Gold hit another milestone last Friday when the value of a 400-troy-ounce bullion bar surpassed the $1 million mark for the first time in history. The feat was attained as the spot price of gold surged beyond $2,500 per ounce just after 9 a.m.
The hefty million-dollar bars are the type you might see in photos of a Fort Knox vault or in scenes from the James Bond 007 thriller, Goldfinger (1964). They are impressively beautiful and impossibly dense (a 7-inch long, 3 5/8-inches wide, 1 3/4 inch-thick brick weighs nearly as much as a three-year-old child, at 27.4 pounds).
The spot gold price at 4 p.m. EST on Wednesday was $2,525, which put the value of the 400-ounce bar at $1,010,000. Gold hit its all-time high-water mark on Tuesday morning at $2,541.
Known as Good Delivery bars, these 400-ounce behemoths are typically bought and sold by large investors, governments and institutions.
Economists cite geopolitical tension, inflation hedging, stock market volatility and anticipated Federal Reserve interest-rate reductions as the key drivers of gold's price ascent. Gold is considered a safe-haven asset.
The price of gold is up 33% compared to a year ago ($1,895) and is almost 68% higher than five years ago ($1,503).
The US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, KY, secures about half of the US Treasury’s gold reserves. Holdings amount to 147.3 million ounces (4,176 metric tons), and it’s believed that Fort Knox houses 2.3% of all the gold ever refined in the world.
In Lower Manhattan, the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York houses 507,000 gold bars weighing 6,331 metric tons and valued at more than $200 billion.
The major difference between the Fort Knox and New York City facilities is that 95% of the Federal Reserve Bank’s holdings in New York is gold owned by foreign governments and international investors.
Credit: Photo by Stevebidmead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A 22-year-old archaeology student from Denmark's Aarhus University recently unearthed seven Viking-Age silver bangles dating back 1,200 years.
The seven bangles represent three distinctive design styles that underscore Aarhus' status as an international trading hub of the Viking Age. Researchers believe the silver bangles also may have served as a form of currency.
The student, Gustav Bruunsgaard, was using a metal detector to explore a known Viking site in Elsted, about eight miles north of Aarhus, when his device beeped loudly.
With a small shovel, Bruunsgaard successfully secured a single bangle. When he returned to the site a few days later, he found six more. The total weight of the seven silver bangles is about 500 grams, or a little over 1 pound, according the Moesgaard Museum.
Danish and international experts assessed the hoard and concluded that the items were fabricated during the early part of the Viking Age, which spanned from 793 AD to 1066 AD.
For the Vikings, arm bangles were not only statements of personal style and social status, but they could also be used as a type of currency. Bracelets like these, according to the Moesgaard Museum, were adapted to a common weight system, so that the value of the individual rings could easily be determined. In this way, the bangles served as a means of payment.
The bangle that looks like a coiled snake originated from Russia or Ukraine, according to the Moesgaard Museum, which added that the design was imitated by the Nordics.
The three stamped bands are of a South Scandinavian type that inspired bangles in Ireland, where they became very common. The museum explained that the three smooth bangles are rare and known to be from Scandinavia and England.
"The Elsted farm treasure is a fantastically interesting find from the Viking Age, which connects Aarhus with Russia and Ukraine in the east and the British Isles in the west," noted Kasper H. Andersen, Ph.D., and historian at Moesgaard Museum. "In this way, the find emphasizes how Aarhus was a central hub in the Viking world, which went all the way from the North Atlantic to Asia."
Bruunsgaard's seven silver bangles are currently on display at the Moesgaard Museum in Højbjerg, Denmark. The museum is just five miles south of Aarhus, which is Denmark's second largest city with a population of 330,000.
Credits: Jewelry image courtesy of Moesgaard Museum. Map by Google Maps.
It's been 105 years since a 19-year-old Belgian PhD student at the University of London named Marcel Tolkowsky penned Diamond Design, a book that outlined the perfect mathematical formula for the “brilliant-cut” diamond. Tolkowsky’s accomplishment has stood the test of time and prevails as the most iconic and successful cut in history due to its ability to maximize a diamond’s fire, brilliance and sparkle.
