The history of New World goldsmithing is still incomplete, but there is enough archaeological evidence to trace its origin and movements through the Americas where the legend of El Dorado attracted the conquistadores. The first part of this catalog contains six chapters by different scholars on such topics as the discoveries in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Peru or the effects of pre-Columbian gold brought back to Europe on the 16th-century Europeans. These articles are followed by a catalog based on the Jan Mitchell collection of pre-Columbian gold: 80 dazzling color plates accompanied by descriptive texts. The two sections of the book are related only by the fact that the detailed scholarly articles, accompanied by their own illustrations and maps, reveal the careful historical and interpretive work of archaeologists in the field.