#### **USA** _Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California|
Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii |
Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana |
Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota |
Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New
Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina |
North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode
Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah |
Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin |
Wyoming | Washington DC (District of Columbia)_ #### **Worldwide**
_Afghanistan, Aland Islands, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa,
Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda,
Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain,
Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda,
Bhutan, Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and
Saba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bouvet Island, British
Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso,
Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands,
Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Christmas Island,
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo, The
Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D'ivoire,
Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti,
Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador,
Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands
(Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana,
French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia,
Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Guyana, Haiti, Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands, Holy See,
Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran,
Islamic Republic of Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy,
Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea,
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait,
Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon,
Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Macao, Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar,
Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands,
Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia,
Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Mongolia,
Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia,
Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua,
Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands,
Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, State of Panama, Papua
New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland,
Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation,
Rwanda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan Da
Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French
Part), Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines,
Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal,
Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten (Dutch
Part), Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa,
South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands, South Sudan, Spain,
Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland,
Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Province of
China, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand,
Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia,
Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda,
Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, United States Minor Outlying Islands, United
States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela,
Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin
Islands, U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia,
Zimbabwe_
1) A brief history of Gold.
a. Gold has been valued by humans
since before ancient Egypt rose to greatness. Since gold appears in
nature in its native state at a high level of purity, early humans
would find gold nuggets in streams or in other deposits. Gold
flakes have been found inside caves where prehistoric drawings
adorn the walls suggesting that early humans discovered gold and
valued it for its aesthetic qualities. Gold is a very noble metal.
This means that gold can easily be formed by striking it into
shapes or plates which then can be carved or turned into coins.
Alexander the Great is said to have funded his campaigns using gold
that his troops mined along the way in his travels. Ancient
Egyptians covered sarcophagus and other items with gold to praise
their gods and pharaohs. Fast forward to modern times and we are
using gold not only for jewelry and coins, but for electronics,
surgical implants, and other uses which exploit gold’s heat
and electrical conductivity.
2) Gold Sources, Purity and Measurement.
a. Gold can be found in almost
every country throughout the world. Gold is either found in
alluvial deposits which are caused by rivers exposing gold deposits
or in mining operations where large quantities of earth are moved
and processed to extract gold. Gold naturally occurs in purities of
85% or higher. Gold is heavier than other minerals found around it
and therefore it is easy to separate using water sluices. Once gold
is separated from the minerals which surround it, it is refined
using either a chemical method in which gold is dissolved in a
solution called aqua regia, which is a strong acid solution, or it
is melted along with mercury which causes impurities to concentrate
in a layer of the melted gold which is called slag. Once the slag
is removed, gold has been refined to 100% pure.
b. Gold is a very easy metal to
alloy. This means it can be combined with other metals to achieve
production goals which would make a harder metal or a metal of a
different color. For example gold is alloyed with copper to make
rose gold and with tin and silver to make white gold. Aside from
this gold is also dissolved in solutions to create electroplating
applications. These applications allow gold to be plated onto wire
and for other industrial purposes.
c. In jewelry gold purity is
defined by Karat. 24 karat gold is defined as gold which has 24 out
of 24 parts made of pure gold. Pure gold is very soft and seldom
used for jewelry as it is easy to bend and wears and scratches way
too quickly. 18 karat gold, or gold which has 18 parts pure gold
and 6 parts of something else, is commonly used to make high end
jewelry. 14 karat gold or gold that is 14 parts pure gold and 10
parts something else, is also used to make jewelry as it is harder
and more durable than 18 karat gold. Gold is measured in Troy
Ounces. The old question what weighs more an ounce of gold or an
ounce of feathers is actually a trick question. Gold is measured in
Troy Ounces and feathers in Avoirdupois Ounces. There are 31.1
grams in a Troy Ounce and 28.35 grams in an avoirdupois ounce.
Therefore the Troy ounce, the ounce of gold, is heavier than the
avoirdupois ounce. Conversely, the troy pound is lighter than the
avoirdupois pound. Thus making the pound of feathers heavier than
the pound of gold.
3) Gold Stamps and Identification.
a. The Federal Trade Commission
regulates the trade of precious metals and directs manufacturers on
how to stamp and identify gold. In the United States an item must
be 10 Karat Gold or higher karat to be called gold. Also, gold that
is plated must be plated with 10 karat gold or better to be called
gold plated. Gold jewelry fineness is identified by a stamp which
tell you how pure the gold used in the piece is. 417 or 41.7
percent gold is 10 karat gold. 585 or 58.5 percent gold is 14 karat
gold. 750 or 75 percent gold is 18 karat gold. Normally a piece is
either stamped with a three digit number or the actual karat
content, such as 14K. Jewelry which is gold plated or gold filled
is stamped with a GP or GF after the karat of the gold. For example
18 KGF, denoting that this piece of jewelry was manufactured using
18 Karat Gold Filled. Gold filled jewelry is jewelry manufactured
using a solid layer of gold which has been mechanically bonded to a
base material such as silver or a base metal like pewter. Gold
plated (GP) is when an electroplating method is used to deposit a
very thin layer of gold onto silver or a base metal.