Gold crafting tradition in India
August 14th, 2010

Gold crafting is one of the most important crafting traditions followed in India, it is passed down from generation to generation among the thousands of craftsmen. Gold jewelry art in India has always played an important role in the history of India and people really are attached to gold jewelery and they are passed down from generation to generation.

At the early age, jewelry made of gems and stones was often used but after the initiation of gold jewelery in India, the trend of wearing gold ornaments increased due to the durability and glow of the metal. Gold crafting soon became a very popular art in India and is one of the main reasons why many jewelery companies choose India for their crafting.

Several archeological excavations show that gold jewelry art in India was popular even in the ancient days. Several statues and portraits show naked dancing girls,bedecked with ornaments and bangles to their shoulders. The arrival of Muslim culture also brought more ideas and techniques that increased the level of expertise of these items. The vast difference in the culture of the regions of the sub-continent also brings a lot of variety in the craftsmanship.

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Nanogold
July 22nd, 2010

Colloidal gold, also known as nanogold, is a suspension  of sub-micrometre-sized particles of gold in a fluid, usually water.When you  shrink gold down to a nanoparticle, its properties change dramatically. Its color changes, it becomes a very good catalyst, and is no longer a metal – instead it turns into a semiconductor liquid.  The liquid is usually either an intense red colour, or a dirty yellowish colour.

Known since ancient times, the synthesis of colloidal gold was originally used as a method of staining glass. Modern scientific evaluation of colloidal gold did not begin until Michael Faraday’s Due to the unique optical, electronic, and molecular-recognition properties of gold nanoparticles, they are the subject of substantial research, with applications in a wide variety of areas, including electron microscopy, electronics, nanotechnology, and materials science.

Properties and applications of colloidal gold nanoparticles depends upon shape. For example, rodlike particles have both transverse and longitudinal absorption peak, and anisotropy of the shape affects their self-assembly.

Colloidal gold has been successfully used as a therapy for rheumatoid arthritis in rats.  In a related study, the implantation of gold beads near arthritic hip joints in dogs has been found to relieve pain. A cure for arthritis is on the way after the success of these experiments. There are many more  applications of this material, like in cancer and  medical engineering.

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The mysterious gold robbery of 1855
July 21st, 2010

On the night of 15 May 1855, three boxes containing gold belonging to Abell and Co., Spielmann, and Bult were suppposed to be  delivered by a firm of carriers to the London Bridge station where they were put aboard the guard’s van. The boxes were sealed and bound with iron bars and were placed in safes secured by Chubb locks. The duplicate keys to the safes were held by confidential servants of the railway company in London and Folkestone, and also by the captains of the South Eastern railway’s boats.

When the boxes were taken out of the safes at Boulogne and weighed, it was discovered that one weighed 40 lb  less than it should have, while the other two each weighed a little more. Despite the irregularity, the boxes were transferred to a train for Paris. Upon arrival in Paris they were weighed again and when they were opened, it was discovered that the gold was substituted with lead . It was clear that the robbery had not taken place between Paris and Boulogne due to the weights corresponding.

Inquiries were made as soon as the news of the robbery came from Paris to discover where the robbery had been carried out. Four police forces in Britain and France made extensive inquiries for months and arrested hundreds of suspects for questioning but found nothing. Afterwards many of those who had handled the boxes reported small discrepancies like holes and broken seals. The main suspects were railway staff members at Folkestone. The South Eastern Railway offered a sizable reward and named its own investigator but received only false information.

The official British theory was that the robbery had taken place on the continent, while the French police claimed it had happened in England because of the discrepancy in the boxes’ weights at Boulogne.

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Olympic medals trivia
July 21st, 2010

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Gold prices come down this month
July 20th, 2010

Gold and other precious metals have hit a summer low  amid subdued physical demand from jewellers and investors that has helped to send bullion prices to a two-month low.

Investors had also reduced their purchases of physical gold, such as bullion coins, from the elevated levels of May and early June as the prices of gold fell.

The US Mint has sold 77,000 one-ounce American Eagle gold coins this month, below the totals for May and June of 190,000 and 97,000 coins.

Gold prices hit a nominal all-time high of $1,264.90 an ounce in mid-June but it was ignorable as the record is  $2,000 set in the 1980s. But it is expected to go above the $1200 mark in the second half of the year.

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Most expensive pink diamond
July 19th, 2010

Colored diamonds have been making the deadlines for the past few years and that is the case again. A 5-carat Fancy Vivid Pink cushion shaped diamond ring is worth a record breaking $10.8 million.

The pink cushion-cut diamond was set in a platinum and 18-karat rose gold mounting designed by famous jewelers Graff Diamonds with a pair of matched white shield-shaped diamonds. The pink color is a rich bubblegum hue with even saturation, seldom seen in natural pink colored diamonds. The pink diamond is also a rare type IIa diamond and the high price reflects not only its exceptional beauty, but also its extreme rarity.

Purchased by a private Asian buyer, the exceptional diamond sold for almost double its pre-auction estimated value in a Hong Kong auction. The diamond was strategically auctioned in Hong Kong because China’s retail market is recovering faster than American and European markets. The Asian market for high-end, big-ticket collectible goods is very aggressive due in part to the optimism of the financial markets in that area.

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Gold Standard
July 4th, 2010

A gold standard is adopted when a country establishes convertibility, at a fixed official price, between its currency and gold, thereby implicitly limiting its circulating money to the amount of gold it holds.Applied internationally, a gold standard establishes fixed exchange rates among different national currencies. Balance of payment settlements are made by transfers of gold.

