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Investments that have stood the test of time

Standing tall in the Biblical story of Jesus' birth are the three Magi or wise men and the presents they bore – gold, frankincense and myrrh, each considered at the time to be symbols of wealth, gifts of honor.

More than 2,000 years later, gold, frankincense and myrrh remain highly prized commodities. Some reasons haven't changed; others might surprise even the Magi.

Gold

The power of gold is constant, not only because the lustrous yellow metal is beautiful to look at, but because gold possesses distinctive physical properties.

It's the most malleable, ductile metal known. A single ounce can be beaten into a thin sheet covering 300 square feet (more than two boxing rings) or drawn into wire 50 miles long.

It's generally impervious to its environment. Air, heat, moisture, oxygen and most corrosive agents have little effect. It's a good reflector of both visible and infrared light, which makes it useful as a protective coating on satellites and astronaut visors.

People have been mining gold since 2600 B.C. Egyptian king Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed it was “common as dust,” but its value became apparent soon enough. The first coin containing gold was struck in the eighth century B.C.; the first pure gold 200 years later by King Croesus of Lydia.

More than 155,500 tons of gold have been mined in history, according to the World Gold Council, 75 percent of it since 1910. It's estimated that if all of the refined gold were ever combined together, it would form a cube 66 feet on each side. Big, but not so much when you think about it.

Frankincense

Frankincense is a whitish resin tapped from Boswellia trees, which are indigenous to parts of the Middle East and Africa. The highest quality frankincense is said to come from Oman, Yemen and Somalia.

Throughout history, the principal use of frankincense has been in perfumes and aromatherapy. There is some scientific evidence that boswellic acids, a component of the resin, may be useful in treating asthma and other inflammatory conditions.

But finding enough frankincense to know for sure may prove difficult. European ecologists, writing in this month's Journal of Applied Ecology, say commercial harvesting of frankincense may be endangering the trees that produce it.

They hypothesize that over-tapping is causing trees to divert too much carbohydrate into resin at the expense of reproductive organs, such as flowers, fruit and seeds.

Boswellia trees are not cultivated. They are harvested in the wild by nomadic tribes. Unless changes are made in tapping procedures – fewer tap points per tree, rest periods for the trees – frankincense may become a thing of the past.

Myrrh

Myrrh, too, is a resin, a reddish-brown sap of Commiphora plants, native to Somalia and eastern Ethiopia. The name derives from the Hebrew word, murr or maror, meaning bitter.

For Commiphora plants, the sap is a kind of defense. Oozing from damaged trees, it gums up the mouthparts of attacking insects, such as termites, and is an antibiotic that helps the plant fend off infection.

Among ancient Egyptians, myrrh's antibiotic properties didn't go unnoticed. Egyptian embalmers used myrrh to reduce decay in mummies. The resin helped prevent tissues from falling apart.

Like frankincense, myrrh is highly aromatic, still used in perfumes and, in long ago times, to mask the smell of burning corpses. It's said the Roman emperor Nero used a year's worth of myrrh in the funeral pyre of his wife, Poppaea. It was deemed worth its weight in gold, and five times more valuable than frankincense.

Myrrh may have another value: Health activists and some research suggests gugulipid, a dietary supplement derived from the mukul myrrh bush in western India, lowers cholesterol levels.

If true, that makes it a nice gift after a big, heavy Christmas dinner.

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