All that glittered : Britain's most precious metal from Adam Smith to the Gold Rush /
Timothy Alborn.
- 1 online resource : illustrations (black and white).
- Oxford scholarship online .
- Oxford scholarship online. .
Also issued in print: 2019.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
From the early eighteenth century into the 1830s, Great Britain was the only major country in the world to adopt gold as the sole basis of its currency, in the process absorbing much of the world's supply of that metal into its pockets, cupboards, and coffers. During the same period, Britons forged a nation by distilling a heady brew of Protestantism, commerce, and military might, while preserving important features of its older social hierarchy. 'All That Glittered' argues for a close connection between these occurrences, by linking justifications for gold's role in British society-starting in the 1750s and running through the mid-nineteenth century gold rushes in California and Australia-to contemporary descriptions of that metal's varied values at home and abroad.