Before the industrial revolution was gold ever used for strictly technological or utilitarian reasons?

by stanfan114

Before the industrial revolution was gold ever used for strictly technological or utilitarian reasons? A modern example would be the use of gold as a conductor in computers. This question excludes traditional uses like currency or decoration.

kieslowskifan

Although it blended in with decoration, gold leaf was used in extravagant dishes for ingestion. Medieval cooking placed great emphasis upon color; for example, the Tourtes parmeriennes (Parma Pie) was a multilayer meat pie that ideally had a glazing of gold or silver leaf. On a more practical level, unscrupulous spice merchants would sometimes use gold dust to increase the weight of expensive and rare spices like saffron.

Source

Adamson, Melitta Weiss. Food in Medieval Times. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2004.

atyon

Yes.

There was some use in medicine. As with every rare substance, healing powers were ascribed to gold. Gold was said to cure any and all ailments, but as we know today, it just passes through the body without affecting it at all. So it at least did no harm, especially compared to other old favourites like highly toxic mercury.

Another ancient use are gold dentures. Gold is a very good material for dentures, as it is inert and hard enough yet malleable. The only problem is the price tag.