Fast Facts: Oct. 22
October 22, 2010
- It is estimated that only about 100,000 tons of gold have been mined during all of recorded history.
- The rarest gem, painite, was discovered in Burma. Fewer than 10 specimens exist in the world.
- The name “”turquoise”” comes from the fact that it was first brought to Europe from the Mediterranean by Levantine traders, also known as Turks.
- Ancient Greeks named amber from the word electron, because rubbing amber gives off static electricity.
- From 330 B.C. to A.D. 1237, most of the world’s emeralds came from Cleopatra’s mine in Egypt.
- The California Gold Rush yielded 125 million ounces of gold from 1850-1875 — more than had been mined in the previous 350 years and worth more than $50 billion today.
