Gold

It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

~ Warren Buffett, 1998

A Golden Dawn

The chemical symbol for gold is AU, from the Latin word aurum meaning “shining dawn” and from Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. The first coins issued by the Romans were called the Aureus after the goddess. Gold was the metal of choice a grateful provincial city presented as a "gift" to the Emperor.

The Egyptians considered gold the flesh of the gods, particularly the sun god Ra. Consequently, gold was unavailable to anyone but the pharaohs, and only later to priests and other members of the royal court. The chambers that held the king’s sarcophagus was known as the “house of gold.”

While the Greeks thought that gold was a dense combination of water and sunlight, the Incas thought gold represented the glory of their sun god and referred to the precious metal as “tears of the Sun.” Because gold was not yet used for money, the Inca’s love of gold was purely aesthetic and religious.

Bring on the Bullion

In 560 B.C., the Lydians introduced the first gold coin, which was actually an amalgam of gold and silver called electrum. Herodotus criticizes the materialism of the Lydians, who also were the first to open permanent retail shops. When the Lydians were captured by the Persians in 546 B.C., the use of gold coins began to spread.

The value of gold has been used as the standard for many currencies and originally each paper bank note was redeemable for a set amount of gold that the bank kept in it's vaults. Now, the gold standard has been replaced by the fiat (Latin for “let it be done”) standard and there is no longer enough gold in the world to cover all the paper money in circulation in the US (let alone the rest of the world).

As Good as Gold

Gold is edible, and when used in food it is given the E Number 175. Gold is a popular addition to fruit, jelly snacks, coffee, and most often: chocolate. Since at least the 1500s, Europeans have been putting gold leaf in bottles of liquor, such as Danziger Goldwasser and Goldschlager. It’s just for looks though, since it adds no taste or any other nutritional effect and exits the body unaltered. Some Native American tribes believed consuming gold could allow humans to levitate. Be warned though, eating more than a few ounces can be fatal.

Bright and Yellow, Hard and Cold

Gold has been a symbol of greed since its inception and those that chased gold without restraint sometimes met with a quick end. In 1599, a Spanish governor in Ecuador taxed the Jivaro tribe so excessively that they executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat. This form of execution was also practiced by the Romans and the Spanish Inquisition.

The world’s largest stockpile of gold can be found five stories underground inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s vault and it holds 25% of the world's gold reserve (540,000 gold bars). While it contains more gold than Fort Knox, most of it belongs to foreign governments. Amid recession fears in March 2008, the price of gold topped $1,000 an ounce for the first time in history.

All that glitters…

The Greeks began to practice alchemy in 300 B.C. The search to turn base metals into gold would reach its pinnacle in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Starting with the Middle Ages, Arabic and European alchemists invested much effort in the search for the "philosopher's stone", a legendary substance that was believed to be an essential ingredient for eternal life and the conversion of base metals to gold. It didn't work of course. Instead many tried to fake it by covering lead (a similarly heavy and soft metal) with a coating of gold.

The way to spot fake gold coins is with a quick bite. Pure gold is soft enough to be molded with the human hand. Gold coins were not usually 100% pure but teeth will still leave a mark. The down side to using your teeth is that if it is a lead coin covered in gold sheet there is a chance of lead poisoning

More Nuggets of Knowledge

- The Chinese beauty treatment company Umosen has developmed a facial treatment which basically applies 24 karat gold onto the patient's face as an anti-aging mask. (hey, at least it’s better than seaweed)

- The term “gold” is the from the Proto-Indo-European base *ghel / *ghol meaning “yellow,” “green,” or possibly “bright.”

- Besides its use in jewellery, it's also widespread in dentistry, in photography,

and its high conductivity in electricity has made it even more precious in electronic components, like the connectors of the more expensive electronics cables, such as audio, video and USB cables.

- Gold is chemically inert, which also explains why it never rusts and does not cause skin irritation. If gold jewellery irritates the skin, it is likely that the gold was mixed with some other metal.

- Seventy-five percent of all gold in circulation has only been extracted since 1910.

- Around 1200 B.C., the Egyptians used unshorn sheepskin to mine for gold dust from the sands of the Black Sea. This practice is most likely the inspiration for the “Golden Fleece.”

- The Olympic gold medals awarded in 1912 were made entirely from gold. Currently however, the gold medals are only required to contain six grams of gold ($200 worth by today's prices).

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Latest-Use-for-Gold-24-Karat-Gold-Facial-Mask-54531.shtml
http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/03/09_gold.html