put the leaders face on a coin. he must have been considered a public relations genius of his day. People no doubt traveled from long distances to see if they could catch a glimps of the person whos face was on a gold coin.

Purity was determined by fire and the coins were poured into shape. The acceptance of gold was becoming more and more institutionalized by governmental action. This made trade easier in the area of Asia Minor which was the major crossroads of civilization at the time.

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In 344 B.C., Alexander the Great was in the midst of creating one of the largest empires in human history. Spoils of war were always part of the payment for the winners. The winner of the campaign was to possess large quantities of Persian gold. This was one of the early of a very long line of wars to be fought which included gold as spoils.

Alexander was a great military leader and no doubt enjoyed the spoils of war, but he was driven by more than that. He crossed the Hellespont with 40,000 men and defeated the Persians with brilliant tactics and the use of disciplined professional soldiers. There were more battles to win and much more gold to be had before Alexander was to die in his early 30′s.

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Gold was becoming more desirable. As was often the case, wars were fought with gold being a major motivation. Gold was hard to find. It was hard to purify and it was just a matter of time before it entered into the mind of man that it might be able to be manufactured in a laboratory.

Around 300 B.C., in the city of Alexandria, the mind of the Greeks and Jews could not be kept down. They must have figured that gold was manufactured by some combination of heat, metals or other combinations which found itself in nature. From this they began to practice alchemy whereby they took base metals and tried to turn it into gold.

Of course, they knew they would be wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, if they could do it. This lust for wealth did not allow them to consider that gold was valuable not just for its beauty, but for its rarity. If they could mass produce it, would it still be as valuable? Perhaps so, but even though this attempt was continued through the Dark Ages up to the Renaissance, it was never successful. God must have wanted gold to be difficult to obtain and therefore rare.

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Gold Historical Background

Gold has a long and complex history. From gold’s first discovery, it has symbolized wealth and guaranteed power. Gold has caused obsession in men and nations, destroyed some cultures and gave power to others. 

Archaeological digs suggest the use of Gold began in the Middle East where the first known civilizations began. The oldest pieces of gold jewelry, Egyptian jewelry, were found in the tomb of Queen Zer and of Queen Pu-abi of Ur in Sumeria and are the oldest examples found of any kind of jewelry in a find from the third millennium BC. Over the centuries, most of the Egyptian tombs were raided, but the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered undisturbed by modern archaeologists. Inside, the largest collection of gold and jewelry in the world was found and included a gold coffin whose quality showed the advanced state of Egyptian craftsmanship and goldworking (second millennium BC).

The Persian Empire, in what is now Iran, made frequent use of Gold in artwork as part of the religion of Zoroastrianism. Persian goldwork is most famous for its animal art, which was modified after the Arabs conquered the area in the 7th century AD.

When Rome began to flourish, the city attracted talented Gold artisans who created gold jewelry of wide variety. The use of gold in Rome later expanded into household items and furniture in the homes of the higher classes. By the third century AD, the citizens of Rome wore necklaces that contained coins with the image of the emperor. As Christianity spread through the European continent, Europeans ceased burying their dead with their jewelry. As a result, few gold items survive from the Middle Ages, except those of royalty and from church hoards.

In the Americas, the skill of Pre-Columbian cultures in the use of Gold was highly advanced long before the arrival of the Spanish. Indian goldsmiths had mastered most of the techniques known by their European contemporaries when the Spanish arrived. They were adept at filigree, granulation, pressing and hammering, inlay and lost-wax methods. The Spanish conquerors melted down most of the gold that they took from the peoples of this region and most of the remaining examples have come from modern excavations of grave sites. The greatest deposits of gold from these times were in the Andes and in Columbia.

During the frontier days of the United States news of the discovery of gold in a region could result in thousands of new settlers, many risking their lives to find gold. Gold rushes occurred in many of the Western States, the most famous occurring in California at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. Elsewhere, gold rushes happened in Australia in 1851, South Africa in 1884 and Canada in 1897.  

The rise of a gold standard was meant to stabilize the global economy, dictating that a nation must limit its issued currency to the amount of gold it held in reserve. Great Britain was the first to adopt the gold standard in 1821, followed, in the 1870s, by the rest of Europe. The system remained in effect until the end of the first world war, after which the US was the only country still honoring the Gold Standard. After the war, other countries were allowed to keep reserves of major currencies instead of gold. The arrival of the great depression marked the end of the U.S. export of gold in the 1930s. By the mid 20th century, the US dollar had replaced gold in international trade.

The American Eagle Bullion program was launched in 1986 with the sale of gold and silver bullion coins. Platinum was added to the American Eagle Bullion family in 1997. A bullion coin is a coin that is valued by its weight in a specific precious metal.

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Abrief History Of Gold

A child finds a shiny rock in a creek, thousands of years ago, and the human race is introduced to gold for the first time.

Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets. "Gold is where you find it," so the saying goes, and gold was first discovered in its natural state, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early hominids.

Gold became a part of every human culture. Its brilliance, natural beauty, and luster, and its great malleability and resistance to tarnish made it enjoyable to work and play with.

Because gold is dispersed widely throughout the geologic world, its discovery occurred to many different groups in many different locales. And nearly everyone who found it was impressed with it, and so was the developing culture in which they lived.

Gold was the first metal widely known to our species. When thinking about the historical progress of technology, we consider the development of iron and copper-working as the greatest contributions to our species' economic and cultural progress - but gold came first.

Gold is the easiest of the metals to work. It occurs in a virtually pure and workable state, whereas most other metals tend to be found in ore-bodies that pose some difficulty in smelting. Gold's early uses were no doubt ornamental, and its brilliance and permanence (it neither corrodes nor tarnishes) linked it to deities and royalty in early civilizations .

Gold has always been powerful stuff. The earliest history of human interaction with gold is long lost to us, but its association with the gods, with immortality, and with wealth itself are common to many cultures throughout the world.

Early civilizations equated gold with gods and rulers, and gold was sought in their name and dedicated to their glorification. Humans almost intuitively place a high value on gold, equating it with power, beauty, and the cultural elite. And since gold is widely distributed all over the globe, we find this same thinking about gold throughout ancient and modern civilizations everywhere.

Gold, beauty, and power have always gone together. Gold in ancient times was made into shrines and idols ("the Golden Calf"), plates, cups, vases and vessels of all kinds, and of course, jewelry for personal adornment.

The "Gold of Troy" treasure hoard, excavated in Turkey and dating to the era 2450 -2600 B.C., show the range of gold-work from delicate jewelry to a gold gravy boat weighing a full troy pound. This was a time when gold was highly valued, but had not yet become money itself. Rather, it was owned by the powerful and well-connected, or made into objects of worship, or used to decorate sacred locations.

Gold has always had value to humans, even before it was money. This is demonstrated by the extraordinary efforts made to obtain it. Prospecting for gold was a worldwide effort going back thousands of years, even before the first money in the form of gold coins appeared about 700 B.C.

In the quest for gold by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Indians, Hittites, Chinese, and others, prisoners of war were sent to work the mines, as were slaves and criminals. And this happened during a time when gold had no value as 'money,' but was just considered a desirable commodity in and of itself.

The 'value' of gold was accepted all over the world. Today, as in ancient times, the intrinsic appeal of gold itself has that universal appeal to humans. But how did gold come to be a commodity, a measurable unit of value?

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