ABSTRACT
The ancient Egyptians used Nubian gold to produce jewelry and to decorate statues, tombs, crypts, and sarcophagi. They also used it extensively in cosmetics to adorn their own bodies, a practice which continues in some parts of the world today (Merchant 1998). Skilled Etruscan artisans produced numerous gold ornaments 3300 years ago, including ear pendants, armbands, garment clasps with animal motifs, necklaces, dental prostheses, and vessels decorated with figurines (Loevy and Kowitz 1997). For the past 7000 years, gold jewelry has been sought by consumers for traditional, social, and stylistic reasons (Raub 1999). As a result, jewelry fabrication has accounted for the largest share of global gold production (Gasparrini 1993; Korte and Coulston 1995; Raub 1999). In 1991, for example, gold production including the use of scrap amounted to 2111.1 tons, and more than 95% was used in jewelry manufacture (Raub 1999). Gold alloys, especially those containing silver and copper, have been preferred by goldsmiths for the past 5000 years. Alloys used in jewelry today also contain zinc and nickel with the result that gold can appear yellow, white, green, or red depending on the mixture. But it is only since 1960 that the International Gold Council has decided to support research and investigations on metallurgy of gold alloys. This is clearly connected with the fact that jewelry accounts for the largest use of gold in every country of the world (Raub 1999).
