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THREE3 GQ
GOLD QUARTZ SPECIMENS
For collectors of native gold, here's something from an old prospector's poke. These 3 pebbles are a bit larger than what's normally included in my mini specimen lots. They're comprised of quartz, other gangue minerals, and gold, VG (visible gold). You'll not get your money's worth, but I guarantee there's oro in each rock. These are authentic gold quartz specimens with VG (visible gold), not shiny rocks with golden aspirations. Therein lies the value. Auriferous (gold-bearing) rocks containing VG are rare mineral anomalies. A few years ago, you never heard the term 'anomaly'. Now, you hear it everywhere. "Hey, your cat's a real anomaly." Looking inside ICMJ's (the California Mining Journal) latest edition, there's one California historical account on the subject of 'pocket mining'. One story deals with Alexander 'Pike' Bell, an 1800's era prospector, whose feats of discovery around Auburn became the stuff of legend. Pocket-hunters in gold country occasionally encounter 'blowouts', incredibly-rich quartz lenses practically oozing gold right at the surface. Within any long expanse of exposed quartz, like, perhaps, a vein encircling a small foothill, maybe one or two small zones yield a bonanza pocket - every prospector's dream! Sometimes, discrete eluvial placers occur directly beneath these 'blowouts'. Two claims I staked in the SW Arizona desert contained eluvial placers. That was some beautiful gold, mates; leaves, crinkled crystals, folded-up wires, all very high in purity. If you're looking for killer bullion deals, these little chunks of high grade are a lousy investment, but 'native gold' enthusiasts may not think so. I sell the real deal, not Fool's Gold. Years ago, finding one small rock like any of these would have made my day. If you've hunted gold in the bush, you know the feeling. Anytime a prospector finds it where nobody else thought to look is a reminder of why he went looking for it in the first place. Gold's been known to do some funny things to folks. Please check my feedback for any non-authenticity issues. There are none. Specimen weight, COMBINED: .68 Gram - 10.6 Grains Sizes - 6 up to 8 mm long, each piece Weight Conversions: 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 $4.00 (shipped with USPS tracking to all U.S. destinations). Combined shipping offered. ATTN: INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS INTNL. BUYERS S&H - $14.00 (via First Class Parcel)
PAYMENTS 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. A LIFE OF GOLD Prior to opening up this store, I was a small-scale placer miner. When not shooting nuggets, dredging, drywashing, or prospecting, I spent my time making jewelry from rough, raw, natural gold. "Trinity River...running past the town of old Helena. Once untamed, now a ghost of the old wild west. Cause the dreams of wealth soon vanished, leaving her alone in the wilderness. Stubbornly-standing bricks in a silent field.". G. Ralph I followed the Golden Fleece for over eighteen years and continue my work in the trade today. It's true I mostly mine with a 'silver pick' now, but there was a time I swung a steel one. I didn't use heavy machinery unless you count 6" and 8" suction dredges or hand-fed, motor-driven drywashers. It was a minimalist approach, but one I embraced and recommend. Sure, heavy equipment can move a lot of aggregate, but that doesn't mean much if you're not processing 'pay' i.e. good, gold-bearing gravel. Miners hooked on the idea of using big machinery open themselves up to aggravation, waste, worry, and lost production by thinking big is the only way to fly. Stuck with derelict backhoes, Cats, excavators, rock trucks, et al, you invite constant breakdowns, stoppages, and unexpected expenses. Then, there's permitting and all the bureaucratic hoops you'll be forced to jump through. It's my thinking that 'less is more'. Much depends, of course, on the nature of the ground you're working. If going for deep pay, gold strata with who knows how much overburden covering it, you've really little choice but to use big equipment. Well, there actually is one alternative and that's how the old timers did it. What I'm talking about entailed pick and shovel work - digging like a gopher with one's furry little feet. But, of course, I'm kidding. In fact, they used their hands and backs sinking vertical shafts straight down through old alluvial masses. When some ancient channel offered an open face with bedrock already exposed, drift mining was another common practice employed by the old timers. Shallow gravel and surface deposits lend themselves well to small-scale, hand mining with a pick and shovel. This is especially true in large rivers holding rich, close-to-the-surface, gravel bar deposit. High-bankers, sluice boxes (if allowed), rocker boxes all become very practical tools for working exposed bars below the water table. Conversely, in the arid desert, dry-washers and metal detectors are reasonably efficient and economical. Two hard-working blokes (male or female) with pickaxes and shovels can process a surprising amount of material over the course of a day. These days, if you're running pay that assays a 1/4 oz per yard, two people getting down and dirty might fare quite well. Granted, that's exceptionally-good material, but don't think it's not out there. I know better. GILA
CITY/MCPHAUL PLACER
At the South end of the Laguna Mountains, about ten miles northeast of Yuma, lie the Las Flores and MacPhaul mining districts. It was here at a local cantina named the Gold Miner's Camp I first met up with George Massie, father of the GPAA/LDMA. As I recall, George was a big, genial fellow. One took an immediate liking to him. I'm not sure why he was in Yuma, but the fact that gold mining activity in the district went back well over two hundred years probably had something to do with it. Then again, maybe, like myself, he liked to indulge in a cold beer on some scorching-hot Arizona afternoon. Turning down Adair Park road, a motorist eyes canyons running back into the SE tip of the Laguna Mtns. The alluvial outflow from these, in spots, contained placer gold. Bedrock gravels lying at the bottom of local arroyos and high benches undoubtedly were scraped out by old-time 'coyote miners'. Those fearless fellows went wherever they figured there might be gold. They set up windlasses, broke out their pickaxes, and headed for bedrock however deep it might be. Hard rock veins were, likewise, 'ratholed' as the old argonauts traced leads back into country rock looking for high-grade pockets of good ore. Talk about hard work - blasting, single and double-jack drilling, mucking tunnels out by hand. Back in the 1800s, a relatively small handful of miners probably managed to make beans mining these veins and placers. I seriously doubt many fared much better. Nonetheless, considerable effort was exhausted on the Macphaul placer. Terrace workings show the old timers hammered it fairly hard. Close to the canyon entrance, coyote holes are plentiful. It's anybody's guess what diggers encountered once they reached bedrock. I do know there were some nice nuggets taken out of the main wash. My personal best, a high-purity character nugget, weighed 2.3 pennyweight. FYI - It took several days of detecting to find it. Heading southeast across the river, you'll find the ghost town of Gila City, site of considerable placer activity and a bit of lode mining. I tried metal detecting local drywashes with my old Garrett Deepseeker II. This proved futile, but my dad and I swept up some decent color beneath a mammoth jig-plant deserted here possibly in the 1950s or 1960s. This machine, with conveyors, grizzly, et al, having lain unused and unmaintained for many years, was in serious disrepair. One could readily see what they had going on. It's a good bet the claimholders or lessess lost a bundle trying to develop that property. Then too, maybe the whole shebang was nothing but a big stock swindle dreamt up to bilk investors overseas and back east. Based on my own experiences, one truism stands out. Big equipment does not necessarily mean big profits. Most of the time, it's the small-scale miner who winds up with a better profit to expense ratio. A long burro prospector's expenses being what they are and all. Once you've begun your own hunt for wild gold, you'll see the truth in what I'm saying. Gold of Eldorado 3-10-13
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