The Crown Jewel is a massive leaf gold specimen from California. It weighs a huge 44 pounds, and is the largest crystalline gold structure in existence today. It is over three times larger than the famous Fricot Nugget.
This gold nugget was found in Jamestown, California on Christmas Day in 1992 by the Senora Mining Company. Initially the miners believed that it was just a piece of discarded rusting metal from a piece of mining equipment, but further investigation proved that they had discovered a huge gold in quartz specimen.
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This amazing specimen was eventually purchased by Ironstone Vineyards, which is why it is now often called “Ironstone’s Crown Jewel”. The original specimen actually weighed about 63 troy pounds before preparation, but after soaking the piece in hydrofluoric acid to remove much of the quartz matrix from the upper part of the specimen, it ended up weighing roughly 44 troy pound. The preparation process took over a year to complete, but resulted in more visible gold and a more attractive piece overall.
This gold specimen is currently on display at the Ironstone Vineyards, located in Murphy, California just 15 miles from where it was originally discovered. It can be viewed during regular business hours. There are also many items on display from early California Gold Rush, including old mining equipment, letters, photographs, and other relics.
