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This week, we have been looking at different types of gold. Of the colored golds, white and rose gold are probably the more well known. However the gold family has many more hues. Experimenting with gold has led to products with a variety of colors and properties.

While white gold is created using an alloy of yellow gold and other metals, there are several methods for creating black gold. It can be created through electroplating or patination techniques. Both of these methods involve manipulating the surface of an object so that it appears different. The surface of gold and other metals can also be altered with lasers so that they appear black. Black gold can also be created with a chemical vapor deposition process.

Purple gold is often used as a gemstone because it is so very brittle and can shatter easily. Sometimes purple gold, which is made from an alloy of gold and aluminum, is also known as amethyst of violet gold. Because purple gold usually contains about 79% gold, it can technically be labeled as 18 carat gold.

Blue gold can be made from gold and indium. The alloys used to make rose gold can vary depending on how deep of a red is desired, while the alloy for gray (or grey) gold is often made with a specific formula. Gray gold combines silver, manganese and copper along with gold.

Green gold is made from an alloy of silver and gold. However, a different kind of green can be made when you sell gold to a gold buyer. Mix the little effort it takes to mail in gold to an online gold buyer with that gold buyer’s professional expertise and you end up with cash for gold. This is not an alloy or something for you to wear as adornment, but like some gold alloys, cash for gold is quite malleable in that you can spend or save it as you wish.

Earlier in the week, we talked about white gold and how it is an alloy that included yellow gold with other metals. The inclusion of other metals changes the properties of the gold so that it is usually wither stronger or softer than it would have been it is normal state.

Rose gold was once all the rage in Russia and so it was known as Russian gold at the start of the nineteenth century. Now it is most often known by the more physically descriptive name of rose gold and sometimes called pink or read gold.

While white gold is not white in the way a piece of paper is, rose gold really does have a reddish or pinkish hue. This is because rose gold is yellow gold mixed in an alloy with copper. While white gold is often coated with rhodium to make it truly “white” and rid it of any brownish tint, rose gold doesn’t need extra coloration to become reddish. However, the amount of copper included in the alloy is what makes the difference in the deepness of the red. Less copper make the gold pinkish and more copper means the gold with be closer to red.

As if this was not confusing enough, the music world employs the term rose gold for something that is not really gold at all. a layer of silver, covered with a layer of copper is used as a finish for the inside of some woodwind instruments. There is no gold, but the use of a copper alloy and the resemblance to rose gold helped this term catch on, even if the rose gold on the inside of a musical instrument is fool’s gold in a sense, since it isn’t real gold.

So be advised that you cannot present any woodwind instruments to a gold buyer in an attempt to sell gold. You can, however, present objects such as jewelry made from yellow gold and other gold alloys if you want to get cash for gold.

Most people are aware that white gold does not appear naturally in nature, but just in case, we wanted to make sure that you knew that this. White gold is an alloy that is a mixture of traditional yellow gold an another “white” metal ,such as nickel or palladium. This knowledge is useful for people who have allergic reactions to nickel. If you are one of those people, then you should be aware that white gold may cause you similar problems, since it is often made with nickel.

The metals included in the alloy got white hold can make all the difference when it comes to the malleability of the gold and the durability of the object made with it. When palladium is added to gold, the result is an alloy that is easy to manipulate. Alloys of gold and palladium are well-suited to make gemstone settings. In contrast to palladium, when nickel is added to gold, the result is an allow that is hard and durable. Gold that has been mixed with nickel is good to use for rings and pins.

As if mixing gold with metals like nickel and palladium were not enough, producing white gold usually also ends with coating the object with another metal: rhodium. The rhodium is used to give the white gold a truly white finish since the mixture of gold with palladium or nickel isn’t exactly white, but rather a little brownish.

Although it is not found in nature, white gold is measures in carats just as yellow gold is. So the alteration of its properties does not change how this type of gold is measured.

When it comes to measuring the gold that you sell to a gold buyer, the gold buyer is looking for pure gold. Part of what a gold buyer does is refining the gold, to separate the real gold from other metals. The cash for gold you get when you sell gold is dependent on the amount of gold that an object contains.

Last Friday, we told you some of the story of Ameruddin Askarzai, a banker from Afghanistan who outwitted the Taliban and spent time in jail, all to see that ancient gold did not end up being sold away from Afghanistan.

Ad things got more and more complicated in Afghanistan, it was decided that the ancient Bactrian gold that was unearthed by Soviet researchers in the 1970s would be moved from the Kabul National Museum to the presidential palace. In the mid-1980s the gold was moved to a museum in the palace and then the gold was moved again, this time to a vault inside the palace. That vault was under the watchful eye of Mr. Askarzai.

