Gold has captured the human imagination for thousands of years. It offered one of the earliest forms of money and coins have been recovered dating back to 750 BC. It is believed that gold was chosen for coins because of its ease of shaping combined with its long wearing properties that offer longevity for shaped forms. While gold coins wear down, just like silver and other forms of metals, they can easily be recast or verified for authenticity and percentage of gold used in the coins.
Numerous empires have risen and fallen through the quest for and the misuse of this amazing metal. Eventually marketplaces were established to offer secure places to buy and sell this commodity, just like with corn or wool.
Gold motivated the European nations to push to explore and conquer different parts of the world in their quest for more gold. Spain probably had more gold flow through its hands than any other superpower of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD. Its fiscal mismanagement lead it to financial disaster and economic ruin after the gold ran out. It doesn't matter how much money you make if you are spending more than you earn. This lesson has been repeated over repeatedly through the rise and fall of the great empires of the world. China learned the same lesson when they explored the world in the 1400s and overspent their tax revenues to do so.
Gold was a standard currency for the United States until 1971, when President Nixon closed the 'gold window' or the ability to convert dollars for gold. This removed the country from having to keep millions of dollars of gold on hand to be able to convert into dollars and freed it to stabilize the economy that was suffering from inflation. As this was done without consulting with the other major financial giants in the world, it was known as the 'Nixon Shock'.
Today, we have seen the price of gold rise to new great heights. This offers some great opportunities for some individuals who are savvy enough to sell their scrap gold and broken gold jewelry to gold refiners. These refiners offer the best prices for the metals and can process it back into a form that is usable in the marketplace. While some people are buying gold at the highest monetary levels that have ever been paid for it, others are getting rich by using their gold assets to become even more wealthy.
Author Resource:
Ross Metals (http://www.rossmetals.com/) provide the highest quality precious metal refiners in the industry, all guaranteed to meet or exceed "The U.S. Stamping Act" for karat accuracy and requirements. Art Gib is a freelance writer.
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