“In 1919, my uncle Marcel unlocked the secret of light within a diamond,” said the late Gabi Tolkowsky during a celebration of the cut's 100th anniversary in 2019. “He figured out how to get the greatest amount of light to shine out of a diamond, calculating the number and arrangement of facets to maximize the light return. This was Marcel’s gift to the world, perfecting the journey of light, giving all those who came after him the knowledge of how to turn a diamond into a unique beauty.”
(Gabi Tolkowsky, one of the world’s most renowned diamond cutters in his own right, died in May of 2023 at age of 83. Marcel Tolkowsky passed away in 1991 at the age of 92.)
Marcel Tolkowsky proved that if a diamond was cut too deep or too shallow, the light coming down from the top would escape out the sides or bottom, resulting in a loss of brilliance. His solution: 57 precisely placed facets cut to exacting proportions so the light coming into a diamond is refracted up through the table and crown to the viewer’s eye.
In Tolkowsky's formula, the crown, which is the upper part of the diamond, would have 33 facets, and the pavilion, which is the conical base underneath the girdle, would have 24 facets. The diamond would also include a tiny 58th facet at the bottom of the pavilion called the culet.
Tolkowsky also suggested that the depth of a round brilliant diamond should be 59.3% of its diameter and that the table facet should be 53% of the total width. What's more, he deemed the perfect crown angle to be 34.5 degrees, and the ideal pavilion angle to be 40.75 degrees.
Of the 4Cs of diamonds — cut, color, clarity and carat weight — cut is arguably the most important. Poorly cut diamonds will likely appear dull or glassy, while a finely cut diamond will appear fiery and alive.
In the 1950s, Tolkowsky's work was further elevated when the American Gem Society adopted his proportions as its standard for grading a diamond's cut.
Even though 105 years have passed since Tolkowsky published Diamond Design, his formula is still considered "ideal" in the world of diamond cutting. Today, Tolkowsky's innovation is called the “American Ideal Cut” or the "Tolkowsky Brilliant.”
Credits: Round brilliant diamond courtesy of Petragems, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Ideal cut proportions by See page for author, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Kaley Cuoco, who starred for 12 seasons on The Big Bang Theory, turned to Instagram Stories last Wednesday to show off her "once-in-a-lifetime slice of perfection." The actress was referring to her asymmetrical three-stone diamond engagement ring, featuring a colorless cushion-cut center stone accented by light yellow diamonds of unlike sizes and orientations.
Cuoco's long-time boyfriend, Tom Pelphrey, who is best known for his role as Ben Davis on the Netflix crime drama series, Ozark, had popped the question last weekend.
The engagement came as a surprise to many of Cuoco's fans, who were aware of her statements about never marrying again after suffering through two divorces.
She had told Glamour magazine in April of 2022, "I would love to have a long-lasting relationship or a partnership. But I will never get married again. Absolutely not. You can literally put that on the cover."
But Cuoco made that statement only weeks before she met Pelphrey at the premiere of Ozark. She said it was "love at first sight."
On Instagram, the 38-year-old actress gushed about the love of her life, writing, "What a wild, beautiful journey life can be. Grateful for every road that led me straight to you @tommypelphrey."
The couple shares a 17-month-old daughter, Matilda (Tildy), who looks adorable in a photo Cuoco shared on Instagram. Mom, dad and daughter are all clad in matching black T-shirts.
Cuoco also thanked designer Shahla Karimi and Pelphrey for collaborating on her new engagement ring. "My heart can't take it," she wrote in an Instagram caption.
The designer shared a close-up shot of the ring on her Instagram page, noting how "the center cushion is beautifully complemented by two perfectly matched light yellow diamond baguette and emerald-cut stones on either side." One stone is set in a north-south orientation, while the other is set east-west.
Three-stone engagement rings traditionally symbolize the couple's past, present and future.
Interestingly, the 42-year-old Pelphrey was living off the grid when he met Cuoco and had never seen The Big Bang Theory. He had no idea that she was such a big star (She was earning $1 million per episode during the later seasons of the hit series).