In 2001, Mr. Askarzai found himself opening the vault for Taliban ministers…with guns pressed against his head. Once the vault was opened, the ministers saw bricks of gold and silver. They also saw another door, behind which the precious Bactrian gold was hidden. They asked Askarzai what was behing the door and he told them ceramics. They left without disturbing either the gold and silver bricks or the Bactrian gold. Thinking quickly, Askarzai broke the key in the lock, effectively sealing the vault. When the Talibna returned, he was of course, unable to open the vault and was later sent jail, where he was beaten.

Because of Askarzai’s bravery, the Bactrian gold remains in Afghanistan.

Now you do not have to go through nearly so much for your gold treasures. You may not even by trying to hold on to your gold, and in fact you might be quite willing to sell gold. If you are, then a gold buyer is very willing to buy gold from you because gold is very much in demand. In return for being willing to give up your gold, you will get cash for gold that you can dispose of as you wish.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal shone the light on Ameruddin Askarzai, a modern-day hero from Afghanistan. One of his fellow countrymen called him a “forgotten hero”, but part of the reason for Askarzai’s obscurity was his own reluctance to be named or photographed. He is now willing to be more public and will be awarded with a medal from Afghan’s president for helping to keep Afghanistan’s gold treasure safe.

In the late 1970s, a team of Soviet archeologists who were searching for ancient artifacts from the Bronze Age stumbled upon a treasure trove of gold instead when they found burial mounds from ancient rulers. The nomadic rulers of Bactria (both kings and queens), a civilization that predated the Common Era left behind gold crowns, gold belts and gold jewelry such as gold pendants.

Although they were able to unearth six of he burial mounds, they were not able to get to the last one and those gold treasures were taken by others. Gold and other artifacts from the burial mounds that they did  excavate were given to the National Museum.

The rise of the Taliban threatened the safety of the gold the Soviet researchers found (known as Bactrian Gold). In fact, a lot of the treaures from Afghan’s national museum were taken and many were sold abroad. The Bactrian Gold was moved to an alternate location–a museum in the presidential palace. There was fear that if they could access it, the Taliban would take and sell gold to get cash for gold.

Askarzai said he faced danger at the hands of the Taliban because he felt that the Bactrian Gold and other artifacts belonged to the people of Afghanistan. As much as you may treasure your own gold, it is probably not a national treasure. In fact some of it may be broken gold jewelry or other gold objects that you really have no intention of using. Why not sell it to a gold buyer and get cash for gold?

Come back next week to learn just how the Bactrian Gold remained in Afghanistan and how Askarzai, a banker who is slight of build managed to outwit the Taliban.

Gold is a very effective conductor of heat and of electricity. Even your computer makes use of gold. Computers use gold circuits that help convey keystroke commands. So when you hit a key, you are striking gold. Even though gold is an inanimate object that cannot read or write, it is very useful in helping us communicate via computer.

Of course, striking gold via computer keys is not the same as striking gold the way a gold miner would. Locating gold and then extracting it from the earth is hard work. Underground mining is when miners work to extract gold ore beneath the surface. There is more than one way to get gold from the earth. And when people talk about striking gold, they could be referring to a number of methods for obtaining the precious metal. Hard rock mining is when miners work to get gold that is encased within a rock. Most of the gold that is mined is extracted through hard rock mining and a lot of this type of mining is done in South Africa.

However, if you do not intend to actually go out a dig into the earth for gold, then you might have to find a less work-intensive way to strike gold.  just today, an article stated that an actress who had found a great role had “struck gold”. That phrase is often when used when someone has found something great, whether they are going to make money from it or not. You can “strike gold” without leaving home when you go through your house and find gold objects that you do not want to use anymore: gold watches, gold bracelets, gold earring, gold necklaces and gold coins. Once you find gold that you are willing to part with, you can sell gold to a gold buyer. You may not feel the same kind of euphoria that gold rusher felt when the struck gold. That probably will not matter to you very much though. You can get your cash for gold without having to really break a sweat.

Recently, a commercial on the radio gave the listening public an interesting fact: there is enough gold in 200 cell phones to make a gold wedding band. We have not tested this out to find out if it is true, but what we do know is that gold plays an important role in helping everyday electronics to function. And since the commercial’s main object was to get people to recycle their cell phones, we can also tell you that gold has been a part of the recycling business long before anyone every used the word “recycling”.

Even in biblical times, people were using and re-using gold. There is a story in the bible about how people gave up their gold jewelry—gold bracelets, gold necklaces and gold earrings so these objects could be melted down to create a calf made of gold.

Yes, long before we got into “going green” and being earth friendly, people knew that gold was not the kind of thing that had to remain as it was permanently. Perhaps one of the reasons people get so excited when they find ancient gold coins is that  there are not that many around because many of them were probably melted down to make other gold objects. In times past, people were not as interested in collector’s items. When one ruler died or was no longer in power, gold coins bearing that person’s image lost value. Rather than hold into gold coins that they could not spend, people would melt them so that the gold could be used for some other purpose.

