Golden nugget stone – properties, virtues & benefits
Gold nugget stone is a rare and precious natural gemstone that shines with a brilliant golden color. This stone is sought after for its beauty and value, and is often used in the manufacture of high-end jewelry. Find out more about this fascinating stone and its significance in the world of jewelry.
GOLDEN PEPITE STONE CHARACTERISTICS
- Chakra: Solar plexus.
- Properties: Wealth, prosperity, self-confidence.
- Astrology: Sun.
- Zodiac: Leo.
- Elements: Fire, Earth.
- Colors: Golden yellow.
- Hardness: 2.5 to 3 on the Mohs scale.
- Chemical Formula: Au (gold).
- Associated god: Apollo
GOLDEN – ITS HISTORY
DISCOVERY
In 1839, Johann August Sutter, a Swiss merchant of German origin, settled in California and decided to create an agricultural complex in the Sacramento Valley, on the most fertile hills. Over time, his farm prospered, and in 1848, he decided to build a sawmill. To this end, he hired James Marshall, a traveling laborer. On the morning of January 24, 1848, as Marshall began work on the sawmill, he dug a Pit to carry water to the future building. By chance, he discovered a few gold nuggets in the hole. Marshall immediately alerted Johann Sutter, and together they tested the nuggets, discovering that they were in fact real stones composed of 96% gold. This serendiPitous discovery sparked the “California dream” and the great North American gold rush.
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At first, Johann Sutter wanted to keep the discovery of gold on his land confidential, lest crowds of people come to search his land and put an end to his project. DesPite the security measures taken, the news quickly spread throughout the country. Samuel Brannan, a businessman, shouted through the streets of San Francisco that there was gold in the American River, brandishing gold nuggets. In August 1848, the New York Herald newspaper took credit for being the first to report on the gold rush in the press. Californians were the first to answer the call, panning for gold wherever possible. Prospectors started arriving too. In June, the California government was alerted by Colonel Mason, who emphasized the impact of the discovery on California as a whole. In his letter, he even enclosed a few gold nuggets. In December 1848, U.S. President James Polk mentioned gold to Congress for the first time, giving the gold rush an extraordinary political dimension.
BIRTH OF A MYTH
After the U.S. president’s announcement, a host of immigrants arrived in California with the sole purpose of finding gold. However, it’s important to note that California was formerly part of Mexico and wasn’t annexed by the United States until 1848. Until 1850, California had no official status or applicable law, so the first to arrive had priority. Farms were abandoned and ships were left in port for months. All types of workers made their way to the American River. Over the course of eight years, more than 300,000 people arrived in California, and the luckiest ones were able to find around a million dollars. For many, the California dream became synonymous with ambition. In 2003, historian Henry William Brands observed that the American Dream used to focus on the satisfaction of a modest personal account built up discreetly. People did their work to save money, and that was that. Now, the American dream is based on immediate enrichment and the chance to find the treasure to realize the dream.
CALIFORNIA BECOMES AN INTEGRATED STATE
The Gold Rush dramatically altered California, which had no official administrative status and was occuPied by the federal army. San Francisco’s population grew considerably, from a small village of 1,000 in 1848 to nearly 150,000 in 1870. To meet the needs of the new arrivals, numerous buildings such as schools, churches, roads and housing had to be constructed. The gold rush also spurred the development of new means of transport, such as steamboats and railroads, which began to arrive in America. “Mushroom towns” also emerged alongside the mines to allow miners to lodge nearby.
However, California, which had no official administrative status, quickly became unmanageable. Inhabitants were subject to personal rules, ancient Mexican law and U.S. Army orders. For a long time, ownership of the goldfields was governed by the claim and no license was required. In 1866, the U.S. Congress passed the Chaffee Acts to regulate the claim. The first local political initiatives emerged with the signing of charters by towns, the drafting of a constitution specific to California and the election of local representatives to allow California to join the United States. On September 9, California officially became the country’s 31st state.
THE BLACK LEGEND OF THE CALIFORNIAN DREAM
However, the massive influx of people had devastating consequences for the local inhabitants. Native Americans were driven off their land and killed by the new arrivals. From 150,000 in 1845, only 30,000 remained in 1870. Working in the mines was also very dangerous, with one in twelve workers losing their lives. Chinese and Latin American gold seekers were expelled by American and European prospectors.
