Description

Provenance

This cabochon and earrings set is a gorgeous example of hard-to-find, semiprecious genuine Apache Gold.

Apache Gold is a reference to Apache Native Americans who lived in Arizona, and is comprised of shiny metallic Chalcopyrite and Arsenopyrite in Black Schist. Calcopyrite looks similar to Pyrite, but actually has a richer, more buttery, yellow color than Pyrite. Arsenopyrite is a metallic, opaque, silver mineral. The black in the stone is a Chlorite mineral known as Black Schist.

This exceptional Apache Gold was discovered in 1928, and the raw material for this cabochon was mined during the 1940s. It is extremely rare and highly prized because the mine has been closed since 1953.

A similar stone, being marketed as Apache Gold, is found in several other countries, and the United States. It is a completely different mineral composition of Pyrite and Magnetite, does not contain Arsenopyrite, and has a brassier gold appearance. Vendors selling a Pyrite and Magnetite Apache Gold product, and claiming it is from the closed Jerome Mine, are mistaken.

Since actual Jerome Mine Apache Gold is nearly impossible to obtain, other than from old collections, the Pyrite/Magnetite version of Apache Gold has become quite popular and increasingly valuable, but not considered semiprecious as the original Jerome mine stone is.

Metaphysical

Apache Gold is said to bring strength, personal power, and confidence.