We do the same thing today (although few of us are equipped to melt gold in our own homes). Once the gold we have is no longer valuable to us in its current form, we can sell gold to a gold buyer who can melt it down so that it can be used for something else. Sometimes we sell gold because it is broken or damaged. Other times we sell gold simply because we are not longer interested in keeping it around.

Earlier this week, we discussed a writer’s joy at unexpectedly finding a gold coin while staying at an historic inn. Well, her joy may pale in comparison to one man’s happiness that the gold ring that he lost 52 years ago was actually found.

The man, who is 92 years old, lost his gold class ring from Notre Dame while swimming in 1957. He was a part of Notre Dame’s graduating class of 1940. We’re not saying the people don’t treasure their class rings now, but it just seems as class rings carried much more meaning to people who went to college at a time when fewer people had the opportunity. The 92-year-old said he felt a pang at the loss of his gold ring every time he looked at the hand where he used to wear it. He felt such pride that he wore that ring in place of a wedding ring during his 66 year marriage and his wife understood. She assured him that the ring would be found before she died two years ago.

A father-son duo that have made a hobby of finding people’s lost treasures found her gold ring and tracked down its owner. The father, who started underwater diving when he retired, is the one who find gold rings and other treasures. His son, an attorney, has the task of locating the owners and returning their property to them. The gold ring that belonged to the Notre Dame graduate was in surprisingly good condition, considering all the years that it had been under water.

Of course all gold rings and all gold jewelry is not so treasured or sought after as that mans’ Notre Dame class ring. If you have gold that you want to part with rather than hold on to, why not sell it to a gold buyer? Selling gold does not mean that you do not recognize the value of gold. In fact, it shows that you are aware that if you are not using it, you might as well get cash for gold so it can be used in some other capacity.

Lately, there has been a lot of interest in gold rush lore. Some towns have been trying to boost their credentials as places where gold was found in the 19th century. Perhaps it is a matter of civic pride. There may also be the hopes that being able to claim gold rush credentials will boost tourism dollars. There is more than one way to get cash for gold—if these towns no longer have actual gold, they still have their history. There are even two towns in Georgia that are locked in a dispute over which one was really the first in their area to welcome people seeking gold.

The state of Alaska has a museum to celebrate the Alaska Gold Rush (which is also known as the Yukon Gold Rush or the Klondike Gold Rush). At the time of this gold rush (the 1890s), the United States was reeling from the Panics of 1893 and 1896. People from all over the country and all over the world made their way to the Yukon hoping to improve their financial prospects by finding gold, thing that if they could sell gold, they could ease their money woes. At one point the population of that part of Alaska swelled so much that there were fears of famine.

While there are still opportunities to prospect for gold in various parts of the country, you might be better off it you start your search for gold at home. It is likely that you have gold jewelry, gold coins or some other gold objects that you are not using and have not used in a long time. You can sell gold to a gold buyer without having to travel all the way to Alaska like adventurous gold rushers did not the 1890s. In fact, you can sell gold to an online gold buyer without having to gather all of your gold and take it somewhere. When you contact an online gold buyer, they will send you a postage-paid envelope that you can use to send in your gold for evaluation.

Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, a place that has earned the distinction of being America’s oldest inn that is still in operation, likes to provide guests with an little “extra” that goes beyond a mint on their pillow.

A writer who was staying there found a gold Andrew Jackson coin (face value: $1) in an envelope under a wooden slat in her room.  She found this unplanned treasure hunt to be delightful and wrote about it.

The purpose of allowing guests to find such a treasure is not so they can sell gold or rake in cash for gold, but rather to give them a little thrill. There was a note along with the gold coin, instructing the finder to leave it so another guest could have the fun on finding this unexpected gold surprise.

Gold coins can turn up in the most unexpected places. Late last year, a volunteer found a cache f gold coins that were hidden from view in a collapsed building. It was one of Jerusalem’s largest finds when it comes to gold coins. It is thought that those gold coins had also been originally hidden in a niche in the building.

This cache of gold coins were called “Hanukkah money” because they were found on the first day of the Jewish holiday. The gold coins, 264 in all, have an image of Heraclius, a Byzantine emperor from the 7th century.

In both of these instances, the people who found gold really could not keep it. Instead, they had to either leave the gold they found where it was or they had to hand it over to authorities. Either way, they left the experience with a story to tell and the thrill of finding hidden gold.

You, on the other hand, have the option of benefiting from any gold that you may find when you do a little digging in your own house. As we said, you really do not know where you may find gold coins or gold jewelry. Why not look around your own house for gold you may have forgotten that you had? Then, unlike the writer or volunteer we’ve mentioned, you can sell that gold to a gold buyer.