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Private households also traded gold and often attempted to acquire it as an important long-term holding, but rarely was gold buried by private houses with graves (i.e., it was probably far too valuable for common households to remove this item from their wealth). <ref>For examples of how households possibly used golds in ancient Mesopotamia, see: Nemet-Nejat, Karen Rhea. 1998. ''Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia''. The Greenwood Press “Daily Life through History” Series. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, pg. 123.</ref> Gold, for private households, becomes a way for families to preserve and pass on wealth, given its great value and non-perishable nature.

In many cases, where gold has been discovered, it was found as an alloy with silver (i.e., electrum). At times, gold was also alloyed with lead, indicating that pure gold was generally rarer.<ref>For more information about gold in Mesopotamia, see: Leick, Gwendolyn. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia. 2nd ed. Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras, no. 26. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, pg. 79.</ref> In fact, in addition to providing extra strength, alloys also allow the one to utilize more of gold find to create larger objects that look like gold. This gives an appearance of an even larger gold object.