Image: Gold-270411

Description: Gold Locality: Lake Carey, Western Australia, Australia (Locality at mindat.org) Size: 3.8 x 3.5 x 2.4 cm. I have seen a lot of Australian golds over the years and among them there are few I treasure more than specimens which show these strange, large crystallized casts, very rarely found amidst the common "nuggets". This is an unusual locality from which not much specimen gold is produced, and this specimen was in the F. John Barlow Collection (sold off in 1998). He was a notorious gold collector, with hundreds of specimens from worldwide localities, each aiming for a unique quality or feature. It has a huge octahedron measuring 2 cm across. This piece now is actually a thick cast of gold over an earlier (one wonders, brief?!) generation of the ancient octahedral gold crystal once at its core. Somehow, during the specimen's formation or a later re-melting sequence, the form of the original octahedron was preserved as a hollow cast here. Nevertheless, the specimen is surprisingly hefty at 77 grams and is very robust. I find it particularly interesting to see the 2 cm octahedron perched next to a ropey, elongated, "tortured" outgrowth, making for a nice contrast.
Title: Gold-270411
Credit: http://www.mindat.org/photo-270411.html
Author: Rob Lavinsky / iRocks.com
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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