"I hadn’t seen Kaley in anything," Pelphrey told W Magazine. "Look, I live in a cave. Before I met Kaley, I was living in upstate New York, on a dirt road, in the middle of the woods, without much Wi-Fi. She’s brought me into modern times."
Cuoco was previously married to tennis player Ryan Sweeting from 2013 to 2015 and Olympic equestrian Karl Cook from 2018 to 2022.
Credits: Images via Instagram / kaleycuoco, Instagram / shahlakarimi_jewelry.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, country star Aaron Watson pens an emotional tribute to his little girl in “Diamonds and Daughters.”
Watson pledges his life-long devotion to the daughter who had him crying like a baby the moment he first saw her face. He knows he’ll cry again when he walks her down the aisle.
He sings, “I found fortune like diamonds / In the love of a daughter / Worth more than all the gold in the world / And they say that a son / Is the pride of a father / But my heart belongs to my little girl.”
Released in February of 2017 as the 16th track from his Vaquero album, “Diamonds and Daughters” is a sentimental tune that would be a fitting addition to any wedding day playlist.
Watson revealed that he wrote “Diamonds and Daughters” after scoring an earlier hit with “The Underdog” — a song inspired by his sons.
“When [my daughter] found out that her brothers got a song and she didn’t, she was not happy with me,” Watson told The Boot. “Even though I wrote that for Jolee Kate, I wanted all daughters… to hear that song and just know that they’re special.”
Watson scored a commercial success with Vaquero, as it reached #2 on the US Billboard Country chart.
When his album The Underdog reached #1 on the Billboard Country chart in 2015, Watson became the first solo male artist to accomplish that feat with a self-released, independently distributed and promoted studio project.
At the time, the Amarillo, TX, native said he was proud of his slow and steady climb to national success.
“I’m independent not because I’m not good enough,” he told The Boot. “I’m independent because I’m unwilling to sell out on my music or my fans… I’m independent by choice.”
Watson, 46, is currently on tour withs stops scheduled for Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Arizona and California.
Please check out the audio track of Watson singing “Diamonds and Daughters.” The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…
“Diamonds and Daughters”
Written and performed by Aaron Watson.
First moment I saw your face
I was moved by amazing grace
And I cried like a baby
Just like I’ll do walking you down the aisle
I found fortune like diamonds
In the love of a daughter
Worth more than all the gold in the world
And they say that a son
Is the pride of a father
But my heart belongs to my little girl
Diamonds and daughters
Precious and few
Diamonds and daughters
Timeless and true
Don’t you ever forget that your heart is divine
You belong to the one who made you sparkle and shine
Diamonds and daughters
And I’ll be there for you
Every step of the way
From your very first breath
Until my dying day
And the women I see
In that white wedding gown
Is just my little girl
Saying "Daddy won’t you spin me around?"
Diamonds and daughters
Precious and few
Diamonds and daughters
Timeless and true
Don’t you ever forget that your heart is divine
You belong to the one who made you sparkle and shine
Diamonds and daughters
Diamonds and daughters
Diamonds and daughters
Precious and few
Diamonds and daughters
Timeless and true
Don’t you ever forget that your heart is divine
You belong to the one who made you sparkle and shine
Diamonds and daughters
Diamonds and daughters
Diamonds and daughters
Diamonds and daughters
First moment I saw your face
I was moved by amazing grace
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com / Aaron Watson.
Egyptian archaeologists recently discovered a trove of 2,500-year-old golden artifacts at the Tell al-Deir necropolis in Egypt's Nile Delta city of Damietta. Among the items buried at the site were gold foil figurines that were intended to act as servants for the tomb occupants in the afterlife.
An Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities unearthed a group of 63 mudbrick tombs dating back to Egypt's Late and Ptolemaic periods — a time just before Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.
Also found in the tombs were a collection of funerary amulets, funerary statues, pottery vessels and 38 bronze coins from the Ptolemaic Period.
The collected included a mix of imported and local pottery vessels, highlighting the importance of the city of Damietta as a center for foreign trade throughout various historical eras.
