GOLD QUARTZ SPECIMENS .75 GRAM NATURAL GOLD AND QUARTZ

Description

GOLD QUARTZ
SPECIMEN
U.S.A Gold
F
or gold collectors, here's something from an old U.S. prospector's poke. This small specimen is comprised mainly of quartz with a fair amount of gold showing. You will not be getting your money's worth, but I guarantee VG (visible gold) in every piece. The value is in the fact that it's a genuine gold specimen, not some rock with golden aspirations. I see lots of those being advertised elsewhere. I mined gold for nineteen years, know something about this metallic mineral, and have no intention of trying to sell anyone Fool's Gold. Occurrences like what you see here is an anomaly - a deviation from the norm uncommon by it's very existence. Specimen is from California.
Envy the lucky man who stumbles on a ledge and then can blast or hammer auriferous (gold-bearing) ore directly off a vein. Pocket-hunters in gold country occasionally encounter 'blowouts' - rich quartz lenses right on the surface of the ground. Quartz veins are seldom uniform in richness, but now and then, one of these bonanza pockets is encountered. Tracing an exposed vein across a mountainside, maybe only a few small lenses within that entire span will be rich enough to yield specimen-grade ore. Beyond these infrequent occurrences, a hot spot ordinarily 'pinches out' to nothing or returns to being 'run-of-the-mill' (lower grade) ore again. In gold prospecting, there's such a thing as the 'three-pocket-theory'. Erosion along a quartz vein reaches richer portions of ore waiting for some lucky stiff to blunder along and find them at the surface. According to the theory, there could be two more pockets buried at indeterminate depths below the first pocket...unless, that is, the one you've encountered is already the second or the third one.
If you're shopping for bullion, these little chunks of high grade are a lousy investment, but 'native gold' enthusiasts may be elated to add them to their collection. I sell the real deal here, not Fool's Gold.
Many offerings in this Ebay category contain no visible gold at all.
Some specimens require a pocket lens to see the Au. If you've a piece of genuine gold ore in hand, yet the gold can't be seen, crushing, milling, and panning it may produce specks of flour. I've bought specimens which showed gold, but were otherwise faked in a number of ways. Many people like to deal in gold even when their overall knowledge of it is minimal. Considering the price of gold today, small wonder, eh? There's another class of sellers offering plain silicate rock, generally quartz, feldspar, calcite, carbonates et al, containing no visible gold whatsoever. What galls me is they know it's fools gold. These leaverites glisten with mica, stained-quartz crystals, or pyrites. Chalcopyrite bears a strong resemblance to gold, but unlike gold, it will crush up. Gold is malleable. It's fairly soft and will bend. If specimens are advertised as simulations, as gold ore, or as Fool's Gold, that's o.k. as long as they're not misrepresented as naturally-occurring, gold quartz specimens.
Years ago,
finding one small rock like any of these would have made my day. If you've hunted for gold in the bush, you probably know the feeling. Anytime a prospector is lucky enough to make a significant discovery, it's a great feeling...kind of like "I'm sitting on top of the world."
Please check my feedback for any disputes arising from non-authenticity issues. There are none.
S
pecimen weight:
.75
G
ram -
11.7
G
rains
S
ize -
9.1X8.5X7
mm long
R
uler (if shown) is
1/4"
wide (actual size).
A
U.S. 10 cent piece is often used to show size of the item for sale.
FAST REFUND
I
n
case you're unhappy with this specimen, I offer a money back guarantee which includes your initial S&H.
W
ith regards to my gold quartz parcels, gold quartz specimens, slabs, and cabochon, I only deal in rocks containing naturally-occurring visible gold.
I think most of us interested in oro (Atomic symbol Au) would like to see authentic, native gold in their specimens; gold that was put there by nature's elemental forces, not by some man's hand. It's an aesthetic we share and that's what I sell - authentic, natural, gold quartz (with VG visible gold).
Weight Conversions:
15.43 GRAINS = 1 GRAM
31.103 GRAMS = 1 TROY OUNCE
24 GRAINS = 1 PENNYWEIGHT (DWT)
20 DWT = 1 TROY OUNCE
480 GRAINS = 1 TROY OUNCE
S & H
Combined shipping offered. For multiple item purchases, please request an invoice (from the seller) when you buy more than one item.
U.S. BUYERS
S & H is .00 (shipped with USPS tracking to all U.S. destinations).
Combined shipping offered.
ATTN: INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS
INTNL. BUYERS S&H - .00 (via First Class Parcel)
PAYMENTS
For U.S. buyers: We accept
paypal.
For intnl. customers: We accept
paypal.
Pay securely with
www.paypal
.
Payment must be made within 7 days from close of  auction.  We ship as soon as funds clear. If you have questions, please ask them before bidding.
REFUNDS
We leave no stones un-turned insuring our customers get what they bargained for.
