THE HISTORY OF GOLD

Gold in Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, gold was extracted from state-controlled mines and used to create art and jewelry for royalty and religious uses. Although gold was not used as currency, it was considered to be divine, and therefore of high importance to the royal family, also thought to be divine. King Tutankhamen was found buried with a now-famous solid gold mask, and many other artifacts recovered from royal tombs in Egypt are gold. Egyptians who were not royalty, however, had little use for gold and rarely encountered it unless they worked in one of the state mines. The total weight of gold extracted from the mines during any given year is not thought to have exceeded one ton.

Gold in Ancient Rome

As in Egypt, the Roman state had a monopoly over the mining of gold. However, gold coins were the primary currency and, as such, used in day-to-day commerce. Gold jewelry was also popular, especially among the wealthy Romans. In the state gold mines, the Romans employed four techniques to extract gold from the earth: mining river deposits, surface mining, hydraulic mining and deep vein mining. The Romans were able to mine more gold than the Egyptians. Spain, for example, shipped 1400 tons of gold to Rome each year.

Gold in Ancient Greece

Coins in ancient Greece were made primarily out of gold and silver and were used throughout ancient Greece. The Greek self-governing towns and cities often minted their own gold and silver coins. issued their own coins. During the Hellenistic period, some regions issued beautiful gold coins imprinted with the portraits of their kings on one side and the symbols of the state on the other -- a pattern that persists today.

Gold in Medieval Europe

In Medieval Europe, most gold was held by those in power, while the common currency was copper-based coinage. As a result, gold was considered very rare and had some unusual uses. Gold was thought to have healing powers under the assumption that anything beautiful and uncommon must be good for you. Gold was also consumed by the nobility when it decorated food and drinks in the form of leaf, flakes or dust, symbolizing the wealth and decadence of the host. Kings wore gold crowns which symbolized the light of heaven and gave the impression that a Christian king had divine authority.

Gold in the United Kingdom

In 1717, the United Kingdom adopted the gold standard. In 1914, the government suspended the convertibility of currency to gold to ensure that military operations could be funded during World War I. This meant that people could no longer exchange currency for gold or acquire gold from the Bank of England. In 1925, the United Kingdom returned to the gold standard at the pre-war gold price even though significant inflation had occurred since 1914. The government abandoned the gold standard in 1931 after a series of price declines.