I tried this on the Gold discussion but no replies, I thought I'd ask here. Occasionally I see gold nuggets offered for at Siverstackers I don't know much about them. What fineness would they be or would it vary. Also are they merely a curiosity or is there any value/merit in purchasing some for a stack?
Thanks for that. I didn't think they'd be of value in a stack but rather instead a conversation piece. Nobody to talk to so I'll pass. Curiously I was looking at some of your old blogs as you replied. Cheers!
If you watch the nugget market on ebay, you can see that nuggets fetch a higher price than spot, easily 30 bucks more per gram is common. They have a collectabillity beyond gold price because they are a mineral specimen. Fancy shapes add a little more appeal. All deposits are different but carat weight can be usually something like 22--23 ct (of coarse it can be a lot less) with most of the rest being silver and other metals it has come in contact with. A nugget that is all gold is called a nugget. A piece that contains stone is called a specimen. Quartz, and Ironstone are often bound up with gold. Crystalline nuggets are quite often found in salt lakes and usually very pure. There is an interesting theory about the formation of nuggets, which has a lot of interesting science to back the idea. The current accepted theory is that molten quartz came to the surface in volcanos carrying molten gold that solidified with it. Then there is the supergene theory, that suggests there is many ways gold can form into lumps of metal in the ground from mineral deposition through bacteria eating their way through whatever stuff soil bacteris eat. Basically the suggestion is that the gold is there in salt form deposited by hydrothermal vents and such and the bacteria convert it back into metal. There are various bacteria that have been found and proven to convert gold salts back into metal form. There is also the idea that piezo electric currents in the earth and stone attract metal ions and basically electroplate onto pieces of stone .
@m3sca1 Thanks for the details. Your background info will give me some topics to read into down the track. Someday I might grab one offered here just for the heck of it.
