It may be tempting to think that Hollywood today has reached its lowest point in regard to its ethics and those of its stars. Unfortunately, it seems that the movie business has attracted scandal since its birth.

In addition, to maintain the reputation of its stars, studios have always hired fixers, double dealers, and outright shysters to do the dirty work for them. Here are 10 scandals from the Golden Age of Hollywood that they tried to cover up.

10 Loretta Young Adopted Her Own Child

Loretta Young had it all. She was beautiful. She was successful. She was recognized, even winning an Oscar for her 1947 performance in The Farmer’s Daughter. And she was hiding a secret.

After she finished shooting The Call of the Wild in 1935, Young disappeared from view. When she returned to public life 18 months later, she brought along her “adopted” daughter, Judy. In fact, the child was her own, the product of a brief relationship with (married) Clark Gable. It is unclear if the relationship was consensual.

Young was a strict Catholic and would not have contemplated aborting the child. The secret was kept from everyone, including her daughter, for 31 years. Although rumors of the child’s true parentage were whispered around Hollywood for years, they were only officially confirmed in a memoir published after the star’s death.^[1]

9 Joan Crawford Did A Porno

Joan Crawford was one of MGM’s biggest stars. She was known to be ambitious and somewhat ruthless in her pursuit of her career. She won an Oscar for her leading role in Mildred Pierce in 1945 and received two other Oscar nominations and a host of other awards. Crawford was Hollywood gold.

This must have made the persistent rumors that she had begun her career with roles in porn a little awkward. She is said to have starred in a film called Velvet Lips. At one point, her brother was offering copies to the highest bidder. There are no longer any copies of the film in existence, possibly due to the efforts of studio fixers employed to see that stars were not embarrassed by their indiscretions.

Crawford’s first husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., confirmed that she was blackmailed over the films, even receiving threatening calls when they were on their honeymoon. A film was sent to the studio, but the company lawyer denied that the woman in the film was Crawford.

She denied participating in porn films until the end of her life. However, her FBI file (because, you know, McCarthy and all that) appears to confirm the existence of the film. Crawford’s biographers state that “a film of Crawford in compromising positions was circulated . . . to be used at smokers” (men-only stag parties).^[2]

They also suggest that the file contains evidence that the studio paid Crawford’s brother as much as $100,000 to stop him from leaking the film. This is supported by mysterious payments made by Crawford to the studio, which are supposedly repayment for the blackmail money.

Crawford’s family problems continued after her death. Her daughter, whom Crawford had disinherited, published a tell-all memoir, Mommie Dearest, which depicted the star in a whole new light.

8 Jean Harlow Was Forced To Marry

Jean Harlow was the original blonde bombshell. She catapulted to stardom after appearing in Howard Hughes’s Hell’s Angels. It is fair to say that Harlow had a tumultuous life. She married her first husband on January 18, 1927, at age 15 and was divorced a few years later. Her second husband was killed in a gunshot accident, though there was much speculation that she had killed him.

Then she had an affair with a married boxer. When the scandal threatened to become public, the studio forced her to marry cinematographer Harold Rosson. However, the marriage was for public consumption only and they quietly divorced a few months later when the scandal was forgotten.

Harlow did want to marry William Powell. She fell for him in 1935 on the set of Reckless and wanted to get married, have a family, and give up acting. But Powell was not reckless. He had just been divorced from Carole Lombard and thought the public might not like him to marry so soon. He also made it clear that he never wanted children.

Powell’s caution, however, only went so far, and Harlow soon found herself pregnant. Knowing that he did not want children and that the studio would not tolerate an unmarried mother, Harlow aborted the baby that she wanted and never told Powell what had happened.^[3]

7 William Randolph Hearst Tried To Shoot Charlie Chaplin (And Killed Someone Else Instead)

William Randolph Hearst was a businessman, politician, and newspaper publisher. In fact, he was a tycoon with the largest newspaper business in the world, one of the most powerful people in America, and the inspiration for Orson Welles’s masterpiece, Citizen Kane. Hearst was known to be ruthless, hot-tempered, and, occasionally, downright nasty.

So it is fair to assume that he would not have taken news of his mistress having an affair lying down. He believed that Marion Davies was sleeping with Charlie Chaplin. Instead of confronting Chaplin outright, Hearst invited Chaplin and a number of other film people to join Hearst on his yacht. This must have made for rather uncomfortable small talk.

Thomas Ince was a Hollywood producer who specialized in Western films. His studio was profitable for a while, but it began to flounder. Looking for investors, Ince boarded Hearst’s yacht, hoping that the trip would change his fortunes. It did.

The official version of the death—certainly the one that Hearst had printed with indecent haste in his newspapers—was that Ince had developed digestive problems which proved fatal despite his swift hospitalization. Ince’s body was immediately cremated.

Despite Hearst’s vigorous attempts to control the publicity surrounding Ince’s death, rumors kept surfacing that Hearst had shot at Chaplin, missed, and killed Ince instead. Although the Los Angeles Times ran the headline “Movie Producer Shot on Hearst Yacht,” it was swiftly pulled and later editions carried no mention of the shooting.^[4]

A secretary aboard the yacht was quoted as saying that he had seen Ince bleeding from a bullet wound to the head. Ince’s wife was unavailable for comment as she had embarked upon a sudden tour of Europe.

6 Tallulah Bankhead Had Multiple Abortions

Tallulah Bankhead was as famous inside Hollywood for her sexual activity as she was for her beauty around the rest of the world. At one point, she was said to have had 185 notches on her bedpost and she hadn’t finished counting.

Knowing that the studios would not have tolerated a pregnant star, Bankhead had four abortions by age 30. She wasn’t the only one. The studios had established protocols for this contingency and booked women into hospitals under false names for vague procedures. They were attended only by their own doctors, and visitors were strictly prohibited.

Bankhead was one of the few regular visitors to the hospital. She was briefly married to a man whose proposal she accepted because “he’s the only one who ever asked me.” It didn’t last.

Her promiscuity was legendary. She had affairs with men and women, often in semipublic places, and made a practice of opening her door to visitors naked. She is even said to have flashed the audience while performing in a Broadway play, causing a priest and three nuns to walk out.

Bankhead is said to have regretted her abortions later in life when she found herself unable to have children due to a hysterectomy performed after she contracted gonorrhea.^[5]

5 Patricia Douglas Was Raped

Patricia Douglas was a wannabe star. At 20, she was invited to attend an audition for MGM studios. Unknown to her, the “audition” was a party thrown by Louis B. Mayer for MGM’s sales executives. The party had been in swing for three days by the time Douglas attended, believing that she might be getting her “big break.”

