History of Jewellery

Up to recently, it is believed that the earliest known gold jewellery dated from the “Sumer” civilization that inhabited what is now known as the southern Iraq around 3000 BC.



The recent discovery says that the first Goldsmithing began on the shores of the black sea which is today called as Bulgaria. However the various techniques such as chain-making, repousse, alloying and casting have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

One of the best examples came from the treasures of King Tutankhamun who pass away in 1352 BC. The first known cable chain which is a very popular technique even today was produced by Minoans on Crete while the granulation was developed by Etruscans of Italy in the 17th century BC.



Italy has remained at the front position of the gold jewellery industry. The Italian Renaissance coincided with the discoveries of the New World sources of gold, and wealthy Italian patrons encouraged goldsmiths just as they did painters and sculptors.

The Spanish acquisition of South American gold, however, was achieved at the expense of the ancient heritage of pre-Columbian goldsmiths. These craftsmen were producing exquisite items as early as 1200 BC, and their art reached its zenith during the Chimu civilisation from the 12th to the I5th centuries AD, only to be stopped by the mass looting of the ‘conquistadors’.



Historically, gold was a rare metal, which only the wealthy could afford. But the gold rushes to California and Australia in the mid-19th century ushered in a new dimension of gold supply. They coincided, too, with the development of machinery for making chain and other articles, and of a much wider consumer market. In the 20th century, gold jewellery has become affordable for most people in Western society.

Important new centres for gold production emerged in the early 1990s, notably in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, catering particularly to the rapidly growing market for ‘chuk kam’ (pure gold) jewellery in China, which requires several hundred tonnes a year. In Japan, jewellery fabrication for the domestic market has become a major industry, using around 100 tonnes a year.

Attitudes to jewellery still vary throughout the world. In the industrial countries, for example, gold jewellery is primarily a fashion item. But in the Middle East and much of Asia, gold ornaments are seen equally as investment; 22 carat articles are bought on a low mark-up of only 10-20 per cent over the gold price of the day, and can be traded in at a profit if the price rises or, as is more often the case, for new articles.

The importance of jewellery to the gold mining industry cannot be under-estimated. Between 1970 and 1992 around 65% of all gold available to the market was used in jewellery, and from the late 1980s into the 1990s, it absorbed much of the rise in production. Since 1991, over 2,000 tonnes of gold has been used annually. The continuing success of the mining industry is inextricably linked with the fortunes of the jewellery trade.