Art History_ForMasterTutor2011

Content

Thesis= 1/1

Body content= 9.7/13

Conclusion= 2/2

Format/Composition= 2 /2

Documentation MLA (in-text citations and Works Cited)= 1.2/2

Value of Gold

Gold has been used to produce lasting currency, jewelry, sculptures, testaments, statues and for decoration since antiquity (Mark par.1). Gold has also been used historically as a sign of immortality, wealth and power. Anciently, gold being malleable and ductile had many applications in the society. It could be cold hammered into wafers and drawn into thin wires to produce ornamental body wares. Its unique color and natural gloss was in early times equated it with the sun. Gold is hardly affected by harsh treatment and thus its incorruptibility made it to be used as sign of permanence. Rulers and royal families wore gold regalia as a sign of wealth and power. Gold’s versatility, rarity, uniqueness, aesthetics and popularity explain why the metal of gold holds more monetary value than most other metals since 1300 AD to date. [specific culture still missing here -- ancient Mesopotamian Sumerian culture, whichever other culture you add, then also include one from around 1300AD/CE.]]

Gold has served as a status symbol since antiquity and more so among the royals in Mesopotamia. In Mesopotamia, members of the royal clan of Ur were buried with their gold jewelry like the Queen Puabi’s skeleton reveled at the royal cemetery located at Ur. Queen Puabi was buried with headwear and necklace with golden beads (Oakes 20). These lavish tombs of Ur used by the royals are regarded as the one of the most important ancient findings about the study of ancient Mesopotamian jewelry. The king had more power than the queen and this was reflected on the gold they used to wear (Oakes 20). [[this source is not listed on the works cited, thus its validity not known.]] The Ur cemetery has a lot of gold which can be used the various types of gold objects as well as their uses (Oakes 20).

The versatility of gold makes it have numerous applications. Traditionally, malleability, ductility and resilience of gold made it possible to make helmets, necklaces, earrings, cups, garlands and delicate chains out of gold. Gold had and still has numerous classifications and qualities. [intro needed – who is Levey – introduce person] Levey classifies gold under “green gold, fine gold, white gold, red gold, superfine gold and refined gold” grades in increasing order of value (31-36).[[instead specific page this quote is from]] These names defined the purity of gold for official uses. The fully refined gold was the most valuable and most precious often associated with the wealthy and royalty (Levey 31-36).[[specific page this quote is from]] Sumerian jewelry in Mesopotamia served virtually all the functions of gold which were to occur in the course of time. As a matter of fact, Sumerians had more types of jewelry than there are today according to Guido Gregorietti, a jewelry historian.

The cost of gold can partly be explained by supply demand relationship (Batchelor and Gulley 37-42). Prices of commodities are not set by a single organization because they are a compromise between the production cost and the price people are willing to pay. Gold is inarguably very rare while it is also expensive to extract and refine meaning the base price should be substantially high. A lot of people want to possess gold, thus want to buy it, but the supply of gold remains relatively steady with time. Many people will have to compete with one another for the little gold available by increasing the prices. In the ancient culture, the dead were buried with gold as a symbol of the deceased’s social status.

Asia Minor is the first region to use gold currency in the late 8th century BCE. The first coins were stamped on one side and irregular in shape (Metcalf 49). [[this source is not listed on the works cited, thus its validity not known.]] Metcalf further asserts that king Croesus of Lydia was the first image to be stamped in gold coins (49). Lydians used to add salt to impure gold to evaporate the silver impurities hence obtain pure gold. Elsewhere, the Mycenaean used gold coins widely as well as Greek and Roman Empires. Most of the coins in Heraclea contained the head of Athena wearing helmet in the manner of Thurium.

Throughout history, gold has been used as a store of value. Although it is clear that the world needed and still needs a currency system to store value and handle trade, it is fascinating why gold was chosen. Gold’s portability, resilience and stability, trustworthiness, universality and diversion made it the best option. Even in early Mesopotamia, farmers were exchanging their harvest for gold. The supply of gold has been relatively stable over time while the demand has been ballooning. It is also not likely new gold mines will be identified any time soon. The demand for gold coupled with the constant supply leads to an increase in price of gold. Today, the price of gold is very liquid. Today, only one grade of gold is used and thus can be used as a system of single pricing. As opposed to other metals, gold has very little if any industrial use except for making semiconductors. Therefore, very little of the valuable commodity is diverted from trading. Gold is incorruptible and has thus been used in dentistry for 3000 years (Corti, et al 24). [[this source is not listed on the works cited, thus its validity not known.]] Today gold is being used my celebrities to decorate their teeth which is a new development on the use of gold in the modern age. they add grills to the teeth so their smiles could sparkles

In conclusion, it can be said that gold is a metal which is used as both a unit of account and elemental store of value (Lehrman 12). [[this source is not listed on the works cited, thus its validity not known.]] Gold is relatively resilient and thus in the ancient times, the past, the present and the future; the value of gold as a metal, store of value and unit of account is backed by science and nature rather than economic forces. Value of gold rose even before civilization when little of its scientific properties were known. People have in the course of history used gold in cooperation as a measure of value. It is evident that systems of debt and money come and go but gold remains timeless (Bruno, par. 1). This explains its extraordinary nature and the reason why it is so precious and expensive. Gold was used as a symbol of antiquity because of its deviance to age and as a symbol of social status and royalty in Mesopotamia and Greece. These applications explain why gold’s price is very high compared to other metals.

Work Cited

Batchelor, Roy, and David Gulley. "Jewelry demand and the price of gold." Resources Policy 21.1 (1995): 37-42.

Hirst, Kris. Artifacts of the Royal Cemetery of Ur (2013).[[not in MLA]]