RDT---
Well, we see the gold piece because light is reflecting off it, and back to our eyes, for one. It reflects a certain frequencies of light better than others, and shades of light reflected are differently reflected, according to it's exact surface form. And then if you touch it, and feel it's weight and hardness, smell it, and so forth, the different senses come into play. Scientifically, observing something with your eyes will not cause it to degrade, because you are merely receiving the light it reflects.
However, there can be other factors which can be at work when you look at something, which are beyond the empirical, but I don't think you are referring to that sort of thing. And it upsets some people to consider it, so I am reluctant to bring it up on it's own, in a public forum.
Your question about the scientific functions involved in observing the piece of gold jewelry, does bring up even more related possibilities. A metal detector emits EMF radiation at a frequency which it determines, and that radiation creates a current within a piece of gold which is within it's field, and that current radiates it's own EMF, at that same frequency, but at a different phase due to the conversions to current and again to EMF waves, and the metal detector's receive circuitry then picks that up and can measure the "phase shift" for gold.
But gold also has it's own resonant frequency, as does everything. As in the effect of striking a tuning fork with a single whack will result in the fork resonating at it's own frequency, I wonder what a lightning strike does to gold? And I wonder if whatever it might emit, as a result of the strike, has some electrochemical effect on it's surroundings? In addition to the usual chemical reactions with gold, there are also many known electrolysis reactions, such as plating and de-plating, with various metals. And both the chemical and electrochemical reactions all have certain by products, many of which are gaseous.
I'm not sure what direction you wanted to go with your question, but that's what I thought of about it.
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