Crystalline Gold Nuggets

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Syndyne

Shaun Galman
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
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Lightning Ridge, N.S.W.
Hi all,

Here's a slide of a couple of nuggets that contained gold crystals in the cubic form. I can't offer much information on the area they were found other than it was somewhere in the GT in Victoria back in the late 70's. These were owned at the time by the gentleman who found The Pride Of Australia nugget.

My Uncle had them photographed (at the same time as the PoA nugget) and stored on slides (the best storage medium for photos back then). The sizes were quite good for these type of gold specimens. The larger one on the right weighed somewhere in the two to three ounce range (roughly an inch and a half across) and the smaller on the left was a bit over an ounce.

These would've made a great addition to a good collection!

1375772432_crystalline_nuggets_copyshaun_galman2013.jpg


I couldn't even begin to imagine the price these would fetch today?!
Always pays to check your nuggets carefully just in case you have a natural crystalline gold structure(s) in one or two :)

Kindest regards,
Shauno.
 
Cheers HTY!

Some really beautiful specimens there. :eek:

There's often some confusion between crystalline gold and free gold that has been simply cleaned from the surrounding quartz reef. I may be wrong, but the piece from the Australian Museum doesn't look like true crystalline gold to me. It's just reef gold cleared of the host quartz. -I wouldn't mind owning it though! :D

The true crystalline structures have to have an associated system for crystal classification like Isometric-Hexoctohedral and Octahedral just to name a few. Most of these have that wonderful cubic or extruded linear-structured look about them. There are some other amazing nuggets in the first and second links that are perfect examples of this, particularly those on the Miners Den site. :)

That piece of Jack Lange's is a real beauty. What a day that must've been! I always marvel at that when I come across his ad in the AG&T mag.
Kindest regards,
Shauno.
 

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