The manufacture of gold leaf has an almost five thousand year old tradition. Already in the old Egypt, people knew about the use of gold leaf for decoration purposes. The earliest representation of a gold beater dates to 2500 BC and is in a grave in the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara. This illustration shows the mould, lying on a stone anvil, which is beaten with a spherical stone tool.
India has the longest tradition of gold leaf manufacturing. Already in 600 BC, they used thin gold leaves for buddhist statues. The craft is also known in Japan and China at this time.
In Greece, at the time of Homer around 850 BC, Gods-statues were applied with gold leaves. The historian Plinius reports that the Romans, after 146 BC, were able to produce 750 leaves of 4 finger lateral length and a thickness of 1/3000 mm from one ounce.
