Marquise

Since the second half of the nineties, the gold market in Iran faced severe price fluctuations and disruptions, which had significant effects on gold buying and selling patterns. These developments led to important changes in consumer behavior and jewelry design and production trends.

Changes in the buying and selling pattern
- Tendency to light and second-hand gold: With the increase in the price of gold, people turned to buying light and second-hand gold instead of buying new and heavy gold. This change in the buying pattern increased the demand for light and fancy gold.
- Fancy gold and jewelry: Fancy gold with special designs such as butterfly and Jadau, as well as customized gold combined with leather and texture, have become the trend of the day and attracted many audiences.

Impact on production and design
- Increasing the production of fancy and minimal golds: Brands and production workshops started to produce more light and fancy golds. Also, clothing brands also entered the field of gold production and added minimal and simple but popular works to the design of their clothes.
- Renovation of the traditional market: The traditional gold market also began to reform with the entry of new competitors and innovations and increased the import of modeled foreign gold. These measures helped to create more variety and improve the quality of products.

Design features and new products
- Combination with leather and texture: New golds, especially in fancy styles, are often combined with other materials such as leather and texture, which gives more visual appeal and variety to the products.
- Minimal and simple designs: These designs, which are simple but stylish and popular, include the use of small and minimal details such as gold buttons or golden collars.
- Innovation in design: The gold market has moved from traditional to innovative and modern designs, which attracts new customers and maintains the attractiveness of the market.

Economic and social impacts
- Recession and fluctuations: Despite the recession and price fluctuations, changes in the design and production of gold have increased the variety and attractiveness of products and attracted more customers.
- Establishment of new brands and workshops: Many new businesses have entered the gold market, and gold manufacturing brands and workshops have been established, which help the gold industry grow and develop.

Conclusion
Changes in the Iranian gold and jewelry market in the last decade have been accompanied by severe price fluctuations and economic and social developments. These changes have led to changes in buying and selling patterns, design and production of jewelry. The production of light and fancy gold, the entry of clothing brands into the gold market, and innovation in design have moved the gold market out of the traditional mode and towards a more modern and diverse market. These changes have not only increased the attractiveness and diversity of the products, but also improved the quality and attracted new customers by creating competition and innovation.

In the 80s and 90s, the use of computers in the design and production of gold and jewelry in leading countries brought to the market very beautiful designs that had the characteristics of elegance, beauty, light weight and affordability for most sections of the society. Iranian businessmen and builders also thought of using these designs in the Iranian market. To supply these designs to the gold and jewelry market, there were two solutions: one, importing these works from Europe and Southeast Asia and second, copying and making these designs in Iran.

Trying to adapt to the global market
Many builders decided to pursue the second option, i.e. copying and making these designs in-house, although many of these works, due to the lack of finesse in the construction, actually made the consumer more willing to buy foreign works. Due to the lack of acceptance of low-quality copied works, domestic manufacturers decided to update their manufacturing technology, but this itself caused the cost of construction to increase and the lower classes of society faced problems.

Production problems and price increases
Due to the problems of producing copied designs, designers and manufacturers turned to design, but because there was not enough experience and expertise in this field, they started to recreate the same old designs with slight changes, which are still available in the market. In the meantime, the increase in the base price of gold also caused the design, manufacturing, supply and buying and selling of gold and jewelry products to stagnate. However, the middle class sometimes and the wealthy class still had the possibility to buy these products.

Common jewelry in the 80s and 90s
Most of the artifacts used in this period for jewelry of different classes were:
1. Chains:
- New and elegant chains in various models, colors and sizes
- Older chains such as Venetian, Figaro, Rolex, Disco, Rope, Marie, etc

2. Pendants and plates:
- Pendants and chest plates with fancy designs or different shapes and colors
- Plaques with religious prayers or engraved geometric shapes with different subjects and shapes
- Pendants with colored stones

3. Earrings:
- Fancy and elegant earrings in different models and colors
- Hoop earrings with beautiful shapes

4. Bracelets:
- Bracelets with many different designs

5. Rings:
- Fancy rings
- Jewelry rings
- Jeweled rings such as agate and turquoise
- Wedding rings

6. Bangles:
- Bracelets or spring bracelets
- Wire, profile, hollow and mirror bangles

7. Various services:
- Chain services, tennis, mum, casting, jewelry, fancy cutting and jewelry

Conclusion
In the 80s and 90s, due to the growth of technology and the increase in the price of gold, the gold and jewelry industry in Iran faced many challenges. However, the effort to adapt to the global market and use new designs created the ground for changes in the design and production of jewelry in Iran. This period saw the combination of old designs with new styles, and some parts of the society continued to use these ornaments.

