Why do people get gold fever? What makes this metal so special? Well, PURE gold does have several unique properties. It is virtually indestructible under normal circumstances, it can be left immersed in any single concentrated acid without adverse affect. Only a mixture of certain acids will cause it to dissolve. (Acid testing is a great way of seeing if gold is real). It will NEVER tarnish in air or sea water, unlike most other metals gold cannot oxidise; making it highly desirable for instance as a terminal for electrical components. If gold becomes dirty, it is best to clean off the detritus by ultrasound treatment as it does not damage the surface.
Gold jewellery rarely needs polishing so is great for jewellery. Tutankhamen’s famous 184lb death mask was made in 1488bc yet when found by Howard Carter in 1922 it was still as brilliant yellow as the day it was crafted (worth 2 million Euros if scrapped but pricessless as the only surviving Egyptian death mask).
Gold is a rare metal too, and costs a great deal to extract out of the ground & refine giving it a high value. This value is no longer artificially controlled by Governments so can be a store of wealth….
All the gold ever found so far would fit into 3 London double decker buses & also supplies are running out, production output gently slowing down worldwide.
It is easily bought and sold anywhere in the world as everyone WANTS gold if they can afford it…. Its price thoughout the world is the same and quoted on TV, in newspapers and on the net. Also, in large amounts, the difference between buying and selling price is very small.
Pure gold is very soft. One ounce can be stretched into a thin wire 1 mile long or hammered into gold leaf with a surface area of a football pitch 300sq ft(28sq m) It’s also very very heavy with a specific gravity of 19.3 and an atomic weight of 196.967. This means that gold in it’s purest form has no tensile strength and wears rather quickly. It is also perhaps prohibitively expensive in this state.
In British jewellery, it is customary to add other metals such as copper, zinc or silver to gold. These other metals sadly change the colour of the amalgam from a deep, rich yellowy orange glow to red, green, rose or even white if platinum is added. However, the extra metals mean that the jewellery is able to be shown off without it becoming badly scratched or worn.
Most UK gold jewellery is 37.5% pure gold, often known as nine carat jewellery. When mixed with silver, this still looks similar to pure gold but will not bend or break too easily. The carat system was introduced as late as 1915 in UK and is based on pure gold being 24 carat. However, it is believed that the ancient Egyptians first introduced stamps on gold jewellery as a guarantee of purity.
UK hallmarks were introduced in the fourteenth century and are widely regarded as the safest in the world. Official Assay Offices stamp each piece with the town of manufacture, purity, type of precious metal and date made. Without the full set of hallmarks, it is easy to ascertain that the goods were made outside of the UK (in this case, a purity mark is still stamped on each item as it enters UK)
The minimum UK gold standard is .375 (9carat) This is lower than the Continent and USA, who work from 10% upwards. 14 carat (,583) and 18carat (.750) tend to indicate better quality pieces and the best purity standard is 22 carat (.9166) although it is possible to produce higher purity gold.
The Asian continent uses a lot of gold, as jewellery, mostly 23 carat but this used by ordinary people as a way of saving money and as a store of wealth as Asian banks are not generally trusted .
Gold as a long-term investment has proved to be a very stable commodity but as always, timing is everything and at the moment; gold is very high in price…..an ideal time to sell, not so good to buy.
Generally, second hand gold jewellery value is determined by weight unless the manufacturer is Tiffany, Cartier etc. To a seller who owns a beautiful piece of intricately made gold, this may seem rather harsh. But because gold has risen so much in value in the past 5 years, the value of any gold item is likely to be a pleasant surprise. Most buyers are very discrete and expect sellers to be the same.
