Why does gold have value?

There are a few of unique-ish features of Gold that what caused it to become a trading lingua-franca. It seems that that long history plays a really important role in today's value of Gold. It explains a big part of the 'semantic value' - although I appreciate there are other contemporary reasons for its value.

These features are `unique ish` in the sense that they're not unique alone to gold, but their combination with the items mentioned in the thread grant them particular functionality as an intermediary asset for trading.

* Fungible. There are early methods for detecting and measuring purity (Late Egyptians I believe) which means that one unit of gold is obviously interchangeable with another unit. Not the case for jewels, livestock, crafts.

* Divisible. Two pieces of one unit can be combined to make two units. Two units can be split to make one unit. Again, better than jewels, livestock, slaves, crafts.

* Portable/durable. Small, light, dry, durable. Much better than oil, water, stone (these were used on some pacific islands).

* Distinct. With a small handful of exceptions which weren't readily available in pre-industrial revolution, there's nothing that looks and behaves like gold. Jewels, metals, crafts all gonna fail this.

* Persistent. A lot of other metal candidates are going to fail this test.

Does anyone have any knowledge about whether Gold use spread like other ideas or if there was convergent discovery all over the world?

Thinking about the history of the perceived value of gold, I should add because it's shiny and rare, it would be part of the ornament of the religious ritual in Ancient times, where of course the religious ritual encompassed the “political process”. Take Egypt, for instance: the Pharaoh was the god himself, not an in-between dealer of some kind or the son of god or his cousin or something. Also he controlled most of the gold. And then you are a slave, or the pharaoh’s small child daughter, or something, and you don’t even know what’s gold, and you have never seen it except in GOD’s wearings, earrings, buildings, court members, etc. Gold was the visual representation and color of the Everything himself! Pretty convincing, right? It’s very clear, thus, gold was employed as a “religious tech” these days, and that wouldn’t be possible were it not shiny and also rare. Maybe there’s an element I’m ignoring here related to the development and possession of the gold extraction technology. For some further speculation, because I don’t have the information, just like lower status egypts would admire gold-god himself (maybe these words being so similar is not some coincidence), there must have been some analogue effect from other civilizations/cultures also. Maybe other people that controlled gold elsewhere would be inspired by EGYPT GOD and copy his practices within their own theatricals, or maybe the egypts copied some other culture first, or maybe none. Sorry for my bad english. Slavery sucks. Let's make it end. Have a nice day

Its soft and conducts at 70% of copper so it's great for contacts for electronic equipment

barely oxidizes

supply increases at a slow and sheady rate of about 2% a year

used for other electronics like circuit boards (not sure why to be honest, so might just be parroting this last point)

I'm curious too tbh, but I think that list is already pretty good (along with the fungibility and inner golumn arguments earlier in the thread)

ape do like shiny

I watch a lot of Time Team/Digging for Britain, every time I see gold come out of the earth after 1000 years looking relatively uncorrupted, I think *oh, yeah. Well that’s something that stands out about that mineral”. I generally place zero value in gold jewelry and such, but I did notice something the first time I held a solid gold coin - sounds silly but uh, gold lust is a thing, your inner-Gollum awakens just a little. The metaphor of putting people under a spell is apt. Still not interested in the bling, but it’s a fascinating material.

For centuries in a row, in different places all around the world, most everything lasting that has been built most of the time has been done for compensation by gold or the promise of gold.

Plenty of destructive things have also been paid for with gold, in those cases sometimes the only thing left to show for it after the dust settles is the gold itself.

For enough millennia where it can not be determined how far back toward the dawn of man it extends, and it will never be known if there was ever even another form of currency that was as universal.

Gold has had value for as long as boys have been trying to impress gals with shiny things.

So, pretty much since we invented fire.

Name another asset that’s protected purchasing power that long...

Why do jelly dildos have value?

Why does Bitcoin have value?

It's shiny

Why do paper stock certificates have value ?