This chapter explores the history of gold, a metal so soft it can be shaped into sheets so thin they are transparent and drawn into wires finer than a human hair. Gold was treasured because of its appearance, hoarded because of its rarity, and in the twentieth century enabled the development of the microelectronics industry, space exploration, and became an exciting material for the emerging field of nanotechnology. The versatility of gold nanoparticles might make it one of the most important materials of the twenty-first century and not the “useless” metal described by Henry VIII, counselor Sir Thomas More.