Gold (color)

Metallic gold

Gold (metallic gold)

At right is displayed a representation of the color metallic gold (the color traditionally known as gold) which is a simulation of the color of the actual metallic element gold itself—gold shade.

The source of this color is the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955), a color dictionary used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stamps—See color sample of the color Gold (Color Sample Gold (T) #84) displayed on indicated web page:

Web color gold vs. metallic gold

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the color metallic gold as "A light olive-brown to dark yellow, or a moderate, strong to vivid yellow."

Of course, the visual sensation usually associated with the metal gold is its metallic shine. This cannot be reproduced by a simple solid color, because the shiny effect is due to the material's reflective brightness varying with the surface's angle to the light source.

This is why, in art, a metallic paint that glitters in an approximation of real gold would be used; a solid color like that of the cell displayed in the adjacent box does not aesthetically "read" as gold. Especially in sacral art in Christian churches, real gold (as gold leaf) was used for rendering gold in paintings, e.g. for the halo of saints. Gold can also be woven into sheets of silk to give an East Asian traditional look.

More recent art styles, e.g. Art Nouveau, also made use of a metallic, shining gold; however, the metallic finish of such paints was added using fine aluminum powder and pigment rather than actual gold.

Shades

Old gold

Main article: Old gold

Old gold is a dark yellow, which varies from heavy olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow. The widely accepted color old gold is on the darker rather than the lighter side of this range.

The first recorded use of old gold as a color name in English was in the early 19th century (exact year uncertain). The official colors of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, founded in 1906 are black and old gold. The Delta Sigma Pi fraternity, founded in 1907, official colors are designated royal purple and old gold and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity's colors are garnet and old gold.

Maroon and old gold are the colors of Texas State University's intercollegiate sports teams. Old Gold and black are the team colors of Purdue University Boilermakers intercollegiate sports teams. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets formerly wore white and old gold (now called Tech Gold). The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, UCF Knights, and Vanderbilt Commodores wear old gold and black. The UAB Blazers team colors are Forest Green and Old Gold. The New Orleans Saints list their official team colors as black, old gold and white.

Golden yellow

Maerz and Paul

Golden yellow is the color halfway between amber and yellow on the RGB color wheel. It is a color that is 87.5% yellow and 12.5% red.

The first recorded use of golden yellow as a color name in English was in the year 1597.

Golden Yellow is one of the colors of the United States Air Force, along with Ultramarine Blue.

Golden poppy

Golden poppy is a tone of gold that is the color of the California poppy—the official state flower of California—the Golden State.

The first recorded use of golden poppy as a color name in English was in 1927. File:California Poppy (3772276269).jpg|alt=California poppy|California poppy

Arizona State University (ASU) Gold

Gold is the oldest color associated with Arizona State University and dates back to 1896 when the school was named the Tempe Normal School. Gold signifies the "golden promise" of ASU. Gold also signifies the sunshine Arizona is famous for, including the power of the sun and its influence on the climate and the economy. The student section, known as The Inferno, wears gold on game days.

University of Southern California (USC) Gold

The official colors of the University of Southern California are Pantone 201C and Pantone 123C. These colors, designated as USC Cardinal and USC Gold, were adopted in 1895 by Rev. George W. White, USC's third president, and are equal in importance in identifying the USC Trojans.

California (Berkeley) Gold

California Gold is one of the official colors of the University of California, Berkeley, as identified in their graphic style guide for use in on-screen representations of the gold color in the university's seal. For print media, the guide recommends to, "[u]se Pantone 7750 metallic or Pantone 123 yellow and 282 blue". The color is one of two most used by Berkeley, the other being Berkeley Blue; these, together, are the original colors of the University of California system, of which variations of blue and gold can be found in each campus' school colors.

Cal Poly Pomona gold

Cal Poly Pomona gold was one of the two official colors of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). The official university colors were green (PMS 349) and gold (PMS 131). Cal Poly Pomona's Office of Public Affairs created the colors for web development and has technical guidelines, copyright and privacy protection; as well as logos and images that developers are asked to follow in the university's Guidelines for using official Cal Poly Pomona logos. If web developers are using gold on a university website, they were encouraged to use Cal Poly Pomona gold. Cal Poly Pomona has adopted a new brand color palette including a different gold color: #FFB500. The logo of the Cal Poly Pomona's athletic teams, the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos, has changed in 2014 to reflect the new gold color, but is currently using #FFB718.

UCLA Gold

The color was approved by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Chancellor in October 2013. This is a shade of gold identified by the university for use in their printed publications.

MU Gold

MU Gold is used by the University of Missouri as the official school color along with black. Mizzou Identity Standards designated the color for web development as well as logos and images that developers are asked to follow in the university's Guidelines for using official Mizzou logos.

Pale gold

The color pale gold is displayed at right.

This has been the color called gold in Crayola crayons since 1903.

Pale gold is one of the Lithuanian basketball club Lietkabelis Panevėžys primary colors.

Gold medal

Gold medal is a tone of metallic gold included in Metallic FX crayons. It was introduced in 2019.

Sunglow

The color sunglow is displayed at right.