Archaeologists believe the tombs were occupied by some of Egypt's wealthiest members of society — those who could afford to be buried with riches.
Archaeologists are currently restoring and classifying the finds, according to the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities. Neveine el-Arif, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told CBS News that she anticipates that some of the items from Tell al-Deir necropolis will be displayed at one of the country's museums.
The burial site in the port city of Damietta is located about 125 miles north of Cairo.
Credits: Tomb and artifact images courtesy of Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
John Legend famously sang about his stunning wife Chrissy Teigen's "perfect imperfections" in his 2013 hit, "All of Me." In the world of gemstones, perfect imperfections can turn a nondescript clear stone into a vibrant masterpiece. Such is the case with spinel, the August birthstone that is colorless in its pure state, but brilliantly colorful when impurities are sprinkled by nature into its chemical makeup.
Spinel is a magnesium aluminum oxide that forms when impure limestone is altered by heat and pressure. The mineral gets its color from trace amounts of metallic elements, such as chromium, iron and cobalt.
When chromium replaces aluminum in the chemical structure, for example, the result is a red spinel. When iron or cobalt enters the mix, the result is blue or greenish blue. The other colors represented in the spinel family include peach, pink and purple.
The suite of round brilliant-cut spinels seen in the photo, above, has been part of the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection since 2013. The Vietnam-sourced gems range in size from 60 points to 4.60 carats.
Spinel has the distinction of being the newest official birthstone. In 2016, the American Gem Trade Association and Jewelers of America announced that spinel would be joining peridot as an official birthstone for the month of August. Since peridot is available in only one color, spinel provided more variety and options for August-born individuals.
Spinel is often called a "ruby imposter" because throughout history gem experts had a really tough time telling them apart. In nature, spinel and ruby are often found side by side.
In fact, some of the world’s most famous “rubies” are actually vivid red spinels. These include the 170-carat Black Prince Ruby, which is prominently displayed on the Imperial State Crown of England; the 361-carat Timur Ruby, which was presented by the East India Company to Queen Victoria as a gift in 1851; and the 398-carat ruby look-alike that tops the Imperial Crown of Russia.
The Smithsonian noted that the leading sources of spinel are Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, while other significant spinel production is taking place in Cambodia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Vietnam, Russia and the US.
Spinel is a durable gem with a hardness of 8.0 on the Mohs scale. By comparison, diamond rates a 10 and ruby rates a 9.
Credit: Photo by Ken Larsen / Smithsonian.
There is strong evidence that bronze forearm cuff bracelets were all the rage near Prague 3,600 years ago.
An archeologist using a metal detector to survey a site in the town of Budyně nad Ohří, just 40km northwest of the Czech capital, discovered a hoard of bronze artifacts that included eight cuffs, eight axes, two long pins and an arrowhead.
The simple three-quarter round cuffs are decorated with nine parallel notches. The basic style of the bracelets is not much different than some of the ones worn today.
The long bronze pins may have had two purposes, according to the archeologists. They were likely used to style hair or to fasten clothing.
The axes were employed as cutting tools or weapons.
Archeologists from the Podřipské Museum in Roudnice nad Labem believe the hoard dates back to the Middle Bronze Age, when Europeans mastered the art of making tools and ornaments from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. They noted that the quality of the items testify to the technological advancement of the bronze casters of that period.
Archaeologist Martin Trefný told Radio Prague International, that all but one of the items in the hoard date back to 1600 BC, and one axe was much older.
Trefný and his team offered three theories on why the hoard was intentionally buried. First, the items in the hoard could have represented a religious offering to the deities. Second, they may have been hidden from enemies during a crisis. Or, third, the place of discovery could have been a merchant's storage pit.
Trefný told Radio Prague International that the artifacts could be worth "millions of crowns" (each million crowns is worth about $42,000), but added that the historical and the scientific value is much higher than the financial value.
The precise location of the discovery will remain secret to prevent amateur treasure hunters from disrupting the site. After undergoing conservation treatment, the bronze items will be put on display at the Podřipské Museum.
Credits: Images courtesy of Lucie Heyzlová, Český rozhlas, Podřipské Museum.