If you're not satisfied with this item, contact me. Then, if the problem can't be resolved, return product within 30 days in  'as purchased' condition for a full refund (S & H included. For those who know the ups and downs of the precious metals market, this is a heck of a deal. Buy it and if the market drops dramatically in the next 30 days, you can return it for what you paid for it. That's a pretty cool insurance policy for precious metal buyers. I think most specimen buyers, however, are more interested in these rocks for their intrinsic beauty and collectability than they are for their gold content.
WHAT IS REAL PAYDIRT?
Real paydirt was created by nature, not by someone weighing out gold, then dropping some into a bucket or zip-lock bag full of dirt. As a common-sense placer miner, I prided myself in being able to locate pay-streaks both in the form of virgin pay layers and as placer redeposits. If I still had mining claims, any paydirt removed from them and offered for sale would be direct from the original deposit from whence it came. It would not be random dirt or paydirt salted with extra 'color'. What gold you found inside this dirt/clay/caliche/sand/gravel et el would be placed there by nature, not planted by some man's hand. Neither you nor I would know what was in that alluvium. So now you see why I don't sell paydirt. I know good dirt when I find it. Odds are in a pound of bona-fide, untampered-with paydirt, you would find a little gold. How much is anybody's guess. The amount found would depend upon the law of averages, the tenor of your ore, but mostly, on a person's luck.
All of my advertised gold quartz specimens, slabs, cabochons, and gold nuggets are authentic and contain naturally-occurring, native gold and/or are composed almost entirely of naturally-occurring gold (i.e. gold nuggets, gold flakes, wire gold specimens). The purity of this gold will vary, but if it's from California, you can count on the percentage being fairly high, say from 70% to 95% pure. For comparision, a 14K gold wedding band is 58% pure gold.
A LIFETIME OF GOLD
Prior to starting up my Ebay store, I was a lone wolf, small-scale placer miner, gold dredger, and rustic gold-nugget jeweler. When not mining, I created pendants, bracelets, and earrings by attaching bails, jump rings, posts, and karat gold wire stock to natural gold nuggets and flakes.  For over eighteen years, I followed the Golden Fleece and continue my work even today in this trade. Wherever there was gold, running water, and a minable claim, I dredged, sluiced, panned, and/or used a rocker-box. In the arid desert, dry-washers and metal detectors were employed. A 1976 Ford Econoline van hauled myself and my mining gear to the claims being worked. It was my sanctuary from predators, two legged or four. An equipment rack was installed on the roof and through my itinerant mining years, that rugged, 4-wheeled mule pulled her weight. That was a terrific prospecting rig. By towing a small box trailer, I had everything needed to haul dredging gear in and out of mining claims. A four-wheel drive van would have added versatility, yet wasn't usually necessary. Many people ask, "did you strike it rich"? Well, I found lots of nuggets, some over two ounces. I even hit short stretches of an ounce of gold a day. Today, imagine how much money that represents. So how well did I do? You be the judge. During my most productive seasons, there were hardly any nuggets found. Most of my haul was in fine gold, small flakes, flour. The flour was reclaimed from any amalgam I dredged up. Quicksilver (Mercury/Mg) is very good at capturing fine and flour gold, but it's also toxic and should never be released into the environment.
Some argue that miners release Mercury into the ecosystem. I contend modern-day dredgers reclaim it. In many of the hardest-worked rivers and creeks, the old-time miners used 'Quicksilver' or "Quick" unsparingly. Because of it's affinity for gold, they loaded up their sluice box riffles with Mg (atomic symbol for Mercury). It seems when mercury and gold are both clean, they have a molecular affinity for one another. When they come together, they bond or unite. There is misinformation circulating which says they become alloyed. They don't. Mercury coats the gold and, when there's a lot of 'quick', the gold is absorbed. Quick doesn't dissolve gold like, say, aqua regia. In practice, finer gold moving down a sluice box sticks to the Mercury (or vice versa) and thus becomes an amalgam. Many years ago, a great deal of Quicksilver was released into watersheds into watersheds where it remained as 'hundred-year-deposits'. These flood re-deposits are represented by the uppermost sediments washing downstream. In other instances, cracks in bedrock, where bedrock is exposed, will act as mercury traps. Until the next major flood event arrives to create some major water turbulence, these sediments temporarily rest close to the surface of bedded gravels or down on the bedrock of a streambed. Moving ahead to the present, lining riffles with 'quick' is no longer practiced by any placer miners I have ever known or heard of here in the U.S. Nonetheless, you will find it difficult to convince or persuade folks who are opposed to mining by any means that miners aren't dumping Mercury into watersheds. These are blatant distortions of modern practice. In their ongoing efforts to stop small-scale placer mining, they resort to perpetuating the myth that miners release Mercury into ecosystems. I have found such disinformation spread all across the internet. It would appear many people's minds are closed to the facts. Write your congressman asking them to consider the unwarranted misinformation and reopen California to small-scale recreational gold mining. The economic stimulus this would provide to both small scale miners and to the state would be enormous.
So, to answer the question, "did I strike it rich?" Hardly any ex-gold miner can truthfully say he struck it rich unless you count independent living as a measure of wealth. I do and boy, did I hit it big!
G
old of
E
ldorado
3-10-13