Are you “good as gold”? Of course you know
“silence is golden”. Have you found your
“pot of gold” at the end of a rainbow?
Are you a member of the “golden agers”?

See fabulous gold jewelry by Kenneth Jay Lane at http://beadsbymail.com/kjl_gold.htm   

GOld is a mineral with the symbol Au
and an atomic number of 79. It has been
a highly sought-after precious metal
for coinage, jewelry, and other arts
since the beginning of recorded history.

The metal occurs as nuggets or grains
in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits.
Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most
malleable and ductile pure metal known.
Pure gold has a bright yellow color and
luster which it maintains without
tarnishing in air or water.

Gold has served as a symbol of wealth
and a store of value throughout history.
Gold standards have provided a basis for monetary policies.

Gold market 1/3/10: $1166.00 per ounce.

Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which
dissolves silver and base metals. This
property is exploited in refining. Nitric
acid has long been used to confirm the
presence of gold in items, and this is
the origin of the colloquial term “acid test”,
referring to a gold standard test for genuine value.

See fabulous gold jewelry by Kenneth Jay Lane at http://beadsbymail.com/kjl_gold.htm   

Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold,
it is usually alloyed with base metals for
use in jewelry, altering its hardness and
ductility, melting point, color and other
properties. Alloys with lower caratage,
typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain
higher percentages of copper, or other
base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy.

Copper is the most commonly used base metal,
yielding a redder color. Eighteen carat gold
containing 25% copper is found in antique and
Russian jewelry and has a distinct, though not
dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold.

Fourteen carat gold-copper alloy is nearly
identical in color to certain bronze alloys.
Fourteen and eighteen carat gold alloys with
silver alone appear greenish-yellow and
are referred to as green gold.

White gold alloys can be made with palladium
or nickel. White 18 carat gold containing
17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is
silver in appearance. Alternative white gold
alloys are available based on palladium,
silver and other white metals, but the
palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel.

High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to
corrosion than pure silver or sterling silver.
In medieval times, gold was often thought to be beneficial for the health, in the belief that something that rare and beautiful could not be anything but healthful.

Even some modern esotericists and forms of alternative medicine assign metallic gold a healing power. Some gold salts do have anti-inflammatory properties and are used as pharmaceuticals in the treatment of arthritis and other similar conditions.

However, only salts and radioisotopes of gold are of pharmacological value, as elemental (metallic) gold is inert to all chemicals it encounters inside the body.
In modern times, injectable gold has been proven to help to reduce the pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis.
Gold has been known and used by artisans since the 4th millennium BC. Gold artifacts appeared in Central Europe from the 2nd millennium BC.
Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which king Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was “more plentiful than dirt” in Egypt. Egypt and especially Nubia had the resources to become major gold-producing areas for much of history.
The legend of the golden fleece may refer to the use of fleeces to trap gold dust from placer deposits in the ancient world. Gold is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, starting with Genesis 2:11 (at Havilah) and is included with the gifts of the magi in the first chapters of Matthew New Testament.

The Book of Revelation 21:21 describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets “made of pure gold,

clear as crystal”.
The south-east corner of the Black Sea was famed for its gold. Exploitation is said

to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of

what is probably the world’s earliest mint in Lydia around 610 BC.
The Romans developed new methods for extracting gold on a large scale using

hydraulic mining, especially in Spain from 25 BC onwards and in Romania from 150 AD

onwards.
One of their largest mines was at Las Medulas in León (Spain), where seven long

aqueducts enabled them to sluice most of a large alluvial deposit. The mines at

Transylvania were also very large, and until very recently, still mined.
Romans also exploited smaller deposits in Britain, such as placer and hard-rock

deposits. The various methods used are described by Pliny the Elder in his

encyclopedia Naturalis Historia written towards the end of the first century AD.
Kenneth Jay Lane Gold Jewelry
Jane Shafrin owns Kenneth Jay Lane Sales, kennethjaylanesales.com, a comprehensive fashion jewelry web site focusing on the designs of world-renowned jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane.