GOLD (COLOR)

'Gold', also called 'golden', is a yellowish orange color which is a representation of the color of the element gold.

Contents

Golden (web color gold)

Gold (metallic gold)

Web color gold vs. metallic gold

Metallic gold in interior design

Satin sheen gold

Old gold

Pale gold

Golden poppy

Sunglow

Golden Yellow

Golden brown

Golden in nature

Shades of golden color comparison chart

Golden in human culture

References

See also

Golden (web color gold)

The web color ''gold'', which is displayed at right, (which is sometimes also called ''orange-yellow''[meaning "orangish yellow"]) is traditionally referred to as 'golden' in order to distinguish it from the color ''metallic gold''. The use of ''gold'' as a color term in traditional usage is confined to referring to the color "metallic gold" (shown below).

The first recorded use of ''golden'' as a color name in English was in the year 1300 to refer to the element gold and in 1423 to refer to blonde hair.^[1] +

Gold (metallic gold)

At right is displayed a representation of the color 'metallic gold' (the color traditionally known as ''gold'') which is a simulation of the color of the actual metallic element gold itself—gold ''shade''.
The source of this color is the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955), a color dictionary used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stamps--See color sample of the color Gold (Color Sample Gold (T) #84) displayed on indicated web page: [1]
The distinctive sheen of a metallic color cannot be indicated on a computer screen as the web color display process has no mechanism for indicating metallic or fluorescent colors.
The first recorded use of ''gold'' as a color name in English was in the year 1400.^[1]

Web color gold vs. metallic gold

The American Heritage® Dictionary defines the color metallic gold as: "A light olive-brown to dark yellow, or a moderate, strong to vivid yellow."
Of course, the visual sensation usually associated with the metal gold is its metallic shine. This cannot be reproduced by a simple solid color, because the shiny effect is due to the material's reflective brightness varying with the surface's angle to the light source.
This is why in art use would usually be made of a metallic paint that glitters in an approximation of real gold; a solid color like that of the cell displayed in the box to the right does not aesthetically "read" as gold. Especially in sacral art in Christian churches, real gold (in form of gold leaf) was used for rendering gold in paintings, e. g. for the halo of saints. Gold can also be woven into sheets of silk to give an east-Asian traditional look.
More recent art styles, e.g. Art Nouveau also made use of metallic, shining gold color; however, the metallic finish of such paints was added using fine aluminum powder and pigment rather than actual gold.

Metallic gold in interior design

There are three colors of Metallic Gold paint for coloring interior or exterior trim that are especially popular in San Francisco to use for trim in or on Victorian houses: ''Old Gold'' (a coppery gold color), ''Rich Gold'' (a bright metallic golden color), and ''Bright Gold'' (a yellowish gold color that looks like the color of brass). These metallic gold colors are sometimes called ''Byzantine Colors'' because of their popularity in the Byzantine Empire.

Satin sheen gold

At left is displayed the color 'satin sheen gold'. This is the name of the color of the Starfleet command personnel uniform worn by Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise in the TV show . ^[3]

Old gold

Main articles: Old Gold

'Old gold' is a dark yellow, which varies from light olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow. The widely-accepted color "Old Gold" is on the darker rather than the lighter side of this range.
The first recorded use of ''old gold'' as a color name in English was in the early 1800s (exact year uncertain). ^[4]
'Old Gold' and Black are the team colors of Purdue University ''Boilermakers'' intercollegiate sports teams.

Pale gold

The color 'pale gold' is displayed at right.
This is the color called ''gold'' in Crayola crayons since 1958.

Golden poppy

'Golden poppy' is a shade of golden that is the color of the California poppy--
the official state flower of California--the ''Golden State''.
The first recorded use of ''golden poppy'' as a color name in English was in 1927. ^[5]
The source of this color is a color sample taken from the Wikipedia article on the California poppy.

Sunglow

The color 'sunglow' is displayed at right.
This is a Crayola crayon color formulated in 1990.

Golden Yellow

'Golden yellow' is the color halfway between amber and yellow. It is a color that is 87.5% yellow and 12.5% red.
The first recorded use of ''golden yellow'' as a color name in English was in the year 1597. ^[6]

Golden brown

At right is displayed the color 'golden brown'.
The first recorded use of ''golden brown'' as a color name in English was in the year 1891. ^[7]
Source of color: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of golden brown (color sample #74)(matches color called ''golden brown'' in ''A Dictionary of Color''by Maerz and Paul):

Golden in nature

'Protista'

★ The golden algae or ''chrysophytes'' are a large group of heterokont algae, found mostly in freshwater.
'Plants'

★ The golden poppy and goldenrod are popular flowers to cultivate in horticulture.
'Animals'

★ The golden eagle is a Northern Hemisphere bird of prey.

★ The golden toad was an amphibian that used to live in Costa Rica that is now extinct.

Shades of golden color comparison chart

The purpose of the color comparison chart is, by arranging the shades of a particular color in approximate order from lightest at the top to most saturated in the middle to darkest at the bottom, to allow the Wikipedia user to more easily choose a color they may need for a particular use. Having the colors arranged by shade rather than alphabetically makes it easier to do this.

• Old Lace (web color) (Hex: #FFA6C9) (RGB: 245, 245, 220)


• Linen (web color) (Hex: #FAF0E6) (RGB: 250, 240, 230)


• Cornsilk (web color) (Hex: #FFF8DC) (RGB: 255, 248, 220)


• Beige (web color) (Hex: #F5F5DC) (RGB: 245, 245, 220)


• Cream (Hex: #FFFDD0) (RGB: 255, 253, 208)


• Lemon Cream (web color) (Hex: #FFFACD) (RGB: 255, 250, 205)


• Pale Goldenrod (web color) (Hex: #EEE8AA) (RGB: 238, 232, 170)


• Wheat (web color) (Hex: #F5DEB3) (RGB: 245, 222, 179)


• Dandelion (Crayola) (Hex: #FED85D) (RGB: 254, 216, 93)


• Mustard (Hex: #FFDB58) (RGB: 255, 219, 88)


• Medium Goldenrod (Crayola Goldenrod) (Hex: #FCD667) (RGB: 252, 214, 103)


• Corn (Hex: #FBEC5D) (RGB: 251, 236, 93)


• Lemon Yellow (Lemon) Hex: #FDE910) (RGB: 253, 233, 16)


• Golden Yellow (Hex: #FFDF00) (RGB: 255, 223, 0)


• School Bus Yellow (Hex: #FFD800) (RGB: 255, 216, 0)


• GOLDEN (web color Gold) (Hex: #FFD700) (RGB: 255, 215, 0)


• Sunglow (Crayola) (Hex: #FFCC33) (RGB: 255, 204, 51)


• Tangerine Yellow (Hex: #FFCC00) (RGB: 255, 204, 0)


• Saffron (Hex: #F4C430) (RGB: 244, 196, 48)


• Golden Poppy (Hex: #FCC200) (RGB: 252, 194, 0)


• Amber (Hex: #FFBF00) (RGB: 255, 191, 0)


• Selective Yellow (Hex: #FFBA00) (RGB: 255, 186, 0)


• Macaroni and Cheese (Crayola) (Hex: #FFB79B) (RGB: 255, 185, 123)


• Sandy Brown (web color) (Hex: #F4A460) (RGB: 244, 164, 96)


• Desert Sand (Crayola) (Hex: #EDC9AF) (RGB: 237, 201, 175)


• Pale Gold (Crayola Gold) (Hex: #E6BE8A) (RGB: 230, 190, 138)


• Brass (Hex: #C3A368) (RGB: 195, 163, 104)


• Old Gold (Hex: #CFB53B) (RGB: 207, 181, 59)


• Metallic Gold (Hex: #D4AF37) (RGB: 212, 175, 55)


• Goldenrod (web color) (Hex: #DAA520) (RGB: 218, 165, 32)


• Satin Sheen Gold (Hex: #CBA135) (RGB: 203, 161, 53)


• Peru (web color) (Hex: #CD853F) (RGB: 205, 133, 63)


• Rose Gold (Hex: #B76E79) (RGB: 183, 110, 121)


• Ochre (Hex: #CC7722) (RGB: 204, 119, 34)


• Dark Goldenrod (web color) (Hex: #b8860B) (RGB: 184, 134, 11)


• Sandy Taupe (Hex: #967117) (RGB: 150, 113, 23)


• Golden Brown (Hex: #996515) (RGB: 153, 101, 21)


• Raw Umber (Hex: #734A12) (RGB: 115, 74, 18)

Golden in human culture

'Alcoholic Beverages'

★ Beer is poetically called ''the golden brew''.
'Architecture'

★ The Golden House was a 300 room palace in which the Roman Emperor Nero held parties organized by his official party planner Petronius.
'Art'

★ Lions are colored golden in art as a symbol of monarchy. The golden Lion was the symbol of the British Empire and is on the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

★ The artist Gustav Klimt often used the color metallic gold in his paintings.

★ Metallic gold was often used in Byzantine art.

★ The ''golden ratio'' is often used in art, graphic design, and architecture, as well as appearing in nature among living things.
'Awards'

★ The highest award for achievement in many fields is called the Gold medal.
'Business'

★ In finance, golden symbolizes of course the element Gold, the standard of monetary value throughout human history.

★ In monetary policy, the gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold.

★ Gold is a popular investment throughout the world.

★ In marketing, the term ''Gold Standard'' refers to a product that so satisfies the consumer that it functions as a standard for all other products of the same type.

★ In human resources, a business executive or professional who has an employment contract that gives them a generous severance pay is said to have a ''golden parachute''.

★ In advertising for the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1950s, the southwestern states of the United States served by the Union Pacific were collectively called ''The Golden Empire'' because the railroad's diesel engines were and are colored golden, red, and black. Ads with maps showing the Union Pacific's Golden Empire colored golden were placed in many popular mass-circulation magazines.
'Cosmetology'

★ Blonde hair in women (or sometimes men) is sometimes referred to poetically as ''golden''. It is estimated by geneticists that the gene for blond hair originated about 3000 BC in the area now known as Lithuania among the recently arrived Aryan (Proto-Indo-European) settlers of the area (Lithuania is still the country that has the highest percentage of people with blonde hair); it is thought the gene spread quickly through sexual selection into Scandinavia when that area was settled because men found women with blond hair attractive.^[8][9]
'Culture'

★ A past era during which the highest quality art was produced or in mythology during which humans were believed to have lived a Utopian lifestyle, is called a ''golden age''.
'Drugs'

★ The Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent are areas in Asia where large quantities of opium are grown.

★ The ''Golden Triangle of Mexico'' is composed of the three Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua, where Mexican drug lords engage in a murderous rivalry for control of the drug importation routes north into the United States. ^[10]
'Education'

★ In K-12 education, when students do well on an assignment, the teacher sometimes gives them a gold star by their name on the classroom bulletin board.
'Exploration'

★ On 26 September 1580, Sir Francis Drake returned to England, becoming the second person to circumnavigate the globe. His ship was called the ''Golden Hinde''.
'Fables'

★ The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs is one of many fables attributed to Aesop.
'Food'

★ Common golden foods include maize (the grain that is called ''corn'' in America), sweet potatoes (their interior flesh), butternut squash, and so-called white wine and "white" grape juice.

★ When fried chicken is done just right, it is said to be ''golden brown''.

★ Golden Oreos are composed of vanilla instead of chocolate cookies with a vanilla cream filling.
'Gemstones'

★ Golden pearls (South Sea Pearls), which have historically been cultured in Broome, Western Australia from the ''Pinctada maxima'' Pearl oyster, can now be manufactured in the laboratory at a much lower cost. ^[11]
'Genetic engineering'

★ Golden rice is a variety of rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize the precursors of beta-carotene (pro-vitamin A) in the edible parts of rice.
'Geography'

★ California is called the ''Golden State'' because California is where the California Gold Rush began in 1849.

★ The Golden Gate (the strait that connects the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco Bay), was named on 1 July 1846 by explorer John C. Frémont who wrote, "To this Gate I gave the name of ''Chrysopylae'', or ''Golden Gate''; for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called ''Chrysoceras'', or ''Golden Horn''."^[12]

★ The Golden Gate Bridge is cited by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

★ In Cantonese, Northern California is called ''Gum Shan'' (''Gold Mountain'') (Mandarin: ''Jin Shan'') because of the gold fields the Forty-Niners travelled to and because Chinese Americans regarded it as a place to get rich by starting their own business.

★ Golden, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, is most noted for being the headquarters of the Coors Brewing Company. Also, appropriately, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which does research on solar energy, is located in Golden, Colorado.

★ Before Ghana became independent in 1957, it was a British colony called Gold Coast.

★ In ancient Sanskrit, the area we now call Southeast Asia (including both mainland ''Southeast Asia'' and the area now known as ''Maritime Asia'' [i.e., Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines) was referred to by the people of ancient India as ''Suvarnadvipa'', which means ''Goldenland'' (suvarnad=golden; vipa=land). ^[13] The name ''Suvarnadvipa'' comes originally from the fact that there were rich gold deposits on the island of Sumatra. The Greek geographer Ptolemy mistakenly applied the Ancient Greek name for gold, ''Chryse'', to the adjacent country of Malaya. ^[14]

★ In the traditional national anthem of Iran, Iran is called ''our golden country''. The first lines of the anthem are: "Oh Iran, our golden country, your land is the wellspring of art. Let the thoughts of your enemies be far from you." ^[15]
'Gerontology'

★ A senior citizen is sometimes called a ''golden ager''.
'History'

★ ''The Golden Gate (Porta Aurea)'' was the Imperial entrance gate of the Walls of Constantinople and the largest among the 55 gates around the city walls which protected Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). It had three arches and was plated in solid gold. ^[16]

★ The Golden Horde was a Mongol khanate that ruled southern Russia in the 13th century.
'Interior Design'

★ Golden represents the warmth of the sun, and because of this it is the favorite color for painting kitchens because many feel that having their breakfast and morning coffee in a golden kitchen gives them the energy they need to start the day.

★ Golden is a warm color that can both provide not only a bright and cheerful feeling but also a somber, traditional, and religious aura. Golden tends to go well with earth colors, but it can also enrich a palette of red or burgundy.
'Law'

★ The Lei Áurea (''Golden Law''), adopted on May 13, 1888, was the law that abolished slavery in Brazil.
'Legends

★ The capital city of Atlantis is said to have been called ''The City of the Golden Gates''. ^[17]
'Literature'

★ The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, written in the second century AD, is a classic satire of life in the