Gold

$2,500.00

$40.00 shipping
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Ships from USA

Crystal ClassicsFeatured

Tucson, Arizona, USA

7,543 for sale·132 sold

Transylvania may well be associated with Count Dracula, but in reality, it is wonderfully crystallized Native Gold which makes this region of Romania so famous to mineral collectors. Although the provenance of this splendid Native Gold on micro-crystallized limestone is unknown, careful consideration does suggest Transylvania. Crystallized Native Gold from there has been known since Roman times, but most specimens seen in collections date to the 18th and 19th centuries when it was part of the Hungarian Empire. The Native Gold on this specimen forms folded stippled sheets interlaced with one another, often with hackly edges and variations in lustre between semi-metallic and brightly reflective. It covers an area of 3.8 cm by up to 1.4 cm wide on a mid-grey crystalline limestone matrix with a surface coating of sub-millimetre light grey Calcite crystals. The Native Gold is a bright yellowish gold indicating high purity and in one small area has a surface coating of pale pinkish rose gold. A rich handsome Native Gold from the John Ruskin Collection (1819-1900).