Douglas was not worldly wise. She was a virgin from Kansas City, Missouri, who dreamed of being a star. She was not the only girl invited. In all, around 120 young women were bused in to “entertain” approximately 300 drunken delegates at a remote ranch. Dressed in cowboy hats, short skirts, and boots, the girls were promised a hot meal and $7.50 for the entire day.

Still under the impression that they were taking part in a screen test, the girls had their makeup done and were told to wait on the “set.” Knowing that the film business was difficult and wanting to be professional, they waited for their cue. However, the sales executives believed that the girls were a different sort of professional altogether.^[6]

Without transport or telephones, the women had no means of escape and had to fend off the male advances as best they could.

Douglas was brutally raped. Unlike others in Hollywood, she refused to be bought off and chose to press charges against MGM salesman David Ross. MGM hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to dig up dirt on Douglas. When they could find none, they coerced people into claiming she was a promiscuous woman who had a sexually transmitted disease.

The parking lot attendant initially said that he had seen her being attacked but later changed his mind. Afterward, his children admitted that his later statements were untrue. Douglas’s character was destroyed, and her assailant got away with rape.

4 Errol Flynn Was A Pervert

It’s not a secret that Errol Flynn had a large sexual appetite. The phrase “in like Flynn” was popularized after his trial for the statutory rape of two girls. Flynn was acquitted of all charges, and the trial only increased his reputation as a Lothario.

Flynn began his Hollywood career after working as a river guide for a film crew, fighting off crocodiles, and dodging arrows from headhunters (apparently true). He was spotted and offered a role in a remake of Mutiny on the Bounty.

In addition to Flynn’s predilection for underage girls, other rumors followed him around. It is said that he lost his virginity at age 10. He had a two-way mirror installed in his bedroom and another allegedly in the bathroom.

He was famous for his sexual “experiments” fueled by drink and drugs, but nothing seemed to dampen the public’s enthusiasm for him. Flynn died at age 50 of a heart attack. It is alleged that the coroners at the inquest removed a number of genital warts from the body as souvenirs.^[7]

3 Judy Garland Was Forced To Take Drugs

Judy Garland was first spotted by an MGM scout in 1935 as a young teen. They liked her voice and her acting but not her looks. She was signed and immediately began playing girl-next-door roles, working six days a week for up to 18 hours a day. To keep her energy up and her weight down, the studio supplied her with amphetamines. When it came time to stop work, they gave her sleeping pills.

Garland married at 19 against the wishes of the studio and was ordered back to work 24 hours after the wedding. When she became pregnant, they arranged for her to have an abortion.

By the time she began work on Meet Me in St. Louis in her early twenties, Judy Garland was completely reliant on amphetamines. The studio “protected” her by not allowing anyone else near her. When she called in sick, they recouped their lost production costs from her paycheck.

At one point, Garland checked into a hospital to learn to eat and sleep properly again. But when she came out, studio bosses ordered her to lose weight and she went straight back on the pills.

When Garland’s life began to spiral out of control, the studios abandoned her. She died from a barbiturate overdose in 1969 at age 47.^[8]

2 George Raft Really Was A Gangster

George Raft specialized in playing tough guys like convicts, crooks, and mobsters. Perhaps it was Raft’s real-life association with mobsters that influenced casting directors. His first role was a coin-tossing henchman in Scarface, which set the precedent for his career. He is known to have had lifelong associations with Mafia men like Owney Madden and Bugsy Siegel.

Raft had grown up in Hell’s Kitchen, a poor area of New York where his best friend, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, taught Raft how to flip coins. Raft admitted to running bootleg liquor operations for the mob. Later, Siegel, a known mobster with movie connections, helped Raft break into the movie business.

The Mafia never seemed to be far away from Raft’s film work. Al Capone even showed the Scarface director how to fire a tommy gun.^[9]

1 Alfred Hitchcock Was A Stalker

Alfred Hitchcock was a gifted director, but he was also rather peculiar. Though he was married for 54 years, he claimed to have had sex only once. It didn’t stop him from becoming obsessed with his leading ladies, however. Grace Kelly and Janet Leigh both complained about his controlling nature. He refused to allow them to speak to other cast members or drive to the set with anyone other than him.

But it was Tippi Hedren who really became the focus of his obsession. While Hitchcock was riding high from the success of Psycho, he picked the unknown actress Hedren to star in The Birds. She became an instant star. But she was also tied to a contract with Hitchcock which left her in a vulnerable position.

On the set of The Birds, the director ordered the other cast members not to speak to her or touch her. Meanwhile, he told Hedren that they didn’t like her. He made several advances to her, which she rebuffed. Hedren claims that the scenes where she was attacked by birds were Hitchcock’s revenge.^[10]

Instead of using mechanical crows as they were supposed to, he used live birds, which were attached to her by elastic. The birds became distressed and viciously attacked her. Filming one scene with real birds attacking her in a bedroom took five days.

Eventually, she snapped. According to Hedren, Hitchcock was so offended when she called him a “fat pig” and rebuffed his advances that he set out to ruin her. He would not use her again, but he refused to allow her to work for other directors.

When her work on The Birds won an award, he would not allow her time to collect it. Hedren also claimed that Hitchcock actively campaigned against her to prevent a nomination for an Oscar for her role.

Though Hedren continued to work, her career never really recovered.

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels and an occasional travel writer.

Beatlemania and go-go boots were the ‘in-thing’ in the 60s. Not to mention miniskirts and lava lamps. The 70s were all about bell bottoms, David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, Space Invaders, and tubes socks. When the 80s rolled around, everyone was rocking to The Clash on their Walkmans while carrying around trapper keepers and sporting slogan t-shirts. By the time Walkmans were ‘so eighties’ with an eyeroll, teens were bragging with their Sony Discman into which they stuffed CDs featuring Alanis Morrissette or Pearl Jam. Younger (and older) teens tried to skip classes to feed their Tamagotchis while weekends were all about finding the perfect Doc Martens, Play Station and trying to convince parents that an iMac G3 was an absolute necessity of living in the 90s.

Hardcore music fans think of these four decades as the ‘golden age’ of music. It marked the rise of influential bands and artists such as The Beatles, Queen, Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Prince, Whitney Houston, John Denver, Percy Sledge, Blondie, Lionel Ritchie, Nirvana, and so many more.

A study has even shown that music from the 60s through to the 90s are far more memorable than modern songs, even among millennials. Scientists tested a group of millennials on their ability to name hit songs from different decades and the 643 participants consistently remembered songs that came out between 1960 and 1999. Songs that became popular between 2000-2015 faded from their minds much quicker. Those who participated in this study in 2019 were between 18 and 25 years old.

On this list are some interesting facts about just a few of the popular bands that made an indelible mark on the music industry during what is commonly referred to as the ‘golden age’.

