Java Edition:Gold Ore (Item)
Gold ore was one of the first blocks, added in Classic 0.0.14a. It's item form first appeared in Classic 0.24 SURVIVAL TEST and first saved in Classic 0.25 SURVIVAL TEST. The item form has been unobtainable in two version ranges during Classic and Indev, once when it dropped gold blocks and a second time when the gold ore block did not generate.
Obtaining
Mining
From Classic 0.0.14a to Classic 0.25_05 Survival Test gold ore could be obtained by mining the block, and did not require any Silk Touch. This was recontinued in Indev 20100128 until 21w13a (1.17 Snapshot) because between Classic 0.26 Survival Test and Indev 20100125 gold ore dropped blocks of gold.
Classic
From Classic 0.28 to Classic 0.30c gold ore was available in the Classic inventory.
Indev Item Chests
From Indev 20100124-1 to Indev 20100128 new worlds would generate with the Indev House, and inside the house were debug chests. Between Indev 20100124 and Indev 20100125 the chests held items in stacks of 99, while in Indev 20100128 the chests held items in stacks of 100. Gold ore was one of the such items that generated inside the debug chests.
Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 Debug Chests
In Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 new worlds would generate with 11 debug chests. Within the debug chests were a wide variety of items most of which were available in there full stacks some were not. Gold ore was one of the such items that generated inside the debug chests, gold ore generated in the 1st and 4th chests from the left in the 14th and 25th slots respectively, in stacks of 64.
1st chest from the left.
4th chest from the left.
Silk Touch
Prior to 21w14a (1.17 Snapshot) gold ore would drop itself when mined, but from 21w14a (1.17 Snapshot) until 24w20a (present), when mining gold ore with a Silk Touch tool the block would drop itself instead of raw gold.