This is a Crayola crayon color formulated in 1990.

Harvest gold

The color harvest gold is displayed at right.

This color was originally called harvest in the 1920s.

The first recorded use of harvest as a color name in English was in 1923.

Harvest gold was a common color for metal surfaces (including automobiles and household appliances), as was the color avocado, during the whole decade of the 1970s. They were both also popular colors for shag carpets. Both colors (as well as shag carpets) went out of style by the early 1980s.

Goldenrod

Main article: Goldenrod (color)

Displayed at right is the web color goldenrod.

The color goldenrod is a representation of the color of some of the deeper gold colored goldenrod flowers.

The first recorded use of goldenrod as a color name in English was in 1915.

Vegas gold

Displayed at right is the color Vegas gold.

Vegas gold, rendered within narrow limits, is associated with the glamorous casinos and hotels of the Las Vegas Strip, United States.

Vegas gold is one of the official athletic colors for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Boston College Eagles, Colorado Buffaloes, South Florida Bulls, St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, Vanderbilt Commodores, the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen, and Western Carolina University Catamounts. It is one of the official colors of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, and was the type of gold the Pittsburgh Penguins used on their uniforms until they reverted to "Pittsburgh gold", the shade traditionally associated with the city.

Satin sheen gold

At right is displayed the color satin sheen gold. This is the name of the color of the Starfleet command personnel uniform worn by Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the TV show and movies Star Trek.

Golden brown

The first recorded use of golden brown as a color name in English was in the year 1891. Golden brown is commonly referenced in recipes as the desired color of properly baked and fried foods.

Candlelight

Candlelight is a brilliant gold color.

Golden in nature

Protista

• The golden algae or chrysophytes are a large group of heterokont algae, found mostly in freshwater.

Plants

• Golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) is a bamboo species.
• The golden poppy and goldenrod are popular flowers to cultivate in horticulture.
• The Yukon Gold potato is a variety of potato recognizable through its smooth eyes and golden interior.

Animals

• The golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) is a medium-sized bamboo lemur endemic to southeastern Madagascar.
• The golden eagle is a Northern Hemisphere bird of prey.
• The goldfish was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is still one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish and water garden fish.
• The golden jackal is a medium-sized wild canine found in Asia and East Europe
• The golden retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog that is one of the most popular companion animals.
• The golden toad was an amphibian that used to live in Costa Rica that is now extinct.

Chemical compounds

In addition to elemental gold, a number of compounds or alloys have a reflective gold hue:

• Several brasses, specifically those rich (65%+ wt.) in copper. Prince's metal is a brass-based gold simulant.
• Titanium nitride
• Zirconium nitride

References

References

1. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 195
2. (1987). "A New Dictionary of Heraldry". [[A & C Black.
3. {{usurped
4. "Retsof online version of ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Colo(u)r Names – Ga through Gz". Tx4.us.
5. The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called ''old gold'' in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color ''old gold'' is displayed on page 51, Plate 14, Color Sample K5.
6. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 200; Color Sample of Old Gold Page 51 Plate 14 Color Sample K5
7. "Golden Yellow Color, Codes and Facts – HTML Color Codes".
8. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 195; Color sample of golden yellow: Page 43--Plate 10 Color Sample L7
9. (24 March 2007). "The Air Force Flag". United States Air Force.
10. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196; Color Sample: golden poppy Page 41 Plate 9 Color Sample L12
11. https://brandguide.asu.edu/identity-standards/color-palette {{Bare URL inline. (July 2025)
12. (2013-12-09). "Sun Devil Traditions". ASU Alumni Association.
13. "USC Identity Guidelines".
14. [http://brand.berkeley.edu/colors/ Brand Guidelines]
15. "Color · Brand Guidelines".
16. "Graphic Standards".
17. "Color".
18. "University Brand: A Bold New Look".
19. [https://broncoathletics.com/images/logos/site/site.png Image] {{Webarchive. link. (February 12, 2020 broncoathletics.com)
20. "Brand Guidelines {{!}} Identity {{!}} Colors". University of California, Los Angeles.
21. [https://identity.missouri.edu/colors/index.php University of Missouri]
22. (June 14, 2018). "Official MU & Secondary Colors {{!}} Mizzou Identity Standards {{!}} University of Missouri".
23. The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called ''harvest'' in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color ''harvest'' is displayed on page 47, Plate 12, Color Sample H9.
24. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196; Color Sample of Harvest: Page 47 Plate 12 Color Sample H9
25. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196; Color Sample of Goldenrod: Page 43 Plate 10 Color Sample L5
26. "Color Vegas gold | Hex Code #C5B358 | RGB 197, 179, 88".
27. "Color Satin sheen gold | Hex Code #CBA135 | RGB 203, 161, 53".
28. Dillard, J.M. ''Star Trek: The Lost Years'' New York:1989 Pocket Books Page 17
29. J. M. Dillard. (2002). "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier". Simon and Schuster.
30. "Photo of Captain Kirk".
31. {{usurped
32. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 195; Color sample of golden brown: Page 51--Plate 14 Color Sample F12
33. "#f8d810 - Candlelight - RGB 248, 216, 16 Color Information".