Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Gold! Gold! Gold!

Gold Bars
Last time I checked, the price of gold was somewhere around $1,350 an ounce and headed up.  Back around when gold was $400 an ounce, I bought a bunch of it.  A few years later I sold it for about $280 an ounce; so, you see, I didn't fare too well profit-wise, and I vowed that my gold trading days were over.  Ha.
Gold Coins
But the topic of gold is a fascinating one, for a lot of reasons.  It is a remarkable and rare metal.  It has been used as the ornament of kings, served as currency and a standard for currencies.

It is the only metal that will not rust or tarnish.

In its pure form, gold has a sun-yellow metallic luster. But when it is in the presence of other metals, it has various colors ranging from silver-white to green and orange-red.

Gold Dust
Gold is present in quartz veins and as a free metal.  It is widely distributed throughout the earth, although it is rare.  It is 75th in order of abundance of the elements in the earth's crust.

It is also present in sea water, at the ratio of 5-25 parts to 100 million parts of water.

Gold has high electrical conductivity---excellent when used as electronic components.
Gold is Excellent as an Electronic Component
It is highly malleable.   One ounce can be drawn into a wire 50 miles long.  It can be hammered so thinly that sunlight will pass through it.
Gold Jewelry
Its most common use is jewelry.

Only approximately 175,000 tons have been mined in all of history, 75% of which has been mined since 1910.  This amount of gold is so small that if it were formed into a cube, it would be slightly smaller than a tennis court cubed.

Gold is so rare that the world pours more steel in one hour than it has poured gold in all of recorded history.

Edible Gold
Gold is edible.  It has been placed in fruits, jellies, coffee, tea and other foods.

Gold Nuggets
The largest gold nugget ever found was the "Welcome Stranger" nugget discovered in Australia in 1869.  It was 10"X25" and yielded 2,248 ounces of pure gold.  It was found just 2" below the earth's surface.

One cubic foot of gold weighs half a ton.

Olympic Gold Medal
The last time olympic gold metals were made entirely of pure gold was 1912.

There are more than 400 references to gold in the bible.

The first known gold coin was made by the Lydians in 560 BC.

Gold and copper are the only two non-white-colored metals.  Both were discovered around 5,000 BC.

Part of the Vault at Fort Knox, Kentucky
The world's largest stockpile of gold is 5 stories underground inside the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Klondike Gold Rush, 1896
The first recorded discovery of gold in the United States was a 17 pound nugget found in Cabarrus, North Carolina in 1803.  This caused the first U. S. gold rush.

16 comments:

  1. I always wondered if olympic medals were made of solid gold. Now I know. What is funny is if it is so rare, why do we make it edible. Seems a total waste- pun not intended. We humans are a funny breed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So many facts I did not know about gold until I read your blog. Fascinating! Maybe that is why we were glued to the TV on Saturday watching the reality show, Gold Rush! I can barely wait to Friday evening to see what happened :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. My brother has taken up panning for gold in his 'retirement' days. He finds tiny bits of it after traveling for hundreds of miles to get somewhere. I guess it's better than sitting in front of a computer like I tend to do...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Serious? It can be stretched 50 miles. I try to learn one fact every day...and this is a really interesting one!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is very interesting! I thought the cowboys dug up all the gold years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Clint,
    gold ist fantastic, but It is not all gold that glitters.
    Many Greetings Sabine

    ReplyDelete
  7. It would be lovely to have gold but I have all the gold I require in my children and grandchildren......a legacy from my husband.

    Have a GOOD DAY.

    Yvonne.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I did not know was edible!

    Ciao Clint,beautiful post!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting facts, thank you Clint.

    I have one or two gold bracelets in the dresser drawers somewhere;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh...gold...I love gold and jewelry. My first incredible experience I have had in Saudi Arabia when I saw a man with gold bullion in his hands going through the souk.

    Just fascinating

    ReplyDelete
  11. Who knew?!?! I have always loved silver and white gold...it has only been recently that I have taken a liking to gold too! I actually like to mix gold and silver together...and diamonds and ..oh....I'll stop there...

    Love all the facts here!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Clint your post are always beautifull! I have loved this post, you din't know that I was, and still I'm, a huge fan of the pioneers of the time and all the literature about!
    thank you really for this post Clint

    ReplyDelete
  13. We live near a community that was settled and mined by Bohemian immigrants. The mine is periodically opened to the public and there are still active claims on the stream where some still pan for gold. Our grandsons loved to pan when they were younger. Your post was really fascinating. I hope you have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

    ReplyDelete
  14. owh...i didn't know gold is edible! interesting stuff. haha..thanks for sharing Clint. have a nice day! :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great post!

    Is the gold still at the Federal Reserve in NY? Wasn't it moved right after 9/11? I remember hearing reports about that.... and no one knows where it went to.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Using BullionVault you may obtain physical bullion by the gram at current spot exchange rates.

    Your gold and silver is kept at 1 of 5 secure global vaults. And you are able to exchange it online or take out physical bars.

    ReplyDelete

---