Models wearing the new gold commissions by Wright & Teague and Polly Gasston

An exhibition on the history of bling in Britain has opened, appropriately at Goldsmiths’ Hall in the City of London.

Gold: Power and Allure runs until July 28, telling the previously untold 4,500-year story of Britain and its relationship with gold.

Sponsored by the World Gold Council, the event showcases more than 400 gold items ranging in date from 2500 BC to the present day.

The exhibition features all manner of gold items, including a gold hat, suit fit for a King and even the first Olympic gold medal, plus the earliest known piece of jewellery found in the British Isles.

All the exhibits, displayed over three floors at Goldsmiths’ Hall, have been loaned from distinguished institutions and private collections and many have rarely been seen in public before.

The World Gold Council is also unveiling two new commissions of gold jewellery from leading British goldsmiths Wright & Teague and Polly Gasston.

The new piece by Wright & Teague is fashioned from fine sheets of 18ct gold. The piece consists of seven collars representing the Pleiades, the seven sisters of the constellation of Taurus.

Consisting of a series of ivy leaves carefully interwoven with golden buttercups, the Wreath by Polly Gasston, creates an exquisite and delicate tiara.