The Story of Gold

The story of gold is a rather intriguing one that started billions of years ago with a
powerful supernova of a star. The debris which included newly formed gold was carried to earth through meteoroids that were propelled by the means of the explosion's shock wave.

Since most of the gold that was already on earth heated and sunk to the core, the earth's crust was replenished by great meteoroid showers. However, this took place approximately 4 billion years ago and now the gold has become embedded within the Earth's crust due to its constant reshaping.

Due to gold's properties, people have always had a fascination with it. Gold has held value since it's discovery because of its uniqueness as well as it being difficult to obtain.

For more than 7000 years, man has been extracting gold from the earth through various mining
techniques on a global scale. The oldest gold artifacts come from the tombs in Bulgaria dating the foraging of gold back past 4200 BC.

Humans used to barter with gold however, the gold used was inconsistent in terms of weight, purity, and sizes. There was no exact way to measure accurate portions of gold used in the trade for products. However, a vast number of civilizations found both creative and innovative ways to attempt to compensate for this. The Aztecs formed the gold into tiny doll figurines while other cultures liked to wear their wealth such as the Egyptians who would use rings to purchase things.

Soon ancient civilizations found a way to turn gold into an official form of money. In approximately 700 BC the use of gold coins came into play appearing first in Lydia. Then other ancient civilizations started using gold such as India, Greece, Rome, China, and Egypt. In the early 20th century the implementing of gold coins fell into disuse and was replaced with current day currency that mainly consists of paper. For a brief time, the paper currency acted as a claim-check that was interchangeable upon demand for a fixed amount of gold. However, the rules were changed. Gold now stands as an assets class.

Source of Information : Ask About Gold By Michael Ruge