Welsh Gold
Being in very short supply, Welsh gold is the most valuable of precious metals. Worth three times more than ordinaryı gold, it is more expensive even than platinum. Its rarity makes it an attractive commodity, but it is also the fact that it has always been associated with kings, queens and Celtic chieftains. This tradition has been continued by our royal family: the Queenıs wedding ring is made out of Welsh gold, as are those of the Duke and Duchess of Wessex. Welsh gold was used to fashion the crown for the Prince of Walesı investiture, as well as a brooch for the Queen Mother.
The Welsh gold belt stretches from the Mawddach estuary through the wooded countryside of Coed y Brenin to the Ffestiniog some of the wildest and most beautiful landscape in Wales. This fascinating area is bristling with abandoned goldmines from the nineteenth-century. Boom times may be over but, on a clear day, the views over to Cadair Idris are probably the closest you will get to pure gold.
Only one working mine remains in Wales: the Gwynfynydd mine. There, underground mining has stopped and entry is barred to the public, but some gold is still being retrieved from the surface. They reckon that there is only two more yearsı worth of Welsh gold left. If you are desperate for a piece of jewellery made out of Welsh gold, all is not lost. A company called the Cambrian Goldfields Ltd have managed to obtain a license to scour the area around the old mines for remains of Welsh gold. They have found enough to produce a range of pure gold jewellery (www.welshgoldplc.co.uk ). Beware, though, of companies who produce pieces made with a touch of Welsh goldı and similar phrases. Their products are very diluted.
