Why is gold valuable since the beginning?
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It’s shiny (pretty), it does not tarnish (magically incorruptible), very easy to work (low tech tools are enough), it’s rare.
Lots of reasons to want it, combined with its rarity make it valuable.
Ancient timers believed it was godlike because it never tarnishes or rusts, therefore it’s always useful as things like currency and jewelry because it holds a pristine face indefinitely
It’s shiny, doesn’t tarnish and soft. And it’s relatively rare.
In other words it’s really easy to make really pretty things out of it that also last indefinitely with no maintenance. You can only have a small number of those pretty things and they’re really hard to counterfeit.
Price is always driven by supply and demand. High demand (for pretty, lasting thing) plus low supply equals high price.
It was also used for medical applications because it doesn’t tarnish and is mildly antibacterial. In recent times it also found some technical applications, too.
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Since the beginning of… the Earth? Homo Sapiens? Human civilization?
It’s only been since the beginning of human civilization (explained perfectly by u/dirschau), but even now how many “stone age” dwellers of the deep jungles of the Amazon or Papua New Guinea would think of the raw ore as valuable?
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