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- Nov 6, 2018
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Hello!
I found this forum while seeking information on a gift my wife and I received from my wife's grandmother, Dorothy. Before Dorothy passed away several years ago, she gave us a small glass vial that she'd been keeping in a safety deposit box. Inside the vial are gold nuggets, gold dust, and many tiny stones of various colors that look like gemstones. A few of the rougher-looking stones are highly magnetic.
When she gave us the vial, it was accompanied by this note:
"This vial of gold was given to me by Merril's mother, Alice, some time after I married Merrill in 1948. As I understand the story from her, the vial was given to her by her father who had mined the gold in Australia."
So, the vial came from my wife's grandmother's mother-in-law's father. I have no idea when the gold and stones were collected. The vial was capped with a paper plug that looks like either a piece of newspaper or a book leaf. I haven't unrolled the paper plug yet because it looks very fragile, but I may open it up next to see if it has some clue as to dates, etc.
I have opened the vial and separated the contents. The largest nugget is .4 grams, a couple are .3 or so. The nuggets together weigh about 2.5 grams; the dust weight is about 3.9 grams. All the "gemstones" are tiny. Also, there is a tiny glass bead in the vial too, obviously found along with the other items.
It's obviously not enough to retire on!
We plan to pass the contents on to another one of Dorothy's descendants someday anyway. I was just hoping I could find some more info on what the stones might be, or the origin of the bead. I'll peruse the forum here looking for clues. If I can get closeup pics of the stones and bead I'll try to post them up here and see what others think they might be. It'd be nice to shed some light on what's in Dorothy's vial!
Thanks for reading!
Andy in CA
I found this forum while seeking information on a gift my wife and I received from my wife's grandmother, Dorothy. Before Dorothy passed away several years ago, she gave us a small glass vial that she'd been keeping in a safety deposit box. Inside the vial are gold nuggets, gold dust, and many tiny stones of various colors that look like gemstones. A few of the rougher-looking stones are highly magnetic.
When she gave us the vial, it was accompanied by this note:
"This vial of gold was given to me by Merril's mother, Alice, some time after I married Merrill in 1948. As I understand the story from her, the vial was given to her by her father who had mined the gold in Australia."
So, the vial came from my wife's grandmother's mother-in-law's father. I have no idea when the gold and stones were collected. The vial was capped with a paper plug that looks like either a piece of newspaper or a book leaf. I haven't unrolled the paper plug yet because it looks very fragile, but I may open it up next to see if it has some clue as to dates, etc.
I have opened the vial and separated the contents. The largest nugget is .4 grams, a couple are .3 or so. The nuggets together weigh about 2.5 grams; the dust weight is about 3.9 grams. All the "gemstones" are tiny. Also, there is a tiny glass bead in the vial too, obviously found along with the other items.
It's obviously not enough to retire on!
We plan to pass the contents on to another one of Dorothy's descendants someday anyway. I was just hoping I could find some more info on what the stones might be, or the origin of the bead. I'll peruse the forum here looking for clues. If I can get closeup pics of the stones and bead I'll try to post them up here and see what others think they might be. It'd be nice to shed some light on what's in Dorothy's vial!Thanks for reading!
Andy in CA
