From a 4500-year-old scepter found in the Royal Cemetery of Ur to Marc Quinn's 2008 Siren—a life-sized sculpture of fashion model Kate Moss—this handsome petite coffee-table book by British Museum metallurgist Susan La Niece traces the history of gold through the ages, showcasing the multifarious uses to which the precious metal has been put. Color photographs on nearly every page depict museum pieces from societies as widespread as Mughal India, Anglo-Saxon Britain, and pre-Hispanic civilizations of the New World, including coinage, jewelry and ornament, status objects, grave goods, royal gifts, and ritual items of worship and magic.