Gold Bullion, the chemical symbol AU in itself is symbolic of richness. Gold has been equated with gods and immortality in the early civilizations around the world. This yellow metal has enchanted females who desired it and troubled the bounty hunters who sought it.
Gold Bullion has been mentioned in history starting from Genesis and has maintained its importance till the present time. The book of Revelation also mentions gold in its narration of New Jerusalem streets been made of pure gold.
Africa has always been know for its rich natural resources and Egypt for its abundance in gold bullion from the times of pharos. Egyptians have been known to be largest producers and consumers of gold in the early times. It was during the time of ancient Egypt that we knew of the very first treasure map in existence.
In those ancient days most of the prisoners of war and criminals were sent to work in gold mines. The European exploration of the Central America was partly because of the profuse amount of gold the Native Americans displayed. The Incas have been known to refer to gold as ‘tears of sun’.
Although it was the Romans who were the first to develop the art of extracting large quantites of gold using hydraulic mining. In early times gold miners used sheep and waterpower to harvest gold bullion. Water was used to flush the gold containing sand on to the hide of sheep. The gold flakes would entangle with the fleece of the sheep. The sheep would then be hung to dry and later beaten gently so that gold could fall and be collected. This technique was used till recent times even during the California gold rush in 1849.
GoldBullion has been symbolic of power and beauty. In ancients times gold was used to make shrines, idols, plates, cups and jewelry. It was also a standard for monetary exchange with coins been made of gold. Even today some of the gold coins or gold bullion as it is popularly called is made of gold. Gold is measured in carats (k) with the purest gold being 24k. The Canadian gold maple leaf is known to be the purest of the bullion coin at 99.99% pure, as compared to the American Gold Eagle or the British gold sovereign which are 22k alloy according to the historic tradition.
Scientifically gold Bullion is a stable chemical element with a symbol Au, which is derived from its Latin name aurum. It is usually found as nuggets or grain in streams all over the world. It is an easy metal to work with because of its malleability and ductility and its ability to resist tarnishing. Modern day research has shown that microbes play a important role in forming gold deposits, and precipitating them to form grains or nuggets.
Gold has become a part of human culture even before it was used as used as money. It still continues to dominate the attention and importance even though certain forms of platinum are more expensive to it. The golden luster never seems to fade in the eyes of the bullion collectors. Especially in the form of Gold Bars and gold Coins.
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