NATIVE GOLD. ...

Description

NATIVE GOLD
Dorlin, Maripasoula Commune, French Guiana
Goldfinger, El Dorado, the Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Savage Natives, Gold: the drive to possess this uniquely colored metal can easily become an all-consuming obsession. In spite of the fact that Gold has been rather vigorously sought everywhere on the planet reachable by humans, some of the areas that have produced significant quantities of this most desirable of metals, are quite under-represented in Gold collections. French Guiana is very definitely one of those under-represented localities. A placer mine at Dorlin; a tiny camp on one of the numberless rivers meandering through the jungle, produced this hefty example of Mankind's ultimate motivator. The massive high-Karat gold shown here is composed of multiple, coarse and large octahedral crystals showing some signs of stream wear. There is no matrix; the coffee colored river took care of that years ago. The approximate weight is 137 grams (4.40 Troy ounces): large even for this remote area. From the personal collection of Gilles Emringer, mine geologist at Dorlin. Holding this hard won prize, you can almost feel the heat, humidity and the endless kilometers of green in every direction. It has a custom labeled base and measures 1½ x 1 1/16 x 1½ inches.

Provenance: ex. Gilles Emringer Collection

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