Gold Coins

The history of the gold coin as currency stretches at least as far back as 2,600 B.C. The Egyptian King Tushratta bragged to his people that gold in his region was as abundant as dust. Old Testament references to the metal, B.C.-era Chinese accounts of gold production, and Lydian coinage from 643 B.C. all point to the tremendous sway that gold coins held among human beings, even thousands of years ago.Gold coins were also minted and collected in what is now Latin America. Advanced civilizations gathered great caches of gold coins, jewelry, and treasures in ancient Peru, Columbia, Guatemala, and Mexico. Indeed, one of the major reasons for the European colonization and subsequent annexation of Latin American territories in the 16th and 17th centuries was the promise of gold coin treasures.Gold coins were often the target of piracy during the 16th and 17th centuries. European ships returning from adventures abroad in India, West Africa, and South America were ransacked by pirates, who famously collected millions of dollars of treasure this way. Even vigorous policing efforts failed to deter piracy, which raged unhindered until the advent of more advanced navies in the late 19th century.Today, countries the world over specially mint gold coins as collector tokens. (For instance, the U.S. Treasury released a $10 gold coin in 2004 which contained 7.7 grams of gold.) Curiously, gold coins minted after 1933 may be confiscated by the United States government. Civil War artifacts and gold coins rescued from shipwrecks are more valuable than 'ahistoric' gold coins of the same age.