Changes in the use of gold and jewelry in Iran's social classes in the 40s

With social changes in the 40s, three social groups with different views on gold and jewelry were formed.

1. Jewelry downstairs
The lower class of society usually used gold ornaments in small amounts. This group considered the use of gold distasteful for men and only allowed the use of jewelry for women in the presence of their wives. Therefore, jewelry designers and makers only designed for women and men had no place in this group.

In this class, most of the jewelry used included silver rings with agate and turquoise, and jewelry such as gold watches, tie pins, neck chains, bracelets, and hand plates had no place for men. For women, ornaments such as chains and breastplates with prayers or religious names were common. Much of the jewelry was made in Arabic and Indian style, and due to financial constraints, jewelry with light weight and simple design was preferred. Yellow gold was more valued than white gold, and white gold was considered a substitute.

Ornaments used downstairs:
- Long and famous pea chains, braided chains, snake chains
- Pendants and chest plaques with designs of hearts or Kaaba and religious prayers
- Pendants with agate stone or turquoise
- Pendants with agate stone or turquoise
- Wire and wide enameled bangles
- Hoop and Indian earrings
- Simple rings or with agate and turquoise

2. Jewelry in the middle class
The middle class, which made up the majority of society, was influenced by the intellectual and fashion changes brought about by the intellectuals. At first, these intellectuals came back from the Soviet Union with communist and anti-capitalist ideas and considered the use of gold and jewelry as a sign of showing off and luxury. These thoughts caused the use of ornaments in this class to decrease and the production of manufacturers was also limited.

Over time, the middle class, by traveling to Europe and America and learning about their developments, tended to use more modern ornaments. Organic designs inspired by nature became popular, such as flower-shaped rings and earrings with designs of birds and butterflies. Minkari and gold inlay also helped to create artistic works.

Ornaments used in the middle class:
- Rope chains, Rolex and Marie
- Pendants and chest plates with fancy designs and organic shapes
- Fancy rings and wedding rings with small diamonds
- Pearl and turquoise necklaces
- Chain and wide bracelets
- Fancy hoop earrings
- Wire and wide enameled bangles

3. Gold and jewelry in the wealthy class
The affluent class, which constituted the minority of society, enjoyed all the benefits of fashion changes and used luxurious and precious jewelry. By ordering luxurious and beautiful jewelry, with the help of precious stones such as diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls, this group used to own very beautiful jewelry.

Ornaments used in the wealthy class:
- Fancy rings, enameled and jeweled with diamonds, emeralds and rubies
- Fancy and organic design earrings, enameled and jeweled
- Chain bracelets and jewelry
- Big and fancy chains
- Large pendants with jewelry

Conclusion
In the 40s, the use of gold and jewelry in different classes of Iranian society was influenced by social, cultural and economic factors. While the lower class used simple and light ornaments due to financial limitations and religious thoughts, the middle class gradually turned to modern and organic ornaments under the influence of intellectuals and fashion changes. The affluent class always used luxurious and precious jewelry and followed fashion changes more quickly.

The gold standard has been abandoned since the beginning of the First World War in most European countries and then gradually in other countries, and it was replaced by an unbacked monetary policy. In addition to capital use and use in jewelry, this metal has various other uses. Dentistry, production of colored glass and electronic industries are among the most important uses of gold. Due to its high electrical conductivity, this metal has many uses in electrical wiring.

According to estimates, more than 174 thousand tons of gold have been mined throughout human history until 2012. This amount is equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces in terms of Hajji, which is equivalent to 9015 cubic meters, according to estimates, 50% of it is used in the form of jewelry, 40% in the form of ingots and coins for investment in the official gold reserves, and about 10% in the industry sector.

The amount of global gold production in 2011 was about 2700 tons, which has increased significantly compared to 2260 tons in 2008. Since the 1880s, a large part of the world's gold production has been done in South Africa. About half of all the gold that has been mined so far has been from this country. From 1905 to 2007, South Africa has been consistently recognized as the number one gold producing country in the world. In 1970, this country produced 1480 tons of gold, equivalent to 79% of the total world gold production. South Africa's share in gold production has declined sharply in recent years. By 2017, China is by far the largest gold producer in the world with an annual production of 440 tons of gold.

India has been the largest importer of gold in recent decades due to the high demand for jewelry in this country. It is estimated that 18 thousand tons of gold are kept in the homes of Indians. However, in 2013, gold demand in China surpassed that of India. The unit of measurement of gold in the global market is the troy ounce, equivalent to 31.1 grams. The price of gold in July 2020 was equivalent to $1,800 per ounce, which is equivalent to about $58,000 per kilogram.

Gold mining includes exploration, drilling, geology, refining and refining to extract gold from the mines of this metal. Sources of gold element for mining are open, underground and alluvial. The gold mining process includes the following general steps.

