Why is Gold so valuable?

[klr]

... or the other precious metals? Or natural diamonds for that matter, even though synthetic diamonds (not "fake") are much cheaper.

Gold is rare, and looks nice and shiny. It's main use has always been in jewellery, and it has only limited industrial/commercial applications.

Does it really deserve to be so highly valued?

[Faithfree]

Most of the gold ever mined is gathering dust locked up in bank vaults because it's too valuable to use for making things.

[klr]

Most of the gold ever mined is gathering dust locked up in bank vaults because it's too valuable to use for making things.

So it's only valuable because "everyone else thinks it's valuable".

[Pappa]

Cocaine is worth more than gold.

[Thinking Aloud]

Everyone wants to make purdy things that don't tarnish. So that's why.

[Pappa]

Most of the gold ever mined is gathering dust locked up in bank vaults because it's too valuable to use for making things.

So it's only valuable because "everyone else thinks it's valuable".

Like banknotes?

[Bella Fortuna]

Cocaine is worth more than gold.

And a mite easier to stick up your nose, I'd imagine...

[Clinton Huxley]

Gold? Always believe in your soul.

[Thinking Aloud]

I left it here, I could have sworn.

[klr]

Cocaine is worth more than gold.

At least has cocaine has a use*. A highly dubious and destructive one, but that's another matter. The point is that people don't buy it to hoard it long-term.

*Well, a number of uses, but you know what I'm talking about.

Everyone wants to make purdy things that don't tarnish. So that's why.

But with today's technologies, that's quite easy to do without using rare or expensive materials. So, back to my opening question ...

Most of the gold ever mined is gathering dust locked up in bank vaults because it's too valuable to use for making things.

So it's only valuable because "everyone else thinks it's valuable".

Like banknotes?

Bank notes (aka negotiable instruments, promissory notes) are in no way comparable to gold, or to any other sort of tangible resource/commodity that has a finite supply determined by nature. The perceived value/reliability of bank notes has to do with a whole range of other factors. Intrinsically, they themselves are quite literally worth only the paper they are printed on, if that. And in the computerised era, wealth is often represented by little more than a few bytes of information on a computer record.

Gold? Always believe in your soul.

[Thinking Aloud]

(I wasn't pretending to have a watertight argument. But hey, we've always done it this way, so why change anything now...)

[klr]

(I wasn't pretending to have a watertight argument. But hey, we've always done it this way, so why change anything now...)

That seems to be it. Gold has always been valuable, ergo it's still valuable. But how can something that doesn't get used be so valuable? It's downright silly IMHO.

[Clinton Huxley]

In an alternate universe, cheese holds the place gold does in this one

[Bella Fortuna]

Gold? Always believe in your soul.

I hereby owe you a thrashing for that.

[Bella Fortuna]

But how can something that doesn't get used be so valuable? It's downright silly IMHO.

Just like virginity...