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10 Cetera has no time for Chicago

The Chicago Transit Authority, established in 1967, changed their name to Chicago in 1969. The band has sold more than 40 million albums in the U.S. alone and have had five consecutive No 1 albums among a myriad other successes. In 1974 Chicago’s entire catalog of seven albums (at that time) was circulating on the Billboard 200.

Peter Cetera was co-founder and frontman of the band until 1984, after the release of their highly successful Chicago 17 album. Cetera went on to enjoy a famed solo career. He was thrust into the spotlight in 2016 after refusing to perform with Chicago at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. He said during an interview that one of the reasons he refused to perform with the band was because they wouldn’t lower the key of the song “25 or 6 to 4” and that “nothing about the event sounded like fun.”^[1]

Co-founder Robert Lamm responded to the controversy by saying that Cetera could have at least stood with them, even if he didn’t want to perform.

9 The amp, the amp, the amp is on fire

You probably won’t be able to picture the band AC/DC without hearing Brian Johnson in your head, screaming out the lines of “Thunderstruck” or “Highway to Hell.”

The band was named after Malcolm and Angus Young’s sister saw the initials AC/DC on a sewing machine. Their sister was also instrumental in coming up with Angus’ school uniform after he tried a Superman, Spider-Man and even a gorilla costume.^[2]

In 1977, the guitar amplifier used by Angus caught fire during a studio recording of “Let There Be Rock”. Malcolm urged his brother to keep playing regardless, and Angus complied. It happened again during “Rock or Bust” and Angus once again just kept playing, thinking the glow was from a cigarette. This has long been considered a myth but was confirmed by Angus during an interview in 2014.

8 Led Zeppelin and Aleister Crowley

It’s impossible to imagine Thor: Ragnarok without the fight scenes set to the inimitable Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. (There is a YouTube video in which the last battle scene plays out to Britney Spears’ Toxic, but that is a story for another list.) Immigrant Song is perfect for Ragnarok however, as it references Valhalla which ties in with Thor’s Norse background.

Led Zeppelin’s music has long been fodder for conspiracy theorists who claim that founder and guitarist, Jimmy Page, sold his soul to the devil for long lasting fame and fortune. This conspiracy gained traction after Page bought occultist Aleister Crowley’s former Scotland home in 1971. Page was a Crowley fan and had Crowley’s “Do what thou wilt” and “So mote it be” inscribed in the run-off groove of the Led Zeppelin III vinyl records.^[3] It is believed that Jimmy Page asked his bandmates to join him in a ‘magick’ ritual inspired by Crowley’s writings. All participated except for bassist and keyboardist, John Paul Jones.

In 1972, Page signed up to do the soundtrack for the movie, Lucifer Rising. Page and the filmmaker, Kenneth Anger, allegedly had a very ‘intense’ relationship but the two parted ways in 1975. Rumors abounded that Anger, who was a ‘magick practitioner’, put a curse on Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page. This curse was blamed, in part, for the trouble that befell the band’s members soon after. This included a car accident involving Robert Plant, illness, rioting fans, and several fights.

7 Heart & Van Halen

Heart was formed in 1970. Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson were the vocalists, alongside musicians Steve Fossen, Roger Fisher, David Belzer and Jeff Johnson. The group has had a rocky road to success and had to launch a comeback in 1985. Heart disbanded in 1998 but resumed performances in 2002. The band is still performing today, with concerts planned into 2021 depending on what happens with the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The Wilson sisters released a biography in 2012 titled Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll. In the book they relate encounters with other bands, including the time they played Stairway to Heaven in a small club and the members of Led Zeppelin walked in during the performance. The night ended with Jimmy Page passed out cold.

The sisters also recount meeting Eddie and Alex Van Halen and being propositioned by them in 1979. Ann and Nancy declined and the conversation between the foursome turned to music. Nancy learned that Eddie didn’t own an acoustic guitar and she gifted him her own. Overcome with emotion and gratitude, Eddie took the guitar and then called her room at 7am the next morning to serenade her over the phone with a song he had written in her honor.^[4]

6 Airplay thanks to student

Roxette was formed in 1986 and enjoyed massive successes including 19 UK Top 40 hits, a host of US Hot 100 hits and four number one songs. Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle were both established artists when they recorded “Neverending Love” under the name Roxette. The song was a hit in Sweden and the rest, as they say, is history. Roxette has sold over 75 million records worldwide and have become Sweden’s second best-selling music act, right behind ABBA.

The duo’s first global hit song, The Look, was only played on the air after an American exchange student by the name of Dean Cushman heard it and gave it to his local radio station. It soon became a massive hit and reached number one on the US charts.^[5]

One of Roxette’s most popular songs, “It Must Have Been Love”, was not written for the movie Pretty Woman, contrary to popular belief. When Touchstone Pictures approached Roxette about contributing a song to the movie’s soundtrack, they didn’t have enough time to write something new. Instead they chose a song they had written two years prior.

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5 The band who outsold The Beatles

The Monkees’ original band members consisted of Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Davy Jones. The group was a made-for-TV band and formed specifically for the sitcom, The Monkees, which saw airplay between 1966 and 1968. After the sitcom was cancelled, The Monkees recorded music until 1971 at which time they disbanded. Some of their most well-known hits include “I’m a Believer”, “Daydream Believer”, and “Last Train to Clarksville.”

What some fans may not know is that the band has been banned from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame after co-founder Jann Wenner insisted that they cannot be included since the band members were first hired as actors and not musicians. This is despite the fact that they have had incredible success as a band and even outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1967. Their album sales topped both of these popular British bands’ sales combined that year.^[6]

4 The Animals’ influence

The Animals were known for their distinctive sound as showcased in their only number one hit in 1964: “The House of the Rising Sun.” The Animals consisted of vocalist Eric Burdon, keyboardist Alan Price, bassist Chas Chandler, guitarist Hilton Valentine and drummer John Steel. The band’s sound even inspired Bob Dylan’s decision to work with musicians playing electric instruments.

Bruce Springsteen gave a shoutout to the band in 2012 when he performed at the South by Southwest Festival. He said that he had never related to another band as much as he had to The Animals and that a lot of their work was reflected in his music. After The Animals disbanded, Chas Chandler discovered Jimi Hendrix and helped him form The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He financed their first single and gave Hendrix the idea to set his guitar on fire.^[7]

3 A band of trouble

Oasis was formed from a previous group called the Rain and originally consisted of 5 members including brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher. The band has sold more than 75 million records and holds the distinction of being one of the best-sellling bands of all time.