Mining discovery: Mining discovery may take between 1 and 10 years and requires financial resources and the use of experts in the fields of geography, geology, chemistry and engineering. Less than 0.1% of the discovered mines have the potential to be developed and mined.

Mining development: Mine development is the second stage of gold mining. For mine development, planning, mine construction and necessary infrastructure are needed.

Extraction operation: The operation of extracting the element of gold includes mining, gold processing and converting the extracted ore into a metal alloy with a purity of 60 to 90.

closing the mine: After the end of mining and mine activity, the operation of mine closure and land reconstruction is done.

Resuscitation: After the closure of the mine, the environment should be cleaned of pollution and vegetation and soil should be restored as much as possible to reach stability.

Extracting gold from its ore includes crushing, processing minerals and applying hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy processes on the extracted ore. Gold was extracted from alluvial rock sources with placer methods. In hydraulic mining, water pressure is used to break alluvial deposits.

Extraction of gold element by carbon absorption

Extraction is done by using activated carbon porous matrix and absorbing gold in it. To separate the gold absorbed in the carbon matrix, a strong solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and cyanide are used for elution.

Mercury process for elemental gold

Small-scale gold extraction is done using mercury and the formation of mercury-gold amalgam, but due to mercury pollution on a large scale, the use of this method has been stopped.

Gold element mining pollution

5 tons of gold ore are needed to extract only 10 grams of gold. The process of digging the ground, the use of heavy machinery for transportation and the use of chemicals such as mercury and cyanide cause damage to the environment. The environment of gold mining mines suffers a lot due to the construction of dams on rivers, deforestation and removal of mountains.

The amount of gold used in the industry is about 10%, and its most important use is in the electronics industry. Corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity, malleability and non-toxicity are the advantages of using gold in industry.

Gold is used in this industry to make electrical connectors in computers and other electrical devices such as communication equipment, spacecraft, and jet engines. For example, about 50 mg of gold is used in making a normal mobile phone.

Features such as good conductivity and resistance to oxidation and corrosion in non-chlorine environments have made this element widely used to cover electrical connection equipment. It is used in the construction of electronic cable connections such as audio, video and universal serial bus (USB) cables. Very fine gold wires are used in the connection of semiconductor parts using the wire bonding process. Because of their high conductivity, gold, silver and copper are mainly used for electrical wiring and transmission of electricity, and the advantage of gold over silver and copper is corrosion resistance. .

Roman Ghirshman mentions in the book "Iran from the beginning to Islam" that gold was mined in the Medes era and around the modern city of Hamadan. A large amount of copper, iron, gold, silver, lead and arsenic have been found in the mountains chosen by the Medes to live, which shows the ancient history of gold in Iran. This statement was quoted by Will Durant in the book Orient of Civilization. A book that reviews the history of civilization in an attractive way and has sold millions of copies in the world.

Strabo, as one of the Greek geographers, also mentions that civilizations were formed in ancient Iran that were based on minerals and rare metals. The incident that has caused Iran to be full of all kinds of treasures today. In the year 455 to 531 AH, various products such as gold, silver, pearls, glass, iron, copper, mercury, coral and amber were found in the city of Tisfon, the capital of the Sassanids. Archaeologists believe that gold has been prevalent in Iran since the third millennium BC.
Throughout history, many gold and silver mines have been discovered in Iran. Shah Abbas Safavi also prevented this work due to the fact that the expenses of mining were more than its income.

Currently, gold discoveries are being made in most of the country's provinces, and the statistics of the country's geological and mineral exploration organization show that the country's definite and probable gold reserves are around 340 tons. East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Kurdistan, Sistan-Baluchistan, Khorasan-Razavi, Isfahan, Central and Hamadan are among the provinces that have good conditions in terms of gold mines, and this is while more than 50 districts and mining areas have been identified in the country. Kurdistan province has been nicknamed "Iran's Paradise of Mines" in terms of having precious mines, "Zarshuran" gold mine in West Azerbaijan is the largest active gold mining mine, the potential reserve of this mine is 100 million tons with an average grade of 5 ppm. According to the issued discovery certificate, Madafti mine has a definite reserve of gold ore of 24,463,000 tons (average grade of 1.06 grams of gold), a probable reserve of 48,926,000 and a total of definite and probable reserve of 73,389,000 tons of gold ore. Also, the definite reserve of copper ore is 598,000 tons (average grade 49.%) and the probable reserve is 1,691,000 tons of the largest gold mines in the country. Among other important mines, we can mention Aq Dareh gold mine, Qalqeleh gold mine, Mote gold mine, Sarigoni gold mine and Zarmehar gold mine.