Gold

Susan la niece

2009

128 pages

British Museum Press, London

ISBN 978-07141-5076-5

Context The 128 pages and compact, square format is very concise but comprehensive introduction to the history of gold. It has a lot of decent photos, all in… full colour! Susan La Niece is a metallurgist, so she means business. She goes into a bit of detail about gold content etc in the chapter on money. What would be nice is a large world map with the places and dates gold was mined and a matching timeline. Hallmarks are unfortunately hardly dealt with – just a paragraph on the history of the assay office and one sample image of English gold marks.

Content

  1. Fact and Fantasy
  2. Status and Power
  3. Money
  4. The Goldsmith
  5. Jewellery and Adornment
  6. Gold, God and Death
  7. All That glitters
  8. Further Reading
  9. Illustration References

The excellent bibliography of over 40 books is divided by topic (not chapters) and a general section. Buy it together with the Silver book by Philippa Merriman and you have a perfect, complementary pair (Philippa Merriman was a silversmith).

Comment Quality in a Square. Gold Edition.

Yours if you’re looking for an excellent overall introduction to the history of gold.

Not Yoursif you’re into silver.