Volume 1

An historical inquiry into the production and consumption of the precious metals / By William Jacob.

  • William Jacob
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An historical inquiry into the production and consumption of the precious metals / By William Jacob. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    28/404 page 8
    ACCUMULATION CHAP, J. house; also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold +.”’ The quantity of gold which Solomon collected in a single year is stated to be (1 Kings, c. x. v. 14.) six hundred three score and six talents, or, perhaps, about three hundred thousand pounds in value in our present money. ‘That with which he covered the sanctum sanctorum, at the same rate, would amount to about two _ hundred and thirty thousand pounds., We learn from the book of Kings *, that the king brought by his ships from Ophir four hundred and twenty talents of gold, or about one hundred and ninety thousand eight hundred pounds. ‘The book of Chronicles* represents the amount greater, as four hundred and fifty talents, or two hundred and three thousand pounds, a differ- ence of no great moment, and one which, per- haps, a collation of manuscripts might recon- cile. Without attempting to calculate the quantity of metallic treasure heaped up by Solomon, we may best describe it in the language of his day. We read that “his throne was of ivory overlaid with the best gold—that all the drinking vessels were of gold—that all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; 1 1 Kings, c. ili. v. 20—22. *-] Kings, c, x. v. 28.
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