What is the most unusual thing about gold? If you think about that question for a minute, chances are your answer to it will be, “Gold is beautiful.”

Of course, that answer is right. Gold really is beautiful, which explains why it has been the most sought-after metal on earth for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians and Assyrians loved it, as did the Vikings, the Incas, the king and queens of Europe, and everyone else through the ages. Chances are your grandparents and parents had gold wedding rings and if you are married, chances are you and your spouse have them too. And if pure 24K gold weren’t beautiful enough on its own, it can be made into rose gold, white gold, and even green and pink gold by adding other metals.

Have you heard that half of all marriages end in divorce? If you do a little research online, you will learn that statistic is not true. It seems that in about 1980, the divorce rate hit an all-time high of 40%, and is be declining today. That could be because more young people are skipping marriage - and if you don’t get married, how can you get divorced?

We watched the royal wedding. Did you?

And while we were caught up in the wonderful spectacle of two young people starting their married life together, we couldn’t help noticing that a lot of jewelry was on display too. (We assume that most of the gold and gemstones we saw were the real thing, given the wealth of the celebrities in attendance and the serious nature of the event.)

Let’s face it. Engagements have a way of not working out and when they don’t, many women end up with a valuable platinum engagement ring. If you find yourself in that situation, what should you do with your old ring, which could be worth a lot of money?

We enjoyed “10 Most Famous Engagement Rings in History,” a post on the TheKnot.com blog. It offers entertaining descriptions of 10 of the most jaw-dropping engagement rings ever given. One was a Van Cleep & Arpels engagement ring that JFK gave to Jacqueline Bouvier. It boasted both a 2.84-carat emerald and a 2.88-carat diamond. Not too shabby. Other astonishing rings are mentioned in the blog post too, including immense rings given to Mia Farrow by Frank Sinatra, to Marilyn Monroe by Joe DiMaggio, to Elizabeth Taylor by Mike Todd, to Beyoncé by Jay Z, and even to Queen Elizabeth II by Prince Philip. We can hardly keep up.