Native Gold in Quartz - McLaughlin Mine, California 2.64 grams

Native gold caught mid-branch in white quartz — this 2.64-gram cabochon shows the delicate, tree-like (arborescent) growth that makes the McLaughlin material so collectible.

The gold here is elemental and entirely natural, mined at California's McLaughlin Mine in the 1980s and set aside by the mine's own geologist from his personal study samples. It formed in a hydrothermal vein, where the dendritic gold threads its way through white quartz against a dark mudstone backdrop — the kind of mineral melange that lapidary artists prize. Under longwave UV, some of this material fluoresces a bright yellow to green.

Mineral: Native (elemental) gold in quartz with mudstone
Locality: McLaughlin Mine, California, USA
Color: Bright gold in white quartz with black mudstone
Formation: Arborescent/dendritic gold in a hydrothermal vein deposit

One of a kind — the 2.64-gram cabochon pictured is exactly the piece you'll receive.