Description
Hope's Nose is world famous for its beautiful dendritic, fern-like, filaments of Native Gold embedded within cream-white Calcite veins. Specimens are carefully prepared using acid to etch away the Calcite to expose the Native Gold. This miniature specimen from Malcolm Southwood's collection, no. MS 1999.045, is one of the best ones I have seen, not just for the size - with sprays of Native Gold across an area of Calcite 4.7 x 1.5 cm - but for the intricate detail of the Native Gold crystals. Under magnification the Native Gold is seen to form the most perfect of 'fern leaves' with the longest 'branches' reaching over 1 cm in length. Nature at its most wonderful.
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