The feud between the Gallagher brothers became almost more prominent than the band’s music when Noel quit in 1994 after Liam threw a tambourine at him. In 1995, Noel hit Liam over the head with a cricket bat. The bad blood continued in 1996 when Liam pulled out of an MTV Unplugged show and instead heckled the band from the crowd.

On top of all the sibling troubles that lasted several more years, Oasis were also sued for ripping off a member of a Beatles parody band as well as ripping off a Coca-Cola jingle. Soon the band engaged in a full on ‘war’ with English alternative rock band, Blur, and things got so heated that Noel told a reporter that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James would “catch AIDS and die.”^[8]

2 First choice for Friends’ opening song

R.E.M will arguably forever be known as the band whose song “Shiny Happy People” was almost the opening song for Friends. And, of course, for the song “Everybody Hurts”, which has been rated as one of the 1001 best songs ever, with its music video directed by Ridley Scott’s son, Jake. “Shiny Happy People” became one of their biggest hits but vocalist, Michael Stipe, eventually started hating the song because of the peppy lyrics. He stated that “It’s a fruity pop song written for children.” He also said that if ever there was one song sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for eternity, he would definitely not want it to be “Shiny Happy People.”

R.E.M.’s song “Monty Got a Raw Deal” was inspired by actor Montgomery Clift, even though most fans assumed it was about Monty Hall who was the host of the game show Let’s Make a Deal. Stipe wrote the song about Clift after R.E.M. was visited in studio by a photographer who had worked on one of Clift’s last films, The Misfits, and looked at photos from the movie set.^[9]

1 Cobain and Vedder slow dancing

Eddie Vedder was the last member to join the band first known as Mookie Blaylock and now known as Pearl Jam. The band was formed in 1990 and had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide by 2018. They are considered one of the most influential bands of the 90s.

Pearl Jam have cited many bands as influences for their music, including Led Zeppelin, The Ramones and The Who. The band were labelled ‘sell-outs’ by Nirvana after their album ‘Ten’ became a hit and soon there were rumors of a feud between Nirvana and Pearl Jam, including some trash-talk in public.
Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain confronted one another backstage at the 1992 VMA’s, but then the unexpected happened. As Eric Clapton played ‘Tears of Heaven’ on the stage above them, Vedder and Cobain shared a slow dance, setting aside their differences.^[10]

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As we all know, gold is a precious metal that society has cherished since the beginning. Initially, it was used only as a currency, a stable way to exchange goods and services. As time went on, things changed. Although money to an extent is backed by gold, it is more prominently known as a status symbol. In most cases, gold doesn’t make an item “better”, it is simply there for the sake of being there. While it makes sense to have gold jewelry, as it is a rather appealing, shiny color, there are many things it is added to just to raise the price. People buying these items just want the status that comes with having gold, as gold is closely related to luxury. To give some examples of these items, here are the top 10 most ridiculously expensive golden objects.

Top 10 Most Outrageously Expensive Everyday Objects

10 Gold Grill – $400

Starting off with a classic, the gold grill, a statement of wealth popular within the music industry. Grills became popular in the early 80’s, appearing in many rap/hip-hop music videos. This trend is still around today, although it is no longer as connected to rap as it once was. There are many shops/jewellers that can fit you with your own custom grills for around $400.

These are quite ridiculous though because they don’t really serve any purpose aside from status. In addition to their lack of function, they can also be quite bad for your teeth as the gold metals can be quite acidic and can harm your teeth. Repairing these ailments caused by grills will most likely end up costing more than the grills themself. So unless you have the spare cash to fix your teeth as well, you may want to avoid this one.^[1]

9 Gold Casket – $24,000

Up next is a 24k gold casket. A burial with this specific casket is known as the golden send off and has been used in the past with some famous celebrities. This casket is made with care and features an all around 24k gold plated appearance. Surprisingly, this item only costs $24,000, whereas some smaller things coming up are worth a lot more. It is a shame that anyone who uses this, won’t really get to experience it for themselves, but is more of a gesture to those at the funeral. Gone are the days of using just plain old wood for a casket and here are the days of golden everything!^[2]

8 Gold Clic Glasses – $75,000

Wipe your glasses for this one, because you sure are seeing the price right! At a humble $75,000 you can get your very own pair of sunglasses! Oh it should probably be said that they are also fully made out of gold – the majority of where its price comes from. While it may just seem like a blatant cash grab, there is actually a surprising amount of effort that goes into each and every one of these glasses. A skilled worker takes around 40 hours just to complete one, it’s safe to say that they are indeed mad with a bit of love and care. Though it probably doesn’t justify its price tag as you could still feel that effort if you just ask for some of your grandmother’s baking.^[3]

7 Golden BBQ Grill – $111,000

Heating things up, we have a golden grill! Unlike the previous “Grills”, this item actually has the capability to cook some food. Though what it does have in common with the grills is a price tag that doesn’t exactly correlate with what it actually does for you. You see, this gold grill actually costs around $111,000 US dollars. For that kind of money, you could buy thousands of grills that serve the same purpose.

With most gold items, this too only really serves as a status symbol, as you could get essentially the same grill for only a fraction of its cost. Maybe if it was completely autonomous and cooked your food for you, then it might justify its price, but as of right now it’s just made for the people who have a little too much money to spend.^[4]

6 Gold Shirt – $250,000

Continuing on we have an all gold shirt! Now gold is a very common component in jewelry but this is rather over the top. This shirt is a one of a kind piece commissioned by the Indian millionaire Datta Phuge, looking for the most luxurious status symbol. While other people go for nice cars or houses, this man’s true desire is gold. At a whopping 7 pounds, this highly impractical shirt cost him $250,000 and judging by any pictures of him, he is entirely proud of his decision.

It may seem like a complete waste of money, it’s actually not too bad, as you could easily sell the shirt for quite literally its weight in gold. It’s quite the awkward piece but it will definitely garner the attention of anyone who sees it.^[5]

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5 Gold Elizabeth Coin – $1M

Rolling its way in is the gold Elizabeth coin. The Canadian mint went above and beyond with this one, creating a massive, all gold coin, worth $1,000,000 at face value, but more to collectors. This was supposed to be a one of a kind mint, but due to its high popularity, 5 total have been made to satiate its demand. It’s original purpose was not to be sold, but a promotional piece to promote the mints new 1oz maple leaf coins. Instead, the promotional piece took the spotlight. This coin is so impressive that it even broke a record!

