THE COLORS OF GOLD

The first Goldens were registered and shown in CFA under the classification of " AOV" (Any Other Variety), around 1925. They were originally called Sable Chinchilla's, and then "Brownies". At that time they could only be registered as brown tabbies or silvers. Due to their unpopularity and or embarrassment of breeders' when this strange color showed up in "pure" silver litters, early records were not always accurate or reliable.

Early dedicated golden admirers; Wanda Shellner and Ruth Sarrain founded clubs, such as The Golden Persian Society, in 1973. Their newsletter was called Gold Nuggets, in memory of Carol Heide (Barnes). She had previously published a newsletter concerning the Goldens until she became too ill to continue it. The mission behind these clubs was to kindle an interest in the Goldens and to get them accepted into CFA championship. Early members such as Dorothy & Larry Grube (La-Dor) , Betty Whaley (Happy Hill), Jane Howard (Jenwilli), B.C & Connie Harrington (Bluebonnet), Wilma Van Scoyk (La Cattique), Doris Powell (Cuddles) and Carol Rodgers did not give up on their cause easily, yet what they worked for seemed hopeless.

Pictured at right is the author, Pamela Martin of Castlepaws Silver Persians.

John & Ilene Breslin (Mon Cheri) studied the genetics of the Goldens and wrote articles in their publication, The Silver and Golden Fanciers. Dee J. Single (Dee -J) published a book which also included Silvers, called The Proper Care of Silver and Golden Persians. This book has been widely used for reference and finding golden lines; however, it contains some errors and omissions by the publisher. Prior to this, Dee Single edited the Franciscan Silver Fanciers club publication titled The Silver Lining. Some time later Sue Hinkle (Fair Isles), took it over and dedicated a section to goldens called The Golden Edge.

Less than a handful of exhibitors showed goldens in the AOV class. It took a brave heart indeed to show them at that time; most silver breeders deemed them misfits. CFA Allbreed judge, Don Swanson of Swany Cattery, loved the new color in appearing in his litters and hoped others would too. He showed his goldens AOV.

Joyce Hill (Sanskrit) bred two silvers, CH Beau Geste Khadine of Gray-Ivy and GC Gray Ivy Lochinvar of Gold Hill, and they produced a golden male kitten named Sanskrit Tigger (of Fayron). He was shown AOV in order to help draw attention to the goldens and after goldens were accepted for championship, became a CFA Champion. Both Don & Joyce were from the West Coast.

No one went to more shows with a golden in the AOV class than Ohio breeder, Wilma Van Scoyk. She showed La Cattique's Quiche, La Cattique's Menuet, (dam of CFA's first golden grand, La Cattique Cache), as well as Rising Sun Rapunzel of La Cattique and Diadem Dark Secret of La Cattique. Carol Heide gave Rapunzel and Dark Secret to Wilma. Both goldens later became CFA champions. Wilma showed her goldens at every opportunity, which meant not only CFA, but also CCA, CFF, Crown and ACFA. It eventually became too much showing in all the cat organizations; consequently, she made the decision to limit her exhibiting to CFA only. Wilma Van Scoyk is credited as being the one individual most responsible for getting the goldens accepted in all of these organizations, including CFA.

Judy Hinton of Hapynesis tells this: "It was pretty courageous in those days to let anyone even know that a golden had been born in one of your litters. You have to want something pretty badly to show in AOV as often as Wilma did in order to get the judges to look at the golden and even consider it."

Disagreements over the color standard proposals to allow the "M" on the forehead, barring on the legs, and allowances for white on the chin, muzzle and ruff, soon led to the formation of a new club by Ken Vrana called The International Golden Persian Society. Their newsletter was called the High Society. Although these golden clubs no longer exist, they all shared one common goal and were instrumental in getting the golden color accepted.

Finally, beginning with the 1977 show season, the goldens received CFA recognition! What an exciting milestone! Following are the original color standards submitted, but not accepted, for goldens.

CHINCHILLA GOLDEN: Undercoat rich warm cream. Coat on back, flanks, head and tail sufficiently tipped with seal brown to give a golden appearance. Legs may be slightly shaded with tipping. Chin, ear tufts, stomach and chest, cream. Rims of eyes, lips and nose outlined with seal brown. Nose leather: deep rose. Paw pads: seal brown Eye color: Green or blue-green. Disqualify for incorrect eye color, incorrect eye color being copper, yellow, gold, amber or any color other than green or blue-green.

SHADED GOLDEN: Undercoat rich warm cream with a mantle of seal brown tipping shading down from the sides, face and tail from dark on the ridge to cream on the chin, chest, stomach and under the tail. Legs to be the same seal brown. Nose leather: Deep Rose, Paw Pads: Seal Brown Eye Color: Green or blue-green. Disqualify for incorrect eye color, incorrect eye color being copper, yellow, gold, amber or any color other than green or blue-green.