The irony is that Johann Sutter spent the rest of his life in poverty and ignorance, desPite his contribution to the discovery of gold in California. He had invested in a gold mine, but lost everything. He sought redress for the appropriation of his land, but to no avail. Before he died, he confided to his loved ones that he would have become the richest man in California had it not been for the discovery of gold. Indeed, he could have made his fortune at home.
GOLDEN PEPITE STONE – ITS ORIGIN AND COMPOSITION
A gold nugget is originally a small Piece of native gold found wild in nature. Stream currents often broke and divided the gold chunks into small individual nuggets, which are still very rare today and often more valuable than the gold chunks themselves. The price of a nugget increases with its size. Gold nuggets are generally extracted by gold panning in gold-bearing rivers, although some mining operations also uncover them. Gold nuggets generally contain between 20 and 22 carats of gold, but are never totally pure and often contain impurities such as copper and silver. Gold nuggets should not be confused with gold clusters, which are aggregates composed of gold and basic minerals such as quartz, and which have a different price and lithotherapeutic properties.
On February 5, 1869, the world’s largest nugget was found in Victoria, Australia, and named “Welcome Stranger”. It weighed 72 kilograms, but was unfortunately destroyed over time and no other nugget of this size has been found in Australia since. The world’s largest intact nugget is called “Hand of Faith”, found by Kevin Hillier in 1980 and weighing 27.2 kilograms. It was found using a metal detector and is now on display at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. In France, the largest nugget discovered weighed 543 kilograms and was found by Clément Trouillas in 1889 on the commune of Gravière in the Ardèche.
HOW IS GOLD FORMED?
There are several hypotheses about the origin of gold. According to the first, the creation of a gold nugget is linked to a star explosion. The star’s core is mainly composed of hydrogen, which undergoes nuclear fusion under atmospheric pressure. Over time, this fusion transforms the hydrogen molecules into heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon and helium, which, when raPidly consumed, become metals such as nickel and iron. When the pressure in the core is exhausted, the star collapses, generating a supernova, an impressive explosion. The neutrons created by the combination of protons and subatomic electrons become even heavier, like lead, silver, uranium and especially gold, when absorbed by ferrous elements. In a supernova, this transformation takes just a few seconds. The shockwave resulting from the supernova’s expansion propels the debris into the universe, where it can become new planets and stars thanks to the gas and particles. According to this hypothesis, gold was not manufactured, but appeared naturally after a process lasting several million years.
There are two main hypotheses to explain the presence of gold. The first assumes that a stellar explosion, or supernova, creates heavy chemical elements such as gold from simpler elements such as hydrogen. Neutrons are created in the supernova, which, when absorbed by ferrous elements, create even heavier stones such as gold. The debris thrown into the cosmos by the explosion gathers to form new planets and stars. According to the second hypothesis, gold is created by the cataclysmic collision of two neutron stars, producing heavy stones in a neutron cloud resulting from nuclear reactions. Edo Berger put forward this hypothesis in 2013 and suggested that there was still plenty of gold to be found on Earth, as the amount produced during the nuclear reaction is ten times heavier than the Moon. Other theories exist but are less credible and less important than these two hypotheses.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE GOLD?
It is not possible to manufacture gold because its source comes from one of the two hypotheses mentioned above. Gold forms naturally in the Earth’s molten core and is then brought to the surface by subterranean forces. It escapes through natural fissures and hardens into microscoPic particles. To extract the gold, therefore, mines have to be dug, but this has tended to degrade the natural environment.
HOW IS GOLD OBTAINED?
There are two reasons for the presence of gold on the Earth’s surface. Firstly, it is mainly concentrated in the Earth’s core, but it is also found in the Earth’s crust due to the impact of meteorites composed of gold around 4 billion years ago, known as the “great late bombardment”. In addition, a small amount of a form of sulfur called the S3 trisulfide ion is present in geological fluids, allowing gold to be carried along without difficulty. This discovery was made by scientists in 2015.
WHERE TO FIND GOLD?
Gold is mined often using mercury, which is unfortunately polluting and dangerous. Gold deposits are often found in deposits that contain sulfur, CO2 and salt, and must be able to circulate in the earth’s crust. Gold deposits generally form in the form of magma veins, and thanks to geothermal activity, gold from the stars was able to gather in these deposits. Millions of years later, the gold was found and extracted from the mines. However, gold extraction remains very expensive, as gold is rare.
WHAT IS THE QUANTITY OF GOLD ON EARTH?
