Gold in Quartz

Item Description

The famous Idarado Mine is one of the most famous ore bodies in Colorado. This prolific locality is certainly one of if not THE most well-known mine in the San Juan Mountains. It was a major Gold producer, but actual specimens of are quite rare to find on the market. This piece is a sliced sections of the ore itself featuring patches of rich metallic Gold in Quartz and sulfide matrix. If you collect Colorado Gold specimens or simply interesting pieces from the Idarado Mine, don't miss out on this one. The piece was mined in the 1960s. Weight is 12.95 grams. For reference, the unique name for this locality comes from combination of the Idaho based Sunshine Mining Company and Newmont Mining in Colorado {IDA-ho + coloRADO = IDARADO}).
This piece comes from the personal collection of Colorado mining legend, Dave Bergman, the maternal grandfather of Brian Kosnar. Dave is now retired from mining, but he worked for decades in various mines underground in Colorado, as a miner, mechanic, engineer, shift boss and foreman. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the foreman and the primary person in charge of mining and specimen recovery at the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado in the 1970s alongside his son-in-law, Rich Kosnar. This project what was the FIRST ever operation for specimen recovery at this historic locality. A full-page photograph of Dave can be seen mining underground at the Sweet Home in on page 58 of Peter Bancroft's book "Gem and Crystal Treasures".