Gold

This is the first of two Blogs on native gold. In the first I introduce the mineral and its properties, including a gallery of specimens exhibiting the crystal forms of gold and the effects of deposition conditions on forms of gold. Having just found out about it, I’ll also describe the deposition of gold by. . . Read More

In some minerals color is directly related to a metallic element, is characteristic, and can be useful in identification. As examples,  azurite as shown in Figure 1A, is always blue due to the presence of copper, and rhodochrosite, shown in Figure 1B, is always pink to red due to the presence of manganese,. However minerals such as fluorite, colorless in it self, can be yellow, blue, purple, or green due to low concentrations of metal impurities.

Tales of the discovery and loss of rich gold mines such as The Lost Dutchman in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona and the El Naranjal lost gold mine in the Sierra Mountains of  Mexico, as popularized by folklorist, J. Frank Dobie, in “Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver” have fascinated many of us. An extensive list. . . Read More

Having greatly enjoyed researching and writing about ancient and recent jewelry in my blog on Garnets (Glorious Garnets) and on silver jewelry in Silver II, I decided to present in this blog, “A Gallery of Ancient Gold Jewelry”, gold coinage and art works from around the world. Despite gold’s tendency to tarnish – its metallic. . . Read More

This is the first of two Blogs on native gold. In the first I introduce the mineral and its properties, including a gallery of specimens exhibiting the crystal forms of gold and the effects of deposition conditions on forms of gold. Having just found out about it, I’ll also describe the deposition of gold by. . . Read More