Gold on Quartz (ex Rich Kosnar Collection)

Item Description

A rare matrix Gold specimen from the classic mining district around Alma, Colorado. The piece features small patches of bright Gold set against a gemmy to opaque grey Quartz matrix having a slickenslide surface. This piece is from the famous Richard A. Kosnar Colorado collection, (specimen number 55/143), and his label indicates that it was mined circa 1870. The Phillips Lode (mine) was located in 1860 by Joseph Higginbotham, aka "Buckskin Joe", whom the gulch in which this mine (and several other including the Sweet Home) was named after. The back of the label states that this piece was once part of the Butler family collection (G. Montague Butler, Bert S. Butler and Waldo Butler). Bert S. Butler wrote many USGS Professional Papers during the 1920s and 1930s, and Rich Kosnar obtained much of his collection from his son Waldo.