For obvious reasons this coin holds the honor of being the largest gold coin. Sadly, I don’t believe any stores will tender this coin, so the only way to spend it is to sell it. Though I’m sure any buyers are going to keep it safe on display for a while!^[6]

4 Golden Toilet Paper $1.3M

Now this next item is rather humorous, as it is toilet paper! Costing 1.3 million dollars per roll, this roll of toilet paper is not going to be replacing regular rolls anytime soon. Now surprisingly, the company who made it indeed does claim that it is safe to use, but you’d have to be a maniac not to put it on display! This takes luxury to a whole other level as this is a highly disposable piece, meaning that once you use it, it’s gone forever. With most gold items, they will at least last for 10+ years, as they should with such a high price, but this stands a part from the rest. This item is only meant for the insanely rich and should definitely not be something that you save for. But hey, at least it comes with a “free” bottle of champagne.^[7]

3 Bugatti Veyron Diamond Ltd – $2.9M

Next up is the Bugatti Veyron toy car. As you probably know, anything with Bugatti in its name is usually rather expensive, and this toy car keeps that trend going. At a measly $2.9 million dollars, this intricately detailed and beautiful miniature replica could be yours.

The grand price tag is due to two main reasons, the way it was made, and of course the material it’s made out of. The car is a 1/18th scale Bugatti Veyron, and its building process took around 2 months to complete. This is no factory production, rather it is an art piece where authenticity was paramount. In addition to the skillful craftsmanship, the car is also made of complete gold with some diamond accents, which definitely spike up the price quite a bit. This item may be for you if you are a billionaire, but probably isn’t the best Christmas gift for your kid.^[8]

2 1933 Double Eagle – $10M

Coming up next is the “$20” 1933 Double Eagle gold coin. At first it looks like any ordinary coin, but its true value comes from its rich history. The gold coin had its debut in 1933 and was originally supposed to be worth only $20; but due to laws that forbid the “hoarding of gold coin” saw to it that almost its entire supply be destroyed. Out of the roughly 500,000 coins that were minted, only around 13 remain today. Essentially, this was a banned coin and so its notoriety and scarcity are what contribute to its worth.

There is no set price to this coin, so it’s up to the buyer to determine what it’s worth, and so the most recent transaction for one of these coins is around $10 million dollars. Paying $10 million for $20 does not seem like a great deal, but to those who absolutely adore coin collecting, it may just be worth it. Though, to the common person looking for $20, they should probably just look for a job.^[9]

1 Gold iPhone 5 – $15M

This one doesn’t need too much explaining, it’s a gold iPhone! This item tests the limits of blinging out your tech, at a whopping 15 million dollars. This iPhone’s design is rather intricate, featuring a solid gold base with 100’s of small diamonds along the sides and on the Apple logo itself. Taking it one step farther, is an elusive black diamond, the centerpiece of this majestic device. Although this phone is rather old, being a 5, it still remains 1st as the world’s most expensive phone. At least now you can say you have a phone that works better than a $15 million dollar one.^[10]

10 Enigmatic Gold Artifacts

The golden age of flying is now—if you have $30,000 you can have your own personal suite for eight hours of slumber as you waft peacefully above the clouds, interrupted only by gourmet meals crafted by Michelin-starred chefs. But let’s be real, the actual golden age of flying was the early jet age when flying was a thrill, when the jet set were people to be looked up to, and when an airline ticket clutched tightly in your hand meant you were glamorous. But, was it really all it was cut out to be? Read on dear readers . . .

Top 10 Surprising Secrets Of Modern Airliners

10 Everyone Smoked

The only smoke-free-zone was the front rows of first class. Second class had non-smoking zones at the front, but they got second hand smoke from the smokers in first class. If you look at an aircraft, it has a port at the back where the air from inside the cabin, which is 75% port air and 25% fresh air gets recycled back to the interior. This plane’s rear end used to be brown with nicotine, because everyone smoked, and, as a consequence, the air was thick with the stuff.

Aircraft take an air bleed from one of the engines, which is air-conditioned and fed into the front of the plane. So the front part of first class (a separate cabin in those days) was clean air. Behind that was the smoking section of first class, so everyone behind got second hand smoke. Behind that was non-smoking second class, and then smoking second class. By the time you got to to the back of the fuselage, the air was so thick you couldn’t see through it.^[1]

9 It Was Really Noisy

High bypass jet engines, which are a lot quieter, are a relatively recent invention. The jets that powered the VC-10, the Comet 4B, and the Boeing 707 (video above) were really noisy. A Rolls Royce engineer described the engine that powered the Comet 4B as being a device that turned expensive jet fuel into noise. Much of this was transmitted into the passenger cabin. The VC10, a very over-powered airliner, designed for short runs from hot and high runways, used to take off like a rocket, and was correspondingly noisy at the back, where all four jets were.

Modern jets are high-bypass, which means the core gas at hypersonic speeds is surrounded by a sheath of cooler, slower air, reducing the noise enormously. Hush kits reduce the noise further. The noise from one 707 take-off is equivalent in terms of noise impact to ten take-offs of a modern jet.

What didn’t help is that aircraft had to fly from relatively short runways, designed for propeller aircraft, and therefore needed enormous amounts of thrust. The 747 meant that runways got lengthened, reducing the need for overpowered (and thus noisy) planes. Planes are also tailored now towards the routes they will fly, so hot and high airports as found in much of Africa and South America, fly different aircraft. In the early days, every aircraft was expected to fly from a short, hot and high airport.

They’re called ‘hot and high’ because the air is thinner at higher altitudes, and it’s thinner still when the air is hot. So a plane taking off from Lusaka, Zambia needs nearly twice as much power as one at sea-level in temperate latitudes, like London Heathrow. Planes were designed for every condition.^[2]

8 It Was Expensive . . . And It Was Chic

A first class cabin on an Emirates A380 will set you back about 30,000 USD, but flying wasn’t much cheaper in the golden age. A second class seat from Paris to London would set you back £50 when an annual wage was around £2,000. No wonder flying was for the rich and glamorous. To be a member of the Jet Set meant that you had made your place in the world. Mass tourism only really came in with the Jumbo Jet, the 747, which democratized flying.

As you boarded the plane, a photographer would offer you the opportunity of having your photo taken against a background of the tail of the aircraft, displaying the company’s logo, to show that you were really a jet-setter.^[3]

7 Unaccompanied Minors

All airlines used to fly kiddies to and from their parents and boarding schools, they were called unaccompanied minors. They had special badges, and a hostess would see them through transit from one plane to another. Few airlines now offer this service, meaning that kids effectively have to be always accompanied by an adult.

Kids usually got a trip to the cockpit, free gifts like badges and decks of cards (with, of course, the airline logo on the back), and had their Junior Jet Club albums signed by the pilot. Airlines knew that their young customers helped breed brand loyalty. This category of passenger is barely tolerated these days, as they occupy a seat but pay a lower price, and as flying is commoditized they aren’t a market target any more.^[4]

6 It Wasn’t That Safe

The classic aircraft of the early jet era was the Boeing 707, which outsold most other comparable jetliners combined. It has an inbuilt tendency to ‘Dutch roll’, basically wagging its tail in the air, which could develop into a dangerous instability if uncorrected. Consequently it was challenging to fly.

