Gold Roman Coins minted here. The finest Gold leaf is available for decorating your favorite god or goddess statues.

"Do as the Romans do!" Gold was something they did. Even though the Roman Empire was ruthless and unforgiving, they were unique when it came to gold.

They used gold not just for jewelry, but for coins they minted. The Romans used more gold than any other civilization. As they conquered and pillaged, their gold reserve grew to a high level of approximately 320,000 troy oz (or 10 tons) between 100 B.C. and 300 A.D. That is something no other civilization would do for over 1,000 years. Pretty impressive, unless you were among the poor unfortunates slaving in Roman rule enforced gold mines.

Roman coins, both gold and silver, were wide-spread throughout the western world. From the islands and shores of the Mediterranean, throughout France, Spain and even Great Britain. "The Romans loved gold," Roman writer Lucian once remarked about the extravagances of many of the "well to do" women of Rome. "On their wrists and arms were gold snakes which ought to be real live ones," he went on to say. "The gold goes right on down to their feet and there are bangles around their ankles!"

A woman named Fortuata had a hairnet of pure gold and wore six pounds of gold jewelry. A fresco of the 1st century A.D. shows a woman wearing more gold jewelry than clothing. Some of the best examples of Roman goldsmith work were found in the ruins of Pompeii. The early Roman style of delicate jewelry was adopted from the Etruscans. But they later imposed their own solid simple styles. Earrings were always in style, and heavy signet rings and bracelets of incredible weight would show rank in society. In addition, the gold coin became a part of the Roman's jewelry collection as well.

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* Germaniae Flavius, Aug 10, 2007 - 14:22

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