More on gold

[commasense]

@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.

[Excalibre]

@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.

[ouryL]

Gold is probably the first metal discovered; one of the few found in it’s pure state.