The first jet airliner, the Comet, suffered metal fatigue issues leading to fatal crashes. Early jet engines weren’t that reliable, either, which is why most planes had four, so the flight could still go on if a couple of them failed.

Without sophisticated avionics, such as weather radar, flights weren’t able to predict accurately what they’d be flying through. Rudimentary radar on the ground meant that mid-air collisions happened (they’re virtually unheard of now) several times.

Then there was always the risk of getting hijacked. With the cockpit always open so kids could come and have their view of it, and privileged adult passengers too, anyone could walk into the cabin and demand to be taken to Cuba.^[5]

Top 10 Epic Flight Crew Mishaps And Meltdowns

5 No In-Flight Entertainment

Movies? In-seat entertainment? No. The technology wasn’t up to it. Your entertainment was conversation with your fellow jet-setters, flirting with the hostesses (as flight attendants were called in those days) smoking, drinking and eating. And playing patience with a set of mini-sized BOAC playing cards, designed to fit onto the fold-down tray.

Hostesses were the in-flight entertainment. Most passengers were male, in a male-dominated era. They were not primarily considered, as they are now, as safety specialists concerned about getting people off the aircraft quickly in the event of an accident. They were expected to be female, under 32, unmarried, and sexy. Singapore Airlines still projects this image of the ‘Singapore Girl’ as being a suitable subject of lust.^[6]

4 No Special Treatment In Customs

There were no air bridges in those days. After being cosseted in jet-set luxury, you’d need an umbrella at Heathrow or a fur coat at Sheremetievo because you walked out onto the tarmac and walked, sometimes a considerable distance, to the air terminal. When you got there, there was no air-conditioning or at best rudimentary heating while you went through customs and immigration. Without a Schengen Zone (passport-free European states), there was no relief from the indignities of having your baggage opened and searched, filling in immigration forms, and showing your passport. Not to mention the restrictions on the amount of money you could take abroad, and currency restrictions on how much of it you could change into foreign currency. But there were compensations.^[7]

3 Seat-Side Service

The wide aisle of the 707 meant that first-class passengers enjoyed seat-side service from the rotisserie. Pan Am early realized that they couldn’t compete with the chic airlines like Air France, so they teamed up with Maxims’s of Paris to handle their transatlantic catering. By modern standards, the food wasn’t that exotic (Tournedos Rossini turns up a lot) but the wine list is to die for. No-one seemed too concerned about people getting off the aircraft sozzled, because a typical menu for a transatlantic flight was an aperitif, two wines, and a scotch or brandy after. As many top ups as you’d care for. Of course, jet-setters wouldn’t have to worry about drinking and driving after a flight. They’d have a chauffeur for that.^[8]

2 In-Flight Bars

747s and A380s have in-flight bars, for over 300 passengers, and usually restricted to first class ones. Super Constellations (one of the first luxury transatlantic airliners, though they weren’t jets) had an in-flight bar for about 48 passengers. Some 707s had in-flight bars too. So you could stay sozzled from when the ‘fasten seat belts, no smoking’ signs were turned off until they were turned back on for landing. You could even enjoy a fine cigar: the restriction of ‘cigarettes only, no pipes or cigars’ only came in when the air got too thick.^[9]

1 You Were Special

This is something 2020 airlines have finally caught up with – making people feel special. From 2001 flying became a chore, to be endured as a hassled way of getting to your destination. In the golden age of flying, it was an experience – something to boast about, and show souvenirs of.

First class flying these days means that everything you might want or need is catered for from before you check in until your chauffeured limo takes you to your hotel. But how can that compare with rubbing shoulders (literally) with Marilyn Monroe or Frank Sinatra?^[10]

Top 10 Terrifying Facts About Airplanes

Gold is a magical element. It is one of the few metals that can be found in nature without the need to purify it. This means humans have been spotting this glittering material for millennia just by looking down. It is so soft and malleable that it can be beaten into thin sheets, and gold never tarnishes. Something made of gold will still look as stunning 1,000 years after it was originally made. No wonder many ancient cultures had myths about gold belonging to the divine.

Because gold is so good at withstanding the ravages of time, many of the most stunning ancient artifacts are made from it. Here are ten golden objects that show the glories of the ancient world.

Related: Top 10 Ridiculously Expensive Golden Objects

10 Priam’s Treasure

Heinrich Schliemann is one of the most extraordinary figures in archaeology. He is also one of the most controversial. Most people in the 19th century thought that The Iliad, which described the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, was all pure myth. Schliemann thought it was based on actual events—and set out to find the proof.

Using his self-made fortune, Schliemann funded a dig in modern Turkey at a site called Hissarlik. Almost immediately, he found the ruins of a great city. Schliemann had found ancient Troy. Well, at least he was convinced. What he actually found were the remains of nine cities, each built atop the ruins of the preceding city. One of them had to be the Troy mentioned in the famed work by Homer, so Schliemann dug straight down, hunting for treasure to prove his theory correct and destroying much valuable archaeology on the way.

But Schliemann did strike gold. He found a cache of golden and silver objects, which he named the Treasure of Priam, after the king of Troy in TThe Iliad. Among the most spectacular discoveries were diadems made of hundreds of pieces of hammered gold. These were smuggled out of Turkey (some say in Mrs. Schliemann’s underwear) and taken to Germany. The treasure did not get to rest in peace for long. After the Second World War, it was looted by the Soviets and taken to Russia, where it remains to this day.^[1]

9 Orphic Gold Tablets

Understanding ancient religious practices around burial can be incredibly difficult. Often all archaeologists have to work with are a few scraps of bone and maybe some grave goods left with the body. In the Classical world, however, sometimes writing was left with the corpse that helps make things explicit.

Sometimes these little texts, called Totenpass (German for “Passport for the Dead”), are written on sheets of gold. The writings they contain are meant to help guide the dead person into the afterlife of their choice. These are found in several religions and cults of the ancient world but are all designed to ensure an eternal and happy life.

One of these strange texts has been described as the world’s oldest book. Made from six sheets of decorated gold that were joined together, it was discovered in Bulgaria and dates from around 500 BC. The writing in the book is in Etruscan, a culture that lived in Italy before the rise of the Romans.^[2]

8 Muisca Raft

Many European explorers and conquerors were drawn to South America because they dreamed of fabulous golden treasures waiting to be discovered. Most were disappointed. But there were glorious artworks to be found, and gold-working by Pre-Columbian civilizations was among the most sophisticated in the world. Unfortunately, much was lost to the conquistadors and later grave robbers.

