899c9ded   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Taemon@zonnet.nl   
      
   Mike Scott Rohan wrote:   
      
   > Now if you read Homer, one thing stands out -- the   
   > ancient Greeks always *mixed* their wine, white (which is actually   
   > greenish-yellow) and red in the same bowl, usually metal.   
      
   Now, that is barbaric!   
      
   > No, it does have distinct colours. White gold is not uncommon, as I   
   > think someone's already pointed out. Gold from different areas and   
   > ores has different tints, especially when pure; riverine gold from   
   > Scotland and Wales is definitely redder than the everyday alloyed   
   > stuff in mass-produced jewellery. Certainly "red gold" is a very   
   > respectably archaic phrase, 16th century or earlier. My guess -- not   
   > really supported, except by observations -- is that yellow then meant   
   > something paler and less lustrous, like dead leaves or thin ale, and   
   > that the warm light of redder gold (especially under torch or   
   > lamplight) led authors to prefer that colour.   
      
   Hm. Well, rose-gold certainly is beautiful. Like copper, but... stronger? I   
   guess I think that because pure copper doesn't hold its colour, turns into   
   that hideous light green. Rose-gold is an alloy, of course. I haven't seen   
   reddish gold that isn't an alloy, I wonder what that looks like.   
      
   Never cared for yellow gold, myself. Wouldn't pick it up if I saw it lying   
   on the street :-)   
      
   T.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)