Note: All the content described in this article is based on authoritative sources and personal opinions, and the sources of information are marked at the end of the article.
When we think of gold, we think of the luster and wealth of "golden brilliance".
In this situation, the price of gold is also rising by leaps and bounds, and many people joke that they really can't afford to buy gold.
We also often hear from the older generation that gold retains its value.
However, in the world, there is a kind of gold that is more expensive than gold: ko's head gold.
But what people don't understand is that it's not gold, why is the price more expensive than gold?
How is Kotou Gold a "dog"?
The origin of the name is very closely related to its appearance.
Generally speaking, naturally occurring gold is basically dispersed in shape, and it is very difficult to find and mine.
According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", in the fifth year of Zhenghe, when a miner was mining gold, he found a broken gold weighing nine catties and eight taels.
This is the so-called "dog's head gold".
In terms of appearance, the appearance of the dog's head gold is indeed similar to the dog's head, and it can be regarded as a "dog" as its name.
However, some people believe that its appearance is similar to that of a horse's hoof, and all dog-headed gold is actually called "horseshoe gold".
In fact, no matter which name it is, it says the same thing.
Compared to ordinary gold, the appearance of doghead gold is more attractive.
Generally speaking, the ordinary gold we usually see is basically pure gold or gold alloy, and the shape looks very regular, and there is no memorable point.
However, the dog's head gold has its own shape, and at a glance, you can clearly see the difference between the dog's head gold and ordinary gold.
In addition to their appearance, the difference in size between them is also very large.
Ordinary gold is basically very small, but according to records, the weight of the found dog's head gold has reached tens of catties or even hundreds of catties.
Previously, Sichuan Watch reported that an Australian man had dug up a natural gold nugget weighing 4.6 kilograms.
It is said that the man still used a very cheap metal detector and found a nugget that large in the gold mining area.
Later, after research, it was found that half of this gold nugget was gold, and it was worth about 1.102 million yuan.
In fact, the natural gold nugget detected by this man is actually dog's head gold, which is also a natural gold nugget containing a variety of impurities.
Compared to pure gold, its gold content is not particularly high.
But what makes people feel strange is that it is not pure gold, why is it still so valuable?
The formation process of ko's head gold
In fact, the price of everything can't escape the word "rare", that is to say, "rare is expensive".
The reason why the price of ko's head gold is so high is precisely because it is relatively scarce and the formation process is very complicated.
4.5 billion years ago, when the Earth was first formed, it was actually a large fireball with a very high temperature.
At that time, many asteroids with metal elements in the universe collided with the Earth, but the consequence of the impact was that they were "melted away".
However, the melting point of gold is very high, and there is even a saying that real gold is not afraid of fire, and in this way, the gold is left on the earth.
In addition, the density of gold itself is relatively large, so the final destination is basically all underground.
It can be said that the formation of gold is a very long process.
On our earth, gold is mainly placer gold and rock gold.
Therefore, the formation of gold is actually very complex.
The formation of dog's head gold is even more rare.
Some people say that the dog's head gold stone comes from a meteor, but this statement is actually inaccurate.
Because from a mineral point of view, in addition to the gold element, there are also quartz, natural galactic copper and other substances.
Obviously, this is a combination of natural gold grains and microscopic detrital gold, and the formation of doghead gold is inseparable from flowing water.
After the original placer gold is washed by rivers or lakes for a long time, some of the original impurities on its body will be removed, thus forming granular gold with very high purity.
Under the action of flowing water, those small pieces of gold and other substances will come together to form the dog's head gold we see.
In addition to the density and toughness of gold, kotou gold also has many other rare elements.
Therefore, the dog's head gold we see is actually formed after tens of thousands of years or even hundreds of thousands of years, and its historical and cultural significance should not be underestimated.
Because of this, some collectors or geologists are very fond of doghead gold, which also greatly increases the price of doghead gold.
However, doghead gold is also hard to come by, because they will always appear in some unexpected places.
But if you're looking for it, there's a good chance you'll not find it.
And such a valuable dog's head gold actually exposes a problem, that is, if you pick it up, should you hand it over?
Should I turn it in if I find it?
In 2015, Huanqiu.com reported that a farmer in Xinjiang picked up a dog's head gold.
According to the report, the man picked up this piece of dog's head gold weighing 7.85 kilograms, which was actually a very unexpected thing.
It is said that when it was discovered, this piece of dog's head gold was basically completely exposed on the ground, which also confirmed the sentence, it took no effort to get it.
However, when this piece of dog's head gold was discovered, in fact, the most discussed thing was not about the dog's head gold, but its ownership.
You know, according to the law, if you pick up one of the cultural relics, minerals or buried objects, you must hand them over to the state.
However, there is a controversy about the dog's head gold, because it does not belong to cultural relics, and it is actually very difficult to distinguish whether it is a mineral deposit or a buried object.
Cheng Jianwei, a lawyer in Xi'an, said that when citizens pick up gold, they do not belong to the so-called exploration and exploitation of mineral resources under the mainland's mineral resources law, but they pick it up by chance, so they cannot be bound by the mineral resources law.
A professor at the law school of China University of Political Science and Law also said that the law prohibits citizens from mining resources without permission, but it does not say that everyone is not allowed to pick up stones.
Not only that, the Land Bureau of Qinghe County also generously said that there is no clear legal provision in the law that the herdsmen need to hand over the matter of picking up the dog's head gold, so we can only tell the herdsmen to keep it to the greatest extent.
Information sources:
Earth Science Network "Why is Dog Head Gold a Dog? How can fake gold be "real"? 》2024-04-07
Beiqing.com ""Dog's Head Gold" is not a simple golden pimple"2021-10-22
Global Network "A piece of "dog head gold", how much embarrassment and reflection shines" 2015-02-10