Gold var. Electrum

specimen number:
2312346

location:
Nagyag (Sacaramb), Hunedoara Co., Romania

description:
Fine old Romanian classic, this thin platy bright crystallized gold, the variety known as electrum, on matrix with sphalerite. The specimen is said to have been mined in 1790.

Nagyag, known today as Sacaramb in Hunedoara County, Romania, is a legendary historic mining settlement nestled in the Metaliferi Mountains. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the complex structure of an ancient Neogene stratovolcano, featuring epithermal gold-silver-tellurium veins cutting through volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Discovered in the mid-eighteenth century, the mines quickly became one of the most celebrated and profitable precious metal producers in Europe. Nagyag is world-renowned among mineralogists as a premier type locality that has yielded more than one hundred distinct mineral species, including several rare tellurides and sulfosalts like nagyagite which was named directly after the town.

Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, often containing minor amounts of copper and other metals, which gives it a pale yellow or silvery-white color. Geologically, it forms in hydrothermal vein deposits, epithermal systems, and placer gravels, typically crystallizing alongside native gold and quartz under low to moderate temperatures. Historically, electrum has been utilized since ancient times, notably by the Lydians in present-day Turkey to mint some of the earliest known coins in human history before pure gold and silver refining techniques became widespread.

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