THE UNIQUENESS OF GOLD

The uniqueness of all the world's precious metals, only gold combines the four basic characteristics that make it a universally and eternally treasured possession:

Lustrous Beauty - The naturally intense color and distinctive luster of gold combined to give this precious metal its unique and lasting beauty. Gold's natural beauty is further enhanced by the soft and exquisite shades of color achieved by combining it with small amounts of other special metals.

Yellow, pink, green and white golds - each exquisite in its own right. There is always fashion acceptance of all colors and color combination of gold. One of today's trends features combining colors of gold - yellow, white and pink - in jewelry.

Rarity - Although gold is everywhere around us - in the earth's crust, in our seas, rivers and plants - the difficulty and expense of obtaining gold from these diverse sources makes recovery of any great amounts unlikely.

First of all, any new gold mine represents a capital investment of hundreds of millions of dollars! Then, where gold is found to exist, several tons of ore may be required in order to extract just one ounce of the precious metal.

This rarity alone is enough to bestow a certain symbolism of status to gold. Now, combined with its other inherent characteristics, this lustrous and beautiful metal becomes an even more desirable possession.

Durability - Gold lasts, and lasts. Since it does not rust, tarnish or corrode, gold virtually lasts forever. An example of this incredible durability is witnessed in the gold coins found in sunken galleons centuries-old - they're as bright and shiny as the day they were cast! Another familiar example has overwhelmed the millions of people who have seen the Treasures of King Tut. When the boy King Tutankhamum died in 1350 B.C., he was buried with vast quantities of gold artifacts and jewelry. Today, more than 3,000 years later, viewers marvel at the breathtaking golden array, as gleaming and lustrous today as on the day it was buried with the young king.

Today, when you buy gold jewelry, you are buying enduring beauty. Reflecting the properties of the precious metal itself, a gift of gold has always been the symbol of lasting love and devotion.

Ease of Workability - Gold has the best working qualities of any metal, thereby making it the ideal precious metal for fine jewelry whose designs are meant to reflect and appeal to so many different personalities.

To give you an idea of its workability, gold is so soft and malleable, one ounce can be stretched into a wire an incredible 50 miles long or hammered into a sheet so thin, it covers 100 square feet!

It is gold's workability that enables it to be alloyed with the other special precious metals to produce special effects or to achieve variations of color.

Gold can be re-melted and used again and again. And, gold works for everyone. From the most intricate baby bracelet to the heaviest man's chain, gold's workability gives it the ability to achieve the look and the feeling of importance.