However, in the Gold Museum in Bogota, one small object tells an interesting tale. The Muisca Raft, also known as the El Dorado raft, shows several figures riding on a raft. The intricately sculpted piece is thought to model the rites that gave rise to the legend of El Dorado—the Golden One.

The chief of the Muisca people was initiated into his position by being coated in gold dust. He was then rowed into the middle of a lake, where he washed the gold from his body. Further offerings were made of gold and emeralds. The model of this ceremony was found by farmers in 1969.^[3]

7 The Broighter Hoard

Boats had a special meaning in the ancient world. With boats, humans were able to conquer the rough and terrifying elements of the ocean. It is no wonder then that several boats have been immortalized in gold.

The Broighter Hoard dates from the 1st century AD and was found in Northern Ireland in 1896 when the objects were plowed up in a field. After they were given a quick wash in the sink at the farmhouse, where it is possible some smaller pieces were lost down the drain, they were sold to the British Museum. It soon became clear the golden objects that were recovered were truly remarkable. Among the finds were a golden torc, a bowl, and a necklace made from three strands of gold. The most interesting piece was a boat made of gold, complete with oars and seats for rowers.

The presence of the boat among the hoard has led to suggestions that it was an offering to Manannán mac Lir—a sea god and lord of the underworld in Irish mythology.^[4]

6 The Staffordshire Hoard

Some hoards were deposited as ritual offerings to the gods, but some served a more practical purpose. In an emergency, it was often handy to hide your treasures in the ground for safety. You could then come back later and retrieve them. Or not, as the case may be. Many hoards are found when the ancient owners never returned for them. And this can allow us to piece together their histories.

The Staffordshire Hoard from England is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever discovered. In total, it contains over 11 pounds (5 kilograms) of gold and thousands of objects. Many are richly decorated with inlaid garnets. Dating from the 7th or 8th century, all the objects, except for three religious items, are all related to the military. The one golden sword fitting found at Sutton Hoo was remarkable, but the Staffordshire Hoard contains 50 of them. So, where did all this treasure come from?

Given the quality of the objects and their military nature that were uncovered, it looks like they were looted from defeated enemies following a battle.^[5]

5 Saka Gold

Nomadic tribes are often thought of as living hard and poor lives. However, the Saka people of the 1st millenium BC were horse lords of the Eurasian steppes who prized their horses above all else. But they also left some of the richest material behind them, especially if one considers the amount of gold found in their tombs.

Over the tombs of their dead rulers, the Saka constructed large mounds that dominated their landscape. Archaeologists sometimes come across vast hoards of golden objects when they open these tombs. When one tomb, known as Arzhan 2, was excavated, they found two human skeletons in the center, 33 other people probably executed to follow the leader into the afterlife, and 9,300 golden objects weighing nearly 44 pounds (20 kilograms).

Other Saka tombs are almost as rich in their grave offerings. It seems people in the ancient world were not immune to the idea of a little grave robbing. When Arzhan 2 was dug up, archaeologists were able to see where an ancient attempt had been made to find the gold—but the early robbers gave up just shy of their prize.^[6]

4 Ram in a Thicket

The civilizations of Mesopotamia were among the first to develop cities and writing anywhere on Earth. The city of Eridu was founded around 5400 BC. Over the millennia which followed, the cities between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers developed into powerful states through trade and war. They also became famously wealthy and showed their wealth through a love of gold.

In the British Museum, there is a startling gold, shell, and lapis lazuli object that peers out at visitors. Known as the Ram in a Thicket, it is actually a goat standing against a flowering shrub. It was discovered in the ancient city of Ur and is thought to date from around 2500 BC.

The Ram was found inside the royal cemetery of Ur, inside what is colorfully known as the Great Death Pit, and no one can say for certain what it represents. A pair of these objects were found in the tomb and may have acted as supports for a bowl.^[7]

3 Varna Man

The Varna culture of Bulgaria flourished around 4500 BC and is best known from a single site. The Varna Necropolis was discovered by accident in 1972 and was immediately recognized as a very important ancient monument. The 300 graves of the Varna were the oldest known, where large amounts of gold were deposited with the dead.

Just one of the graves, Grave 43, contains more gold objects than are known from the rest of the world combined for this date. Known as Varna Man, this person was buried with gold disks sewn to his clothes, thick golden pendants, glittering bracelets, axes with handles of gold, and even a golden sheath to put over his penis.

Opinion differs as to who Varna Man may have been. The richness of his goods makes some think he was a ruler. Others think he may have been a goldsmith himself, which may also have been a highly valued position.^[8]

2 Gold Curse Tablets

Curse tablets are some of the strangest texts from the ancient world. Romans and Greeks were known to engrave their prayers and curses onto pieces of metal, curl them up, and deposit them at special religious sites so that the gods may read them and bring them to fruition. Most of these are written on lead, but some people tried to tempt the gods to do their work by using gold.

In Serbia, examples of curses written on gold and silver were discovered in 2016. Most curse tablets are written in Latin or Greek and say things like “May he who carried off Vilbia from me become as liquid as water,” or “May your penis hurt when you make love.” But these Serbian golden curses are more complex magical charms that are harder to read. The language appears to be Aramaic, but the words are written in the Greek alphabet.^[9]

1 Gold Wizard Hats

Hats have always been a way to make a fashion statement or mark someone as important. What bolder statement could one make than to make a hat out of gold? Maybe it would be more spectacular if you made it 2 feet (70 centimeters) tall.

Several large conical headpieces made of gold have been found in Europe that date from around 1400 to 800 BC. Their extraordinary size is matched by their intricate decoration, which also hints at their role in rites and religion. Some of the gold hats were carefully buried in antiquity, so they must have had some importance to the people who owned them.

The Berlin Gold Hat is the largest known and acts as a calendar. The golden rays of the sun are mimicked at the top, but in bands running around its length are images of the moon. For those who knew how to interpret these symbols, the hat functions as a 19-year lunar calendar and predicts lunar eclipses.^[10]

The Golden Age of Islam refers to a nearly six-centuries-long period of renaissance in the Islamic world, beginning with the foundation of the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth century and ending with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258. It was a time of unprecedented developments in the fields of geometry, medicine, astronomy, philosophy, arts, algebra, and many others, as scholars from across the known world came to Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, and other major Islamic cities to practice and hone their crafts.

10. Automatons

Automatons were early designs in robotics and programmable machines, going as far back as ancient Egypt. While European thinkers – especially from the Italian Renaissance era – are usually credited with the development of complex automatons, it was Arabic scientists that first pioneered them. Perhaps the most influential of them was Ismail al-Jazari, also sometimes called the ‘father of medieval robotics’.

