Gold on Albite (rare association specimen) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

While Gold specimens are well-known from the Pamour #1 Mine in the Timmins area of Ontario, it's RARE to find Gold on Albite. As a matter of fact, it's rare to find Gold with any kind of Feldspar, period. The only other locality that I can think of where Gold is found with Feldspar in any noteworthy capacity is the Nugget Pond Mine in Newfoundland. With that said, I should point out that mindat.org does not report Albite as occurring at the Pamour #1 Mine, but I did find a specimen on the database (also from the Timmins area) that mentions the same 1462 Stope locality that was on the label for this specimen ( https://www.mindat.org/photo-277302.html ). It's quite possible that this piece is actually from the McIntyre Mine in the Tisdale Township, so please keep that in mind while bidding. This piece is essentially a solid group of semi-"rosettes" of white, lustrous, translucent Albite, but if you look under HIGH magnification, there are tiny spots where bright metallic Native Gold can be seen!! We have photographed the piece with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the tiny spots of Gold, but please note, they are certainly micros! With that said, this is a remarkable and worthwhile specimen for any collector of Gold, native elements or Canadian minerals. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#11326). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017).