# More on gold
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-on-gold/347603
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 8, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-on-gold/347603 "2006-03-08T22:57:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-on-gold/347603/21 "2006-03-10T15:33:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Even a poorly-maintained piece of brass (like, say, a high school marching band’s tuba) is glossier and shinier than a polished piece of gold. And while brass might not date quite as far back in antiquity as gold, it’s still pretty darned old.
Perhaps, but you won’t find a nugget of brass lying in a riverbed.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-on-gold/347603/22 "2006-03-10T18:01:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> People like jewelry. As long as people like jewelry, there will always be a market for the things they make jewelry out of - gold, silver, gemstones. As long as there is a market for these things, these things will have value. It’s as simple as that.
Actually, if you read above, **Blake** made a pretty good case about why it’s nowhere near as simple as that. Plenty of things that could or do make decent jewelry - like the aforementioned quartz - are not useful as currency for plenty of other reasons.
It can be worth trying to understand things, even if they’re complicated.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2006, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-on-gold/347603/23 "2006-03-11T10:11:02Z")
Gold is probably the first metal discovered; one of the few found in it’s pure state.
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