Precious stones like gold are rare because they form under extreme and exceptional conditions. On average, a ton of terrestrial rock contains just one milligram of gold, which shows how difficult it is to find. According to precious metals market consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS, since the beginning of mankind, only 171,300 tonnes of gold have been mined, representing a cube 20.7 metres square in size.
WHICH ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOLD?
Extracted gold is considered pure, but its color can be altered by man or other metals to create Pink, white or shaded jewelry. It’s also possible to buy gold as an investment to secure your savings, as its value remains constant over time. In this case, gold is generally in the form of pure ingots or gold coins.
WHERE DOES WHITE GOLD COME FROM?
White gold is not a precious metal that occurs naturally in nature and was created from an astronomical event. This hue is the result of an alloy between gold and another metal such as palladium or silver. White gold is less expensive than pure gold and is mainly used in jewelry. So there’s no point in looking for white gold in nature or in a gold mine, because if you find gold in nature, it will never be white.
AND THE GOLD OF THE INCAS?
The Incas were the first to handle gold with care and caution, regarding the metal as “the sweat of the Gods”. They attached great importance to gold and decorated sacred sites with gold coins to emphasize its importance.
GOLDEN PEPITE STONE – VERTIES AND PROPERTIES
GOLDEN PEPPER ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL
Gold is usually used in combination with other gemstones to increase its value and benefits. However, gold alone possesses energies beneficial to mental health. If you place a gold nugget stone on your solar plexus chakra, it can rebalance your energies and revitalize you. When combined with yin energy, gold nuggets can boost self-confidence and help reduce fatigue and stress. It can also help you better appreciate the qualities of those closest to you. The Incas considered gold to be the sweat of the gods and gave it great importance by adorning their sacred places with it.
GOLDEN PEOPLE ON THE PHYSICAL LEVEL
The use of gold in the cosmetics industry is commonplace, as it possesses effective and beneficial properties for the skin. Gold can be found in various products such as sun creams, moisturizers, eye balms, soaps, etc. Gold is used as a natural anti-fatigue agent and is also known to stimulate skin cell renewal and improve oxygenation to combat skin aging. This is why gold is a preferred gemstone in cosmetic products.
GOLDEN PEPITE STONE – CLEAN AND RECHARGE
If you wish to clean your gold nugget stone, you can run it under running water and gently dry it with a soft cloth. Avoid using harsh chemicals that could damage the stone. To recharge it with energy, place it in the sun for a few hours, or lay it on a cluster of crystal quartz or amethyst druse overnight. Finally, you can also recharge it by holding it in your hands and visualizing the positive energy transferring to the stone.
WHERE DOES THE NAME GOLDEN PEPPEST COME FROM?
The name “gold nugget” comes from the fact that this stone resembles a small nugget of raw gold, with its golden color and granular appearance. The gold nugget stone owes its name to its similarity to natural gold, a precious metal prized for millennia for its beauty and rarity. The gold nugget stone is thus considered a rare and precious natural gem, and is often used in the creation of high-end jewelry.
WHICH CHAKRA DOES THE GOLDEN PEPPER ACT ON?
Gold nugget stone is associated primarily with the solar plexus chakra, located in the stomach area. It is reputed to stimulate this chakra, which is the center of self-confidence, strength of character, motivation and personal success. Gold nugget stone is therefore considered a precious stone for boosting self-confidence, stimulating creativity, improving concentration and promoting professional success. It can also help regulate the digestive system and relieve associated digestion and stress problems.
WHICH ASTROLOGICAL SIGN IS ASSOCIATED WITH GOLDEN PEPPIT?
The astrological sign associated with the gold nugget stone is Leo. In astrology, Leo is ruled by the Sun, which is also the planet associated with this gemstone. Leo is a sign associated with strength, pride, generosity, creativity and self-confidence, qualities that are also linked to the gold nugget stone. The golden nugget stone is therefore often recommended to people born under the sign of Leo, as well as to those seeking to strengthen these qualities in their lives.
SUMMARY OF THE GOLDEN PEPPESTONE
Gold nugget stone, also known as pyrite, is a semi-precious stone often used in lithotherapy for its energetic properties.
In lithotherapy, pyrite is considered a stone of manifestation and abundance, helPing to attract opportunity and wealth into the life of the person using it. It is also believed to help boost self-confidence and motivation, helPing to overcome fears and doubts.
Pyrite is often used in meditation to help increase concentration and mental clarity. It is also believed to strengthen the immune system and help relieve joint pain.