CFA Board members wrote the original color standard. The color "seal brown" was used to describe the tipping, nose and eye liner, and paw pads. This was later corrected by the CFA board and changed to "black" which is the genetically correct description. This reasoning is best explained by quoting from "Feline Genetics" written in 1994 by R. Roger Breton and Nancy C. Creek, which tells how the coat color gene controls coat color:

"This gene controls the actual color of the coat and comes in three alleles: black, dark brown, or light brown. This three- level dominance is not at all uncommon: the albinism gene, for example has five levels. The Black allele, "B", is wild, is dominant and produces a black or black and brown tabby coat, depending upon the presence of the agouti gene. Technically, the black is an almost-black, super -dark brown that is virtually black --For true black is theoretically impossible, but often reached in the practical sense (so much for theory)."

It wasn't the color standard the golden breeders wanted; nevertheless, they were just happy to have the goldens finally accepted. It had not been an easy task! Once the "seal brown" was replaced with "Black" that color standard remained for 25 years! Basically, it used the silver color standard and described the goldens as a "cream" colored cat with black tipping which gave the cat a golden appearance. Gosh, what a strange looking cat! Nothing at all on the order of describing a beautiful golden! No wonder the goldens had such difficulty in the show ring and no wonder so few chose to work with this color!

The first golden Grand Champion was shaded golden male LaCattique's Cache, owned, bred and exhibited by Wilma Van Scoyk. Cache granded in 1980. He was the offspring of La Cattique's Menuet, shown by Wilma as an AOV. The first golden Premier was Gray-Ivy Golden Nugget, a chinchilla golden male, bred by Sarah Smith Velman (Candyshop) and Mrs. Ivan (Grace) Over (Gray Ivy. It was ten years before another golden granded. To this date, there are 44 Golden Grand Champions and Premiers combined.

Wilma Van Scoyk tells what it was like: "It was tough enough for the silvers let alone the new kids on the block. Getting past the cameo's and shaded torties was a miracle. So I come along with my little guy and he held his own -- taking the division and beating grands. Also remember that there were not as many shows back then as there are now.

In his first show out as a kitten, he finaled and since he was the only golden out, he became a showstopper. He also made a Best Kitten in an Allbreed ring. On to becoming a champion, he held his own in his division. He also made Best Cat, Best Champion in an Allbreed ring, not only once but twice! He granded in June 1980. He also granded in CFF and he got his championship in CCA and ACFA before I retired him. He was on the cover of Cat World, winning their kitten cover contest. Besides CFA's first Golden Grand, he was CFA's Best Golden two years in a row.

He had beautiful green eyes, was built like a little tank and his coat color was clear. His type was wonderful, broad round head and a nice nose and break. Ahead of his time, and this can be seen if you look at what else was being shown then."

Remember - in those days, the silvers still shared the division with the smokes and later, with cameos and shaded torties. It wasn't until the 1995 that the Silvers & Goldens were granted their own division.

At least three unsuccessful attempts were made to revise the golden color standard or to put them elsewhere. Proposals were set up for golden tabbies and smokes, and even blue goldens but none of those passed either. It was useless to adopt more colors when the golden color standard was not yet corrected. Over and over again, the members became frustrated and quit trying. Nothing would be accomplished for the goldens this way.

As Jane Howard wrote, "True goldens spring only from silvers or other goldens". The golden gene is actually a combination of several genes most commonly theorized as a mutation of the brown tabby gene. I will quote Carol Heide, one of the most active original golden breeders, since I haven't yet found any other explanation that is better:

"Both silvers and goldens are in reality shaded black cats with green eyes. The coloring granule in the hair shaft that makes a black cat appear black is a round coloring granule. In the silver, another gene or genes causes a reduced amount of the round coloring granule to "slide" to the end of the hair shaft devoid of coloring granules and "appearing" to be white. Thus, in the silvers the round coloring granule is present only in the ends of each hair shaft and reflects light as to appear as black tipping.

The same coloring granule is present in the Golden. However, the "shape" of the coloring granule is changed. In the Golden the same coloring granule changes from round to an elongated or elliptical shape. This longer shape reflects light in many hues of golden, depending upon the amount of coloring the granule contains. Again, I repeat, it is the same coloring matter found in the round granule that produce the black coloring.

Also, in the case of the golden, the elongated granule does not "slide" completely to the ends of the hair shaft, but rather "smears" along the hair shaft, which causes the golden to have coloring along the entire hair shaft generally, but not always, darker tipped at the ends. The important point is that the coloring material remains the same, only the granule shape changes."

