Terwyl ons die belangrikheid van goud in gedagte te hou, kan ons lees wat 'n monnik, wat slegs bekend gestaan het as Bartolomeus die Engelsman, in sy boek On the properties of Things geskryf het. Hy het in die dertiende eeu geleef, en in sy boek vertel hy van 'n Romeinse uitvinder wat 'n onbreekbare bottel gemaak het:
"But long time past there was one that made glass pliant, which might be ammended and wrought with an hammer, and brought a vial made of such glass before Tiberius the Emperor, and threw it down on the ground, and it ws not broken but bent and folded. And he made it right and ammended it with a hammer. Then the Emperor commanded to smite off his head anon, lest his craft were known. For then gold should be no better than fen [clay], and all other metal should be of little worth, for certain if glass vessels were not brittle, they should be accounted of more value than vessels of gold."
Ons sal seker nooit weet waarmee die arme uitvinder vorendag gekom het nie, maar wat ons wel kan sê is dat Tiberius dalk net 'n bietjie haastig was. Vandag word die polimere, soos polietileentereftelaat, wat gebruik word vir die maak van onbreekbare bottles, vir 'n appel en 'n ei verkoop.