Since its discovery thousands of years ago, gold was revered so heavily that it was always associated with the gods. Ancient civilisations often used gold as a vessel through which to communicate with their deities to be protected from wrath and revel in their divinity. Gold was often associated with where the gods lived. For example, according to Portable Antiquities Scheme, Germanic gods lived in a hall covered in gold and played with golden board games. The ancient Incans went so far as to say that gold was the sweat of their sun god Inti.

Gold was used in shrines, crowns, sceptres, at altars and to worship idols well before modern religions embraced its shine. You can see gold decorative pieces throughout modern religion as its beauty is still undeniable.

Identifying the value of gold early on, it wasn't long before the ancient civilisations started to use gold as a means of currency. Coins were originally forged from electrum (gold and silver alloy) in Asia Minor. The first pure gold coins are credited to King Croesus of Lydia, who even stamped images on the coins. At the same time, the Chinese began circulating the Ying Yuan, a square gold coin.

As gold began to circulate and civilisations began to understand the value of gold as currency, so too began the looting, treasure hunting, and, of course attempts at alchemy.

Gold was officially discovered in Australia in 1851 in Bathurst. However, rumour has it that gold was discovered well before this, but the colonial governments suppressed it. It was only after Bathurst that the gold rush really began. Suddenly Australia was dealing with a mass of economic disparity. Average mining wages grew five-fold and colonial officials such as police started to leave their official posts to seek their fortunes. People were seduced by the ever-rising value of gold and mining became the trade du jour.

The gold rush eventually slowed as mining costs and complications slowed the extraction of gold. For many years following gold didn't hold much weight. It wasn't until the 1970s and 80s that the international value of gold increased massively and there was a resurgence in gold mining in Australia.

No longer are we confined to the yellow hue of traditional gold. Now gold can be yellow, white, rose, and even green. To be fair, the gold we know and love that we use in our modern-day bling isn't strictly pure gold. For starters, it's much too expensive and apart from anything else, the purer it is the easier it bends and scratches. So even your gorgeous $18,000 family heirloom is likely to have 25% other metals mixed in there. Still, the unavoidable beauty is timeless and lasting. Whether you choose traditional yellow or otherwise, gold gives a design an instant lift.

Gold can add a touch of glitz to any design. When used thoughtfully, gold, in all its hues, has the amazing ability to remain both glamorous, stylish, and utterly timeless. Amara's the Lux Pad revealed only in January about how gold can be used in your on-trend designs in 2016. The wonderful thing about gold and its many faces is that you can always find something that suits your styling. Gold can be glaringly fabulous yet stunningly subtle by throwing a light fitting here, or a table leg there, and can turn your interior from perfectly lovely to perfectly spectacular in an instant.

But gold is so expensive you say, or gold bends out of shape. Fear not fellow gold lover. That is where we come in. Our excellent team at Astor Metal Finishes have the amazing gift of modern day alchemy. For an exploration into metal finishing and alchemy, peruse through our series on Modern Day Alchemy.

In short, choosing to finish in gold instead of using straight gold has many advantages. It is more durable, scratches less, less expensive and looks equally as fantastic every time. Get in touch with us now to learn how you can give the Midas touch to your design.

For more information, visit astormetalfinishes.com.