Gold is the oldest precious metal known to man. The story of gold is as rich as the metal itself. Of all precious metals known to man; only gold combines lustrous beauty and easy workability. Gold was discovered about 8,000 years ago and was used by pharaohs in ancient Egypt as far back as 3000 BC. It was used for the first time as money in about 560 BC in the Kingdom of Lydia, the modern day Turkey. Greece and Rome both left rich legacies of golden treasures, but after the fall of the Roman Empire, little gold was produced in Europe or Asia for almost a thousand years.
