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Feb
04
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You would be hard-pressed to find a culture or civilization in history that did not appreciate gold as a currency. Gold is what legends are made of. Kings forced slaves and criminals to find it. Books and tales memorialize its power. Who can forget the Midas touch myth, or James Bond up against Goldfinger? In the Olympics, the gold medal is for the best athlete. Today Donald Trump incorporates the precious metal right into his home decor. This year, gold is the one asset that has the most buzz in the world of investors.
When and where did this insatiable hunger for gold begin? Gold is thought to have been first used in decorative objects approximately six thousand years ago in Europe, and the Sumerians used the metal in jewelry five thousand years ago. It was not really money until Egypt popularized gold as currency by 1500 B.C., and the Chinese followed suit in 1091 B.C. The Egyptians considered it to be a divine metal and widely used it in the tombs of kings.
In more recent history, it was King Ferdinand of Spain who uttered his famous expression in 1511 to explorers, “Get gold, humanely if you can, but all hazards, get gold.” By 1803, the gold rush began in the U.S. in North Carolina when it was discovered in Little Meadow Creek. After gold was discovered in 1848 near Sacramento, California, five-hundred thousand people journeyed to California in search of their own piece of the gold pie.
By 1864, the gold rush had ended. The metal is today regarded for its use as not only an investment commodity, but also in industry. Gold-coated mirrors were recently used to collect astronomical images of Neptune and Uranus. The precious metal has proven its timeless value in all possible ways and in all possible places.