> Napoleon III of France is reputed to have held a banquet where the most honored guests were given aluminium utensils, while the others made do with gold.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#History

Correct, I believe this was also what I read about how it being more valuable allowed these ancient civilizations who had access to it, to have some more monetary value to their coins and also showed their political influence (Ex: a picture of their leader ) when they traded with other civilizations overseas

>I read about how it being more valuable allowed these ancient civilizations who had access to it, to have some more monetary value to their coins and also showed their political influence (Ex: a picture of their leader )

Probably 1 of 3 reasons Gold was valuable at all to the ancients:

1. Gold is the most malleable of all the metals, making it easy to coin in extreme detail.

2. Antimicrobial properties (probably known to the ancients).

3. Oh look, its shiny!!! We are no less vain now, than then. Or perhaps no less vain then, than now.

Edit: Sorry I think you were referencing aluminum.

You forgot:

0. Gold doesn't corrode/oxydize/otherwise react easily with most common elements, thus keeping it properties over extremely long periods of time.

I doubt they knew or cared about 2). They did care about 1) being malleable and therefore easy to turn into pretty objects. They also cared that 3) it was shiny. But the main selling point was the fact that those pretty, shiny things lasted and could even be passed to the next generation ;)

Yep. I originally included that and erased it for some reason.

You are probably right about 2 as well, the reasons I like to think they might have been aware: 1.) there were Amphora made of both silver and gold; and 2.) they recognized the antimicrobial properties of other things (example: honey on wounds to avoid infection).

Obviously the Amphora could simply be chalked up to displays of wealth, but I would think they observed the delay in food/beverage degradation in those Amphora compared to standard clay. I guess the funny thing with gold is even today we don't have broad industrial usage (probably good because of the limited supply), though I I suppose trace amounts are used in some modern electronics.

Electronics have tons of gold in them: https://powermore.dell.com/tech-culture/how-much-gold-is-in-...

Gold was also the heaviest known element until the middle of the 19th century, which means that all impurities swim at the top and so it is easy to purify simply by melting it. Plus you can assay it by a touchstone. So there are a lot properties that make Gold the best metal for coins.

This only applies to impurities that don't dissolve in, or alloy with gold. For example, silver and copper cannot be removed from gold simply by melting because they form solution alloys that don't segregate in the molten state. Some solution alloys of gold include crown gold (silver, copper, gold) and white gold (palladium, nickel, gold).

This is actually a crucial point in the later parts of Neal Stephensons Quicksilver/Baroque cycle.

Planet Money did an interesting episode on this, taking the opposite perspective: properties of other elements that made them less suitable.

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/07/131363098/the-t...