Gonna give a contrarian answer since basically 'shiny, malleable' covers it:
Firstly it doesn't have a unique status in human society, it has been mogged by Platinum, even colloquially (RIAA certification, Platinum jubilee etc.).
What remaining cachet it has is purely a matter of convention and history, similar to the adorning of buildings with Doric or Corinthian columns.
Secondly, if there was an intrinsic quality about it that made it interesting it would be it's color, and what is unique about gold (and copper) is that the frequency response is closer to that of human skin than any other metal. What I mean is in the same way we are conditioned towards Paredolic images of faces in random patterns, we are intrinsically attracted to skin-like colors. Or at least tones and colors that look better on skin.
This also why we tend to prefer incandescent lighting to, say, fluorescent lighting or "cooler" lights
