Home > Silver and Gold Minerals – January 7 > MS1480 Gold after Calaverite
Gold after Calaverite - Sold
- Cripple Creek
- Teller County
- Colorado
- U.S.A.
- 6.5 by 3.6 by 2.4 cm – Small cabinet specimen (under 10 cm)
Calaverite is a gold telluride. The mineral name refers to Calaveras County, California, wherein the type locality lies (Genth, 1868). Unlike krennerite or sylvanite, silver is not essential to the crystal structure of calaverite (Bindi et al., 2009). When heated, tellurium is driven off, leaving metallic gold. Hot late stage fluids can cause this replacement.
This is a specimen of gold pseudomorphous after calaverite. The gold is fine-grained and orangy-yellow. The platy pseudomorphs reach 15 by 10 mm and are embedded in a quartz matrix. Exceptional example of this exotic pseudomorph.
