Marcasite, Quartz

This very displayable specimen features a cluster of milky white quartz coated in a fine layer of glittering metallic green-brass marcasite, an unusual find from a locality better known for its stibnite specimens. It comes from the well-known but long-defunct McLaughlin Mine in California, a site historically worked for gold, silver, lead, mercury, and antimony.

Discovered in 1865, the McLaughlin deposit is a large hot spring-type gold deposit located in the northern Coast Ranges of California. Mining operations took place intermittently between 1863 and 1945 at the faulted contact between the Coast Range ophiolite and the Great Valley sequence. This is a fine cabinet sized example from a historically significant locality.

*Comes with an old Shannon Family Minerals label and is ex. Gordon Nelson collection