The story of
gold

What is gold? Where's it from? Should you own some? What do you do with it? Lots of questions. Here are the answers that are probably not always meant seriously…

Let's start with some facts: Gold is a metal, or more precisely, a precious metal. And gold has some great characteristics that make it special: It's non-magnetic, it doesn't rust, it's an excellent conductor of electricity, it's heavier than other metals (not the heaviest by the way), it's kind of soft (not the softest metal by the way) and it's hard to extract because it's pretty rare (no – not the rarest). And because it is rare and hard to get, it is also quite expensive.

This has made gold an excellent foundation for all kinds of currencies in the past. Today it's primary use is just being gold and being expensive and desired. Some say gold even makes people go mad and greedy and they might be right. But that's one of the unpleasant side effects, that are not about gold but about humans. This series of posts will be about the precious metal only. And we are going to start with part 1 and the question of all questions:

Where comes gold from?

This a pretty simple to answer question, though you might not believe it as it sounds like science fiction. Gold comes from outer space - as every other element on our planet. As every element on every planet. That's it. That's where gold comes from.

It took billions of years after big bang - but now it's here, somewhere. Maybe directly under your feet, maybe several inches below you, maybe a mile down below. Nobody really knows – maybe except prospectors, but they likely won't tell you.

Quite unspectacular story so far. What's more interesting than knowing where gold came from is to know how it became a valuable material. We'll take care of this in part 2 of the story of gold, pretty soon.