Jewelry

As a child watching The Wizard of Oz in years, I was too mesmerized by the wonder of Dorothy finding herself in a magical new world to take in all the details. Emerald City? That I understood. Ditto for her Ruby Slippers. But yellow bricks? Only years later, watching the movie for the who-knows-how-many-times, did I realize that the bricks were gold. Ah, looking back, it’s clear the yellow brick road didn’t just lead to the Emerald City. It was priceless in its own right — the ultimate symbol of luxury, the substance of dreams.

Dorothy was far from the only person to follow a golden road. Throughout history, gold discoveries have launched rushes across continents, up towering mountains, or distant streams and rivers. When we look at Renaissance portraits of current fashion magazines, we see gold everywhere — particularly yellow. Most people can tell you they love gold — whether yellow, white, or rose — and why, but few know much about its long, illustrious history.

We all know the vital role gold plays in the jewelry industry, but did you know our hominid ancestors — perhaps Neanderthals — discovered gold 40,000 years ago? This came to light when anthropologists and archaeologists studied ancient artifacts and paintings in Spanish caves, dating these treasures back 40 millennia. Among them, they discovered small gold nuggets. This rich yellow metal no doubt mesmerized those who first laid eyes on it as it has ever since.