AVAILABLE JUNE 2012
168 pages, hardback, 242 x 168 mm, 100 colour illus.
PRICE: £20.00
ISBN: 978 0 907814 86 3
Easily mistaken for a bar of solid gold, this sumptuous golden book accompanies the most comprehensive and ambitious exhibition ever staged at Goldsmiths' Hall in London, showcasing more than 400 extraordinary gold items ranging in date from as early as 2500 BC to the present day.
Few realise that gold can be found in Great Britain, and that attempts to exploit native sources have drawn prospectors from ancient Rome to Elizabethan adventurers and current commercial projects in Ireland Scotland and Wales. In Gold: Power and Allure, 11 essays by distinguished specialists tell of the rich and previously untold story of Britain and its relationship with gold, demonstrating the country's unique golden heritage. Essays include: 'The Gold of Antiquity' by Kevin Leahy from the Portable Antiquities Scheme; 'London – the World's Gold Market' by Timothy Green; and 'Gold, golden, gilded: precious metal on the dining table' by Philippa Glanville.
Historian Dr. Helen Clifford, the editor and one of the authors, explains that "the challenge has been to draw together the many strands that make a single precious metal so special and central to human society. With the focus on Britain it has been possible to assemble a story that goes far back into geological time and forward to the most cutting edge goldworking, where this country excels. It reveals a story of the continuity of man's fascination with gold, from the Bronze Age to modern city finance, via a breathtaking range of more than four thousand years of work. In essence it is a story of global connections and one where the familiar is transmuted into the iconic, via the power of gold."
Accompanies an exhibition at Goldsmiths' Hall, London, 1 June–28 July 2012.
There has never been a display like it. This is the catalogue to an ambitious exhibition at the Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, which will comprise 250 gold and silver objects and sets of objects spanning the history of the Church from the earliest possible times to the present day. More