THE ETRUSCANS

Although there was little "new" gold, gold continued to be used. It was traded, taken as spoils of war, and given as tribute. The Greeks in Athens' Golden Age (460-429 B.C.) were noted more for style and moderation than for flamboyancy, but the Etruscans surpassed even the Sumerians and Egyptians in the jewelers' art.

The Etruscans were the original occupants of Rome. For about six hundred years, from 800 B.C., until almost all traces were obliterated by the Romans, they were a major power. They were merchants and shipowners, exporting gold, tin, and copper to England, Ireland, Sweden, Greece, and Egypt, but their real mastery was in goldsmithing.

A trademark, so to speak, was their use of gold beads, so perfectly made and so unique that no one could imitate them for centuries. The beads were used both in jewelry and to decorate objects.

The lost art was rediscovered in the Renaissance by accident. A goldsmith's apprentice dropped a container of molten metal, for which he was beaten by his master. Later, he recalled that the metal, hen it hit the floor and cooled, had formed drops or beads that had rolled away