Born in 1136 in modern-day Turkey, Al-Jazari’s inventions included complex works of mechanical engineering that could operate all on their own, like an automated peacock, a water-run clock, automatic soap and wine dispensers, and advanced water cranks and pumps to supply water to farmers. His 1206 treatise on automata, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, influenced scientists and engineers in the Arabic world and beyond for centuries, including Leonardo da Vinci.

9. Automatic Musical Instruments

The Banu Musa were three polymaths living in Baghdad during the ninth century. While each of them specialized in a field of their own, their contributions are still remembered collectively. They were perhaps one of the first few Arabic scientists to build upon the Greek school of mathematics, establishing their own methods for solving classic mathematical and geometrical problems. 

The Banu Musa were also adept at designing automatic mechanical devices, and are credited with the creation of some of the first programmable music devices. Precursors to modern-day music-making machines like sequencers, synthesizers, drum machines, and others, these structures were automatically able to generate a diverse range of melodies – an unprecedented innovation for that time. Their automatic flute player – a humanoid automaton that could play a variety of tunes on the flute – was easily the first programmable machine in history. 

8. Damascus Steel

Damascus steel was a form of steel used in many places throughout medieval times. While it had its origins in a kind of steel from ancient India called wootz steel, it was on the streets of Damascus, Syria that the material really took off. Apart from a unique, dark look that can’t be replicated, the steel was famed for its strength and flexibility, making it especially useful for melee weapons like swords and knives.

Damascus steel was widely used by Islamic armies throughout the Golden Age of Islam, though it also had uses in ornaments and other crafts. Sadly, the formula to produce it has been lost to history, even if we can make other, far-better types of steel and other metals with the technology available today. 

7. Optics

Optics is the study of light, pioneered by such scientists as Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton during the European Renaissance. Much of their work, however, was built on the discoveries made much earlier. While the study of optics goes as far back as Greek times, it was during the Abbasid era that thinkers really understood the true nature of light. 

Hasan Ibn al-Haytham – one of the most prominent light specialists of the Islamic era – was the first to disprove the Ancient Greek notion that light originates inside the eye. His book, the simply-named Book of Optics, remains an important work in the field of optics, influencing thinkers across the European world and beyond in the coming centuries. 

6. Drug Trials

Clinical trials are now an irreplaceable part of drug testing and approval, though that wasn’t always the case. The idea of testing medicines in controlled experiments before they’re administered to the general public is a relatively-recent development in human history. It could be singularly traced back to Ibn Sina – a 10th century Iranian polymath who first introduced logic and experimentation to the process of drug testing, among a bunch of other medical innovations.

His book – the Canon of Medicine – was so influential that it was taught across Arabic and European schools of medicine until at least the 17th century. Apart from his insights on drugs and clinical trials, Ibn Sina also made seminal contributions to surgery and the development of a wide variety of surgical tools. Sina’s logic-based method influenced many Arabic doctors and scientists in the following years, and his works like Canon provided the basis for what would be one of the greatest ages for the medical sciences in history. 

5. Glass

While glass had existed for thousands of years before the Islamic golden age, it wasn’t until the first glass factories were set up in Syria during the eighth century that glassmaking really turned into a craft of its own. The first clear, colorless varieties of glass showed up in the Arabic world, thanks to innovations and discoveries by prominent thinkers like Abbas Ibn Firnas – the first inventor to come up with a method to produce clear glass from sand. 

Around the same time, another Arabic chemist, Jabir Ibn Hayyan, was working on colored and stained glass. His treatise, The Book of the Hidden Pearl, provided the first known recipes for artificial pearls and other precious stones, along with methods to cut high quality glass into gemstones. Thanks to these advancements in the Arabic world, the first glass factories showed up in Greece by the 11th century.

4. Surgery

The Abbasid era saw many pioneering developments in the science of surgery, thanks to parallel discoveries in other areas of medicine that advanced our overall understanding of the human body. Islamic physicians would study the works of surgeons from earlier eras – especially Ancient Greece – and come up with their own techniques and tools for the procedures. 

While many thinkers, physicians, engineers, and other smart people contributed to this revolution, the most prominent name was that of Abu al Qasim al-Zahrawi, also known as the ‘father of operative surgery’. Born in 936 near Cordoba in Spain, al-Zahrawi pioneered many surgical techniques used by surgeons around the world for centuries to come. His book, al-Tasreef, or the ‘Method of Medicine’, was used as a medical encyclopedia around the world until the 18th century, as it described over 200 surgical instruments and 300 diseases and their treatments. Many of al-Zahrawi’s techniques remained unchanged until the development of modern surgery. 

3. Algebra

Algebra is a broad field of mathematics that deals with symbols of varying values – like x,y, z etc. – and operators like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and others to represent mathematical problems. While equations and variables have been studied in some form by mathematicians in ancient Egypt, Greece, and India, it was only during the Islamic golden age that all that knowledge was compiled in one place, giving birth to modern algebra. 

In fact, the term ‘algebra’ derives directly from the Kitab al-Jabr – a monumental treatise on elementary algebra written by a Persian mathematician called al-Khwarizmi. Apart from providing a new way of solving linear and quadratic equations with abstract variables, he was the first mathematician to work with ancient Indian numerals, modifying and perfecting them into the ten-digit number system we all use today. 

2. Hospitals

While facilities for medical care existed in various forms before the Abbasid era, the modern hospital only showed up in Baghdad during the ninth century. Built in 805 by the vizier to caliph Harun al-Rashid, it was the first documented facility that provided a center for medical care, a place for the sick to rest, a home to take care of the elderly, and a teaching center for aspiring physicians. 

Between the ninth and 10th centuries, many other Islamic hospitals were founded in Baghdad, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, Mecca and Medina, Spain, and other major regions across the empire. Known as bimaristans, some of them were quite advanced for their time and closely resembled the modern hospital. In Cairo, a hospital founded by the Abbasid governor became the first facility to offer care for the mentally ill. 

1. Paper

Islamic armies first came across paper during the various invasions of Central Asia in the eighth century. Invented in China some time in the first century AD, the material was far superior to anything used in the Arab world before it, including previous rudimentary mediums of writing like papyrus or parchment. Paper could be mass produced with freely-available waste fibers and retained ink for long periods of time, making it an ideal material to fuel the oncoming golden age. 

The permanent nature of the writing made paper immensely useful for imperial and bureaucratic purposes, as it was impervious to forgery or alteration of any kind. By the 10th century, paper mills had sprung up across the Islamic empire – from Persia to Syria to Spain – allowing scientists and thinkers to widely publish and disseminate their ideas across the empire and beyond. Paper was why Islamic libraries usually contained hundreds of thousands of volumes of knowledge, compared to the relatively-modest collections of major empires before it.