SOLD
GOLD23-13
Gold in Quartz
Colorado Mine, Whitlock Mining District, Mother Lode Belt, Mariposa Co., California, USA
Small Cabinet, 7.4 x 6.2 x 5.0 cm
SOLD

This specimen is not only aesthetic but highly significant in the size range for the locality. Colorado Quartz Mine is one of the most famous of American gold mines, and worldwide for that matter! It has been worked on and off for decades but produces very little compared to the labor and work that go into it. It is a mine where luck is more important than science in discovery of pockets, and so relatively few pockets have come out despite tens of kilometers of digging underground. This is a hefty, 3-dimensional and volumetric gold specimen that has real weight in the hand. It is not a flat plate, but rather looks like a 3-D sculpture, almost organic in the way the thick growths erupt out of contrasting quartz matrix. The thick crystallization, gold, and robust crystals help to date it, and it has been in a private collection since that time. The crystals have a brightness and sparkle to them that, at its best, sets the material from this mine just a step ahead of crystallized gold from other California localities. It is a bit brighter and more colorful than the best Eagles Nest Mine material. The specimen masses 220 grams, and you can safely assume that 65-75 percent of that mass is pure gold. Purchased and held since 1983 by its prior owner, a gold collector in Phoenix, this is a significant small cabinet specimen with a wonderful historic style, expertly prepared and beautifully displayed.