An international financial system based on the gold standard emerged during the nineteenth century. Britain, already on a de facto gold basis, formally adopted the standard in 1821. From the 1870s through World War I, most European and Latin American nations as well as Japan and the United States abandoned bimetallic standards, which based currencies on both gold and silver, and embraced the gold standard. Not only was it economically advantageous to join the currency standard used by the world’s major industrial and financial power, Great Britain, but a huge rise in world silver production made it impossible to maintain a stable price between gold and silver, further undercutting bimetallism.

In the United States, the Coinage Act of 1873 officially demonetized silver, legally confirming a gold‐based currency that—because of silver’s relatively high price—was already the de facto standard. As gold entered a prolonged period of deflation, however, farmers joined U.S. silver mining interests in denouncing this “Crime of ’73.” Advocating “free coinage of silver,” they vocally embraced the new agriculturally based Populist party. In 1896 the free silver forces captured the Democratic party, as presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan excoriated bankers and other monied elites for sacrificing the interests of common people. The Republican candidate, William McKinley, argued that the gold standard would enhance trade and financial ties with the “civilized” world and stabilize banking and credit. McKinley’s victory led to passage of the Gold Standard Act of 1900, fixing gold as the basis of the U.S. currency.

The international gold standard worked fairly well between 1870 to 1913, and economists came to accept the idea that it was important to global prosperity and peace. After World War I forced many nations to abandon the gold standard, most policy makers and theoreticians urged its restoration. Throughout the 1920s, international conferences, economic advisers, and central banks all worked for this goal. By 1926 the gold standard was functioning in nearly forty countries with the exception of communist Russia and China. But the system proved too inflexible to counteract the banking crises of the late 1920s, which touched off the Great Depression of the 1930s. Great Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931, and most nations, including the United States, followed.

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Gold and Money Fair
June 27th, 2010

A series of exhibitions at the World’s Fair of Money in Boston, Massachusetts will include a number of rare gold coins. The event which takes place in August and is organised by the American Numismatic Association (ANA) will feature a complete set of 1874 Bickford patterns that were struck at the Philadelphia Mint.

Meanwhile, the Smithsonian Institution’s Good as Gold: America’s Double Eagles exhibition will describe the history of the $20 gold coin, which is the largest gold piece to circulate in the US, by displaying the first and last double eagles ever produced along with a 1907 Saint-Gaudens ultra high relief pattern.

The American Numismatic Association’s executive director Larry Shepherd said the inclusion of these items in the World’s Fair of Money “provides an exciting and informative experience to visitors by displaying spectacular numismatic objects in an entertaining and educational way”.

The organisation recently announced that the Ship of Gold exhibition featuring gold bars and other objects retrieved from the wreck of the SS Central America will also be included in the Boston event.

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How to take care of gold
June 27th, 2010

Everyone loves their gold. It depicts love, stability,individuality and hope. Whether it is bought by a loved one or by ourselves. taking care of it makes great sense as it obviously would make the gold retain it’s value. Here are a few tips to take care of your gold

First of all avoid chemicals. Chlorine is the worst opponent of Gold. Being exposing to chemical can lower the structure of the gold until in the end it is leading to breakage. So, you should keep away this kind of jewelry from chlorinated cleaning products. It is better to remove first your gold jewelry when you are doing household cleaning solutions but if you don’t like to you may use rubber gloves while doing this task.
If being exposed to chemical may weaken the structure of gold jewelry, being exposed to moisture, make up, perspiration and dust can lose the Gold luster as time passes by.
Putting your gold jewelry in proper storage is important like cleaning it. Protect it by placing it in a jewelry box wrapped in a soft cloth when you are not wearing it. Moreover, it is better to keep pieces of this jewelry in special boxes separately to avoid them from being scratched to one another.
Secondly, always check out for the weakness or damage of your gold jewelry. If you see even a small damage in it, go to your trusted professional jeweler. They are the one who can handle this problem and restore the brilliance of the jewelry for you.
Finally, To clean gold use ammonia. It is known to remove dirt and corrosion.

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Golden temple in India
June 6th, 2010

The Golden Temple is the most significant shrine of the Sikhs and it is also one of the oldest Sikh gurudwara. It is located on a small island in the center of a pool called Amritsar, India. Its golden color is due to the overlay of gold foil, and hence it gets its name as a Golden Temple. The idea of establishing this temple was initiated by the 4th guru of the Sikhs, Guru Ram Das which carries the meaning of city of the Sikh Guru. This temple was first established in 1601 and was rebuilt by the Sikh ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1803. The 5th Nanak, Guru Arjan Sahib had conceived the idea of designing the architectural framework of the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple is built on a 67 feet square platform in the center of the Sarovar (tank). There is a door in the East, West, North and South respectively, and the door flame of its arch is measured 10 feet in height and 8 feet 6 inches in breath. At the top is the golden dome. It is shaped like an inverted lotus. It is said to be gilded with 100 kg of pure gold. The architecture of the Golden Temple reflects a unique harmony between the Muslims and the Hindus and thus it is regarded as the best architectural specimens in the world. This architectural style has been used to create an independent Sikh school in the history of India. Unlike a traditional Hindu Temple where the devotees have to climb up to offer their salutations as the structure is built on higher level, Guru Arjan Sahib had it created on lower level than its surrounding ground so that it is accessible to every person to offer homage to this holy shrine irrespective of his or her caste, creed, gender, race, color and religion.

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