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Gold has been an important part of Scottish heritage for millennia and a new mine will shortly open in Tyndrum. Leisure panners can still be seen at the popular 'gold' resorts of Wanlockhead and Kildonan. Extensive mining took place during the reigns of James the IV and V in parts of the Leadhills, where nuggets weighing close to 1kg were said to have been found and converted into coinage or repairs to the royal regalia. Mining in the Leadhills for gold ceased during the reign of James VI, in the 1620s, and have only been worked on a small scale since. Gold fever was rife in Victorian Britain with stories glamorising the rags to riches of the Californian gold rush of the late 1840s and the Australian Ballarat discoveries of the early 1850s. Many thousands of Scots left to find their fortune, some returning successful and others less so. Scotland was not a rich country in the 1850s. With the potato famine of the 1840s, cholera outbreaks and the Highland clearances, it is not surprising that the first mention of gold being discovered in Scotland generated a rush to the hills in Fife (1852) and then in Sutherland (1869).In February 2014, the Hunterian at the University of Glasgow will be holding an exhibition of gold in Scotland. Amongst the treasures on display will be the King's Gold Cup from the Leith races of 1751, Queen Victoria's gold collar of the Order of the Thistle, 'cloth of gold' from the tomb of Robert the Bruce, Bronze and Iron Age gold torcs (especially the hoard from Law Farm, Morayshire), a multitude of Scottish gold coins made using Scottish gold, modern creations by Scottish goldsmith Graham Stewart, and ten large nuggets found from Scottish rivers. This is the first comprehensive look at the use of gold in Scotland from prehistoric times to the present day. It guides the reader through the natural history of gold to how we have used gold in the past and use it now in the present, as well as looking at the history of gold use in Scotland from the earliest recorded discovery of gold in Scotland in 1245 and the first use of gold coinage in Scotland to pay a king's ransom in about 1357, to the Darien disaster of the late 1600s and beyond, this book contains many remarkable snippets that are not easily obtained from other sources.
Contents
Foreword Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. The Nature of Gold Alchemy Isotopes of gold Seeing gold Gold and the Cosmos Origins of the name The uses of gold The value of gold Medicinal gold The concentration of gold Purity of gold 3. Geology of Scottish Gold Shallow chemical gold deposits Deep chemical gold deposits Porphyritic gold deposits Lesser known chemical gold deposits Mechanical gold deposits 4. History of Gold mining in Scotland The Mines of Crawford Moor Landlord's Brae gold Lesser known mines Extraction techniques in Scotland The Tyndrum mines 5. The Scottish Gold Rushes. The gold rush of 1852 The gold rush of 1869 Further digging in Kildonan The Dunker affair 6. Gold in Ancient Scotland JA Sheridan The earliest gold in Britain and Ireland The earliest objects in Scotland, 2300-2150 BC The Early Bronze Age embossed goldwork tradition in Scotland: dagger hilt-bands, around 2150-1900 BC Following fashions far to the south, 2000-1750 BC: the sheet gold discs from Barnhill and Knowes of Trotty Middle Bronze Age gold Jewellery in Scotland The use of gold in Late Bronze Age Scotland, around 1100-800 BC Pre-Roman Iron Age gold in Scotland Roman gold Gold in Early Historic Scotland, around AD 500 to the AD 780s Viking gold 7. Gold Returns JD Bateson Gold coins of Scotland Symbols of authority Gilding Robert the Bruce's tomb State and church Medieval jewellery Goldsmith's in Scotland Mary Queen of Scots 8. Reformation and Revival JD Bateson Gold coinage of James VI 17th century gold The later Stewarts Coinage of 17th century Scotland The rising sun The Enlightemnent Georgian and Victorian goldsmiths Golden badges of office and state Cups and medals Scottish goldsmiths of the present day Future of gold in Scotland Appendices The different gold coins struck by Scotland's monarchs Weights and measures of gold Where to look in Scotland Further reading and websites Introductory Books Websites Image Credits Bibliography Sponsors and Donors Endnotes
