Gold Information Page 5

Forms of Gold

Gold coins are one of the oldest forms of money. The first gold coins in history were coined by the Lydian king Croesus in about 560 BC, not long after the first silver coins were minted by king Pheidon of Argos in about 700 BC.
Gold coins then had a very long period as a primary form of money, only falling into disuse in the early 20th century. Most of the world stopped making gold coins as currency by 1933.
However, gold-colored coins (not made of real gold) have made a comeback in many currencies.

A gold bar is a gold ingot which may be produced in many different types, weights and categories.

An ingot is a mass of material cast into a shape which is easy to handle.

Colloidal gold is a suspension (or colloid) of sub-micrometre-sized particles of gold in a fluid, usually water. The liquid is usually either an intense red colour (for particles less than 100 nm), or a dirty yellowish colour (for larger particles) C. The nanoparticles themselves can come in a variety of shapes: spheres, rods, cubes and caps are some of the more frequently observed ones.
Known since ancient times, it was originally used as a method of staining glass. Modern scientific evaluation of colloidal gold did not begin until Michael Faraday's work of the 1850s. Currently, colloidal gold is a subject of substantial research, with applications in a wide variety of areas, including electronics and nanotechnology and the synthesis of novel materials with unique properties.

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, such as silver or palladium. Like yellow gold, white gold is measured in Karats.
Its properties vary depending on the metals and proportions used. As a result, white gold alloys can be used for different purposes; while a nickel alloy is hard, strong and therefore good for rings and pins, white gold-palladium alloys are soft, pliable and good for white gold gemstone settings. The highest quality white gold is usually at least 18 karat, and made up of gold and palladium, and sometimes even trace levels of platinum for weight and durability, although this often requires specialised goldsmiths.
Whilst some higher quality white gold alloys retain their shine and lustre, most will be coated with a very thin layer of rhodium. This will give the naturally more dull white gold a shine comparable to platinum or silver. Often white gold will require cleaning, or re-coating of rhodium at a later date.

Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy widely used for specialized jewelry due to its reddish color. It is also known as pink gold and red gold. Because it was popular in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century it is also known as Russian gold, although this term has become somewhat rare.
Since it is an alloy, there is no such thing as "pure rose gold"; pure gold is yellow and pure copper is reddish.
Although the names are often used interchangeably, the difference between red, rose, and pink gold is the copper content: The higher the copper content, the stronger the red coloration. A common alloy for rose gold is three-quarters gold and one-quarter copper.

Rose gold is also the name of a commonly-used finish in bell interiors of musical instruments. It consists of a very thin plating of copper over a layer of silver. No actual gold is used.

Black gold is a type of gold used in jewelry. It is produced by various methods, such as electrodeposition using black rhodium or ruthenium; plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition process involving amorphous carbon; and controlled oxidation of carat gold containing chromium or cobalt. Electroplating solutions that contain ruthenium give a slightly harder black coating than those that contain rhodium.
Unfortunately, black gold is very hard and making jewellery out if it usually necessitates using previously-made melting forms. Changing the size, adding stones or other customizations are often too hard for the common goldsmith.

Digital gold currency (or DGC) is a form of electronic money denominated in gold weight. The typical unit of account for such currency is the gold gram or the troy ounce, although other units such as the gold dinar are sometimes used. DGCs are backed by gold through unallocated or allocated gold storage.
Digital gold currencies are issued by a number of companies, each of which provides a system that enables users to pay each other in units that hold the same value as gold bullion. These competing providers issue independent currency, which normally carries the same name as their company. In terms of the most popular providers, e-gold has the greatest number of users and GoldMoney holds the greatest quantity of bullion (as of January 2007).
As of January 2007, DGC providers held in excess of 9.5 tons of gold as disclosed reserves, which is worth approximately $184 million.

Courtesy of: www.wikipedia.org

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Gold Information Page 5

Gold Information Page 5 Forms of Gold

Gold Information Page 5
Forms of Gold