This best explains why the golden should not be compared in coat color pattern to the silver and that one color description such as "cream" cannot be used to describe the golden which consists of various shades of gold. Also, the "cream" is a dilute of red and is not the foundation of our "true" goldens. In addition to that, the elongated or elliptical gene is why "no barring on the legs" of a golden is coincidental or just plain luck! The chinchilla goldens have a less visible barring that is referred to as "ghost barring". All goldens, and especially kittens, have some degree of barring on the legs.

Most, but not all, golden breeders desire the more reddish or, "apricot" coloring. (Apricot is the term most commonly used by golden breeders.) There are almost as many different shades of golden as there are golden breeders! The most desirable colors of gold are those with a clear coat with no barring on the back and legs, no "M" marking on the head and no white blotches on the chin, muzzle or ruff. These qualities, along with good green eye color, good liner, good head and body type, are most coveted by golden breeders.

In August of 2000, the Silver & Golden Exhibitors (SGE) Online E-mail Group, Later called SGENews, was formed along with a website and a webring. The immediate goals behind this group were the same as those of the first golden Persian clubs that were formed. With the speed of the Internet, and the large number of people who could become involved, there was better communication between breeders. Much could be, and was, accomplished but not without some of the same disagreements as in the past! Eventually a new color standard was written that was acceptable to most and it was sent to the Breed Council secretary. There were, and are, still some silver breeders that wanted no further progress for the goldens! They wrote letters asking that our proposals be discarded. We wrote many letters too. Some breeders were disinterested and had to be persuaded that the standard needed to be changed.

For those who weren't online, personal letters were mailed all over the world, begging breeders for their much needed and appreciated support for goldens.

Not all proposals submitted are automatically approved by the Persian Breed Council secretary. Our letters supporting the new standard must have been convincing because Mark Hannon, the Persian Breed Council Secretary, included them on the next CFA Breed Council ballot.

The Silver/Golden Division Breed Council members voted in favor of the change in the golden color standard. Apparently not only Mark Hannon, but also the CFA Board, agreed that it was PAST time for this revision of the golden color standard -- changes golden breeders have wanted for many years. This was the first time that we were able to develop a description that had been approved by the majority of the Silver & Golden Breed Council members. Those that weren't Breed Council members were encouraged to join.

While this color revision was not perfect and could have included more descriptive information, it was still an overall improvement and better guideline for both the judges and exhibitors; we owe our judges that. Some judges said they could not justify finaling goldens that came no where near meeting the standard for color.

Finally, beginning with the show season May 2002, silver and golden exhibitors were showing with the new color standard. They had done what many had said couldn't be done -- again. The new standard was in place and effective at last!

New Color Standard for the Chinchilla Golden: Undercoat pale honey to bright apricot. Coat on back, flanks, head and tail sufficiently tipped with black to enhance a golden appearance. Legs and end of tail may be shaded with tipping. Chin, ear tufts, chest and stomach, consistent DILUTE color, much lighter in tone than the undercoat color. The general effect is lighter than a shaded golden due to less tipping. Rims of eyes, lips and nose are outlined with black. Nose leather: Rose. Paw Pads: Black. Eye color: Green or blue-green. Disqualify for incorrect eye color, incorrect eye color being copper, yellow, golden, amber or any color other than green or blue-green.

NEW Color Standard for the Shaded Golden: Undercoat pale honey to bright apricot with a mantle of black tipping shading down from sides, face, head and tail. Legs to be the same tone as the face. Ear tufts, chin, chest, stomach and underside of the tail, consistent dilute color, much lighter in tone than the undercoat. The general effect is darker than a chinchilla golden due to more tipping. Rims of eyes, lips and nose are outlined with black. Nose leather: Rose. Paw Pads: Black. Eye color: Green or blue-green. Disqualify for incorrect eye color, incorrect eye color being copper yellow, gold, amber or any color other than green or blue-green.

The one thing that hasn't changed and I hope NEVER changes is the beautiful emerald green or blue-green eye color. No other Persian exhibits the most beautiful eyes of the silver or golden Persian. The eyes are truly the jewels of the cat. The standard is explicit in listing incorrect eye color as a cause disqualification in for both the silver and golden. While we realize there is no "perfect" cat, there are some faults that should definitely not be overlooked. Hopefully, these color revisions will supply much needed tools for our judges to recognize a "good" golden and a "not so good" golden in the show ring. In addition, it should encourage and give opportunity for the breeders to work towards improving our lovely goldens.

All knowledgeable golden exhibitors realize that there have been goldens to champion that perhaps should not have, or some beaten in the ring by a silver that perhaps should not have won. Let's bring out our "best" goldens, not just "A Golden" for the sake of showing a golden. Let's make them proud; after all, we are their biggest fans! Wonder which golden will be the first golden to grand under the new color standard?