For Will and Marshall Barnett of Buckeye, AZ, a recent father-and-son "boys' week" road trip with a stopover at Arkansas’ famous Crater of Diamonds State Park couldn't have gone much better. The pair discovered a 2-carat, iced tea-colored diamond after wet sifting just a few buckets of soil.
It was the second-largest diamond registered so far this year and the 36,500th diamond documented since the site became an Arkansas State Park in 1972.
Will had learned about the park from his uncle, who worked as a park interpreter at another Arkansas State Park. So, when he and his son mapped out their summer trip, they were excited to try their luck at finding genuine gemstone in Murfreesboro.
With buckets and shovels in-hand, Will and Marshall arrived at the park on the morning of July 27. They rented screens at the park’s Diamond Discovery Center and then entered the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area, a plowed field atop the eroded surface of an ancient, diamond-bearing volcano.
After filling a few buckets with diamond-bearing soil, they headed to the park’s south wash pavilion to wet sift the material.
“Wet sifting is one of the most effective methods to search for diamonds,” said Park Interpreter Ashlyn Keys. “The search area has two wash pavilions, with water troughs and tables. Using screens to separate dirt from the gravel allows you to go through more material in less time, giving a better chance of finding a diamond.”
The wet-sifting strategy quickly paid off. Will spotted something glimmering at the bottom of his screen and called over his son, saying, “Hey Marshall, you should take a look at this!”
Marshall and his dad brought their find to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where staff confirmed that it was a 2-carat, rectangular-shaped diamond, about the size of a pencil eraser.
Even before learning the official results, Keys said, “You could tell they knew they had found something special from the smiles on their faces.”
Will and Marshall are no strangers to the mining scene. They are frequent gold panners.
The dad often refers to his son as a "minor-miner," so they decided to name their diamond "Minor Find."
Commenting about his experience at the park, Will said, “It’s worth looking, even if you don’t find a diamond!”
Credits: Images courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you memorable throwback songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, we take a deep dive into the origins of one of the most famous — and controversial — "diamond" songs of all time.
It’s been 57 years since The Beatles released “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” a psychedelic singalong that stirred a media frenzy over what seemed to be a not-so-subtle reference to drugs. The first letter of each noun in the title did, in fact, spell “LSD,” a hallucinogenic drug that influenced pop culture in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Even though the LSD debate lingers today, the song’s co-writer John Lennon debunked the drug ties to Lucy and her diamonds during a 1971 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. The song, Lennon explained, was inspired by his toddler's drawing.
Lennon told the host, “My son came home with a drawing of a strange-looking woman flying around. He said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds.’ I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote the song about it.”
Lucy was a classmate of three-year-old Julian Lennon at the private Heath House School in the UK. Lucy O’Donnell (later Lucy Vodden) told the BBC in 2007 that she remembered “doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant.”
Noted Julian, now 61, “I don’t know why I called it [Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds] or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age. I used to show Dad everything I’d built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea.”
Co-writer Paul McCartney said the song’s fantastical imagery is a nod to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
McCartney told an interviewer, “We did the whole thing like an Alice In Wonderland idea, being in a boat on the river… Every so often it broke off and you saw Lucy in the sky with diamonds all over the sky. This Lucy was God, the Big Figure, the White Rabbit.”
“Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds” was released as the third track from enormously successful Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, which spent 15 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold more than 32 million copies worldwide. Rolling Stone magazine had once ranked the album #1 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” The magazine's 2024 updated ranking reduced it to a respectable #24.
The Beatles remain the best selling music act of all time with an estimated 600 million albums sold worldwide. McCartney, 82, and Ringo Starr, 84, are the two surviving members of the band. Lennon was assassinated in 1980 at the age of 40. George Harrison lost his battle with lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 58.
Trivia: In 2004, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics named a white dwarf star “Lucy” as a nod to The Beatles’ song because they believe the super-dense star — scientifically known as BPM 37093 — is made primarily of diamond.
Please check out the audio track of The Beatles performing “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Performed by The Beatles.
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she’s gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you’re gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Credit: Photo by ingen uppgift, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.