Gold in Vintage and Antique Jewelry: Unique Qualities
Gold, one of the world's most precious metals, dates back to the dawn of mankind. All ancient civilizations are known to use gold with different degrees of purity to create treasured items, items that had a great spiritual meaning, and decoration for monuments. Royal families would commission their jewelry to be made of gold, and to be adorned with precious stones. Many of these jewelry pieces can be found in museums worldwide, and some fine jewelry pieces made of gold could be purchased at respected antique stores.
Gold Could Only Grace The Chosen Ones
The largest producer of gold in the ancient times was Egypt. Ancient Egyptians noticed that gold does not corrode and it became a symbol of immortality. Its rarity and aesthetic qualities had inspired ancient craftsmen to create necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, cufflinks and pendants, using filigree techniques (a technique of pulling the gold into a wire and twisting the gold wire into different designs), granulation (a technique that utilizes soldered granules of gold to create surface’s adornment), chasing, and engraving. The ancient Egyptians equated gold with the sun, and believed the precious metal was the giver of life. These elevated gold to the status of the most valuable metal of all; so much so in fact, that only pharaohs were allowed to wear jewelry pieces made out of gold.
Gold Could be Made in Many Beautiful Shades
Gold's exquisite natural color can be further enhanced by alloying it with different amounts of other metals. For example, alloying gold with a little amount of copper results in a soft rose color; additional alloying with silver creates green gold; and, as popular these days, white gold is produced by adding palladium. Alloying with a number of other metals is also employed in order to increase gold’s strength. Masters of jewelry creations throughout the ages have preferred gold to other metals for its beauty, rarity, as well as ease of workmanship--it can be shaped into anything the jewelry maker has envisioned and can be re-melted should the craftsman need to start the jewelry piece all over again.
Gold Is Said To Have Healing Properties
From antiquity till today, gold is known to have some healing properties. In the old days they would use pure 24-karat gold to heal infection, cuts, and sore spots among others. There are records of using pure gold to heal wounds fast and control infection. It is believed that gold possesses an energy that brings warmth and has soothing properties for the body to aid faster recovery. Interestingly, for thousands of years acupuncturists used gold needles for its stimulation.
World's Most Expensive Watch Utilizes Gold
There are 10 items of jewelry estimated to be the most expensive in the world. Not surprisingly, most of these are made of diamonds and gold, including the famous Chopard 201 Carat watch. This dazzling watch, containing an unthinkable 874 diamonds, a flower-motif encrusted bracelet with white gold, and yellow gold hardware, has a $25 million price tag attached to it.
