Gold was one of the first metals known to man as far back as cave-men, before the invention of the wheel. It has been a mark of wealth for thousands of years.

Gold does not rust, tarnish, or corrode; gold virtually lasts forever. Gold coins found in sunken galleons centuries old, are as bright and shiny as the day they were minted. King Tutankhamen was buried with vast quantities of gold artifacts in 1350 B.C.; today more than 3,000 years later, those artifacts are as gleaming and bright as the day they were made.

The largest gold nugget ever "The Welcome Nugget" was found in Australia; it weighed almost 3,000 ounces.

Scientists describe gold as being extremely “ductile” as it can be drawn into wire as fine as human hair and “malleable” because it can be hammered into thin sheets. The ancient Egyptians became so adept at working with gold they were able to hammer it so thin that it took 36,700  leaves to make a pile one inch high; or to put it another way, one  ounce of gold can  be hammered so thin  it  will  cover 100 square feet.  One troy ounce of gold can be made into wire 50 miles long. Gold has been of such  value for so long because of its scarcity.

The lust for gold is known the world over as gold fever. The first gold rush in America took place in Georgia in 1828. The most famous of all gold rushes took place in California in 1849 and people came from all over the world to participate.  Only an estimated  88,000 tons of gold have been mined from the earth during all of recorded history,  barely enough to fill a  cube with  54 foot sides.

Any new gold mine represents a capital investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. Add to that the fact that it takes, in a good mine,  2 1/2 to 3 tons of earth-ore to extract 1 ounce of gold. Actually,  most gold mines  have to process 10 tons of ore to produce 1 ounce of gold.

The history of gold and silver quality standards goes back to the early uses of these metals as money. Legal regulations governing the marking of gold jewelry began in England in the year 1239 and  have existed in one form or another ever since in practically all civilized countries.

Penalties for violating these laws have varied over the centuries.  History records that in England in the year 1397, a report was made on the false and counterfeit stamps of two goldsmiths who were sentenced to be placed in the pillory at Westminster with their ears nailed to the wall. Then they were taken to the pillory at Cheapside where each offender had an ear cut off after which they were taken to Foster Lane prison. In addition to all this, they had to pay a fine.

 It is interesting to note that these severe penalties have been used to protect the jewelry industry as a whole (I hope they won't nail my ears to the wall for publishing this "Diamond Report"). It is bad enough for a violator to defraud the public and take dishonest advantage of competitors, but the trade has always feared the greater danger of a  break-down of public confidence in  the quality markings on jewelry. Even in early days, the established principle was that the buyer had only himself to blame if he

purchased an unmarked piece of jewelry which  he later learned was not what it was claimed to be. (Like buying an "Enhanced Diamond", I wonder?)

On the other hand, if an article stamped under the provisions of a Government Law was found to be less than the quality indicated, the seller violated a law and endangered the reputation of the trade. 

Pure gold is much too soft to be practical to be made into jewelry, so it must be combined with other metals called alloys. (Some jewelry, however, in the Middle East, India and China is made of  22K or 24K, which is almost or pure gold.)

Gold alloys are measured by karats. Karatage for gold is abbreviated with a "K" as opposed to "Ct" for the diamond carat. A karat is equal to 1/24 part. "24 karat" (24K) is 100%  pure (fine) gold, "18 karat" (18K) is 18 parts pure gold and 6 parts alloy, "14 karat" (14K) is 14 parts pure gold and 10 parts alloy, and "10 karat" (10K)  is 10 parts pure gold and 14 parts alloy.

Anything less than 10K gold cannot be stamped with the karat mark and can not be legally sold in the United States as “gold”. Some countries in Europe do allow 9K and 8K to be sold as gold.

The National Stamping Act of 1906 was amended in 1981 to require a fineness (purity) within three-thousands of the karat mark stamped on the piece. If you see a P stamped after the karat mark, such as 14KP, (don't worry; this does not stand for Plated). It stands for "Plumb", meaning the gold content is exactly the specified fineness, not off by  three-thousands  as allowed by law. The stamping law also requires that a trademark of the manufacturer appear with the trademark. In Europe, pure gold (24K) is equal to the metric denomination of 1000 karat, 750 karat (18K) is 75% pure gold and 25% alloy, 585 karat (14K) is 58.5% pure gold and 41.5% alloy.

Gold is produced in colors of Yellow, Green (it's actually greenish-yellow), Red, Pink and White by variations in the alloy. Gold, silver and zinc tend to give a green color. Gold and copper: red-gold. Gold, nickel, zinc and copper: white-gold. Alloys used to make yellow gold are usually pure gold, copper, silver and a small amount of zinc. Alloys used to make white gold are pure gold, copper, silver and nickel. “Black Hills” gold for example combines yellow, red and green gold in a grapevine motif.

Pure gold melts at 1945 degrees Fahrenheit. It is impervious to all chemicals with the exception of Aqua Regia, a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids. 

For hundreds of years, the "Alchemists" have tried unsuccessfully to make gold by artificial means. Today’s modern scientists, however, have succeeded in extracting gold from sea water. All sea water contains gold but it is very difficult to retrieve. The average amount runs about one grain of gold (worth about 80 cents today) to one ton of sea water.

The main gold producing countries in order of importance are South Africa, Russia, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Ghana. The richest gold field is called The Witwatersrand located in the Transvaal in South Africa.

In fact, the U.S. is now the world’s third leading gold producer.  The largest single gold mine in the Western Hemisphere is located in Lead, South Dakota.

For many years California was the largest producer of gold in America, but now South Dakota has the  lead, followed by Utah, Alaska and Arizona.

The price of gold has been relatively stable in the last twenty years trading at $250 to $400 per ounce.

Before that from 1933 to 1971, the U.S. Government prohibited the free trade of gold and fixed the price at  $35 an ounce.

After 1971 when gold became legal to trade, it rose until in early 1980, it peaked at $850 an ounce.