According to National Geographic, in 1887, as gold production in Colorado (USA) was nearing a record high, the Ground Hog mine near the town of Gilman unexpectedly yielded a valuable treasure: a solid gold mass resembling a tree divided into three curled branches.
Measuring just over 11 cm tall and weighing approximately 0.2 kg, the unusual curves of this metallic mass led many to believe it was the rarest form of gold ever discovered.
The “Ram’s Horn” has a mysterious shape resembling a cluster of twisted branches rather than the usual gold nuggets.
John Rakovan, a mineralogist at the University of Miami, Ohio (USA), stated: “It is truly a unique object – there is nothing else comparable.”
However, this rarity poses a scientific dilemma: No one wants to damage or cut a piece of it for necessary testing to determine how it formed. For many decades, this gold mass remained a beautiful mystery. It is so rare that scientists have refrained from estimating its value.
The unusual gold mass has been named “Ram’s Horn,” and researchers have attempted to study it in various ways, except for cutting or breaking it apart.
In 2019, scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory were finally able to investigate the internal components of “Ram’s Horn”. Their conclusions were not officially published in any scientific journal but were enough to surprise the research community.
According to The Jeweler Blog, low-energy X-rays and other diagnostics could only assess the outer surface due to the high density of gold.
John Rakovan, Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Miami in Ohio, noted that Ram’s Horn consists of only a few individual crystals. This is in stark contrast to the formation of silver wires, which are made up of a polycrystalline aggregate containing hundreds to thousands of crystals within a single strand.
“Moreover, we discovered that this specimen is not pure gold but is a gold-silver alloy with 30% silver replacing gold in the atomic structure“, Sven Vogel, a physicist at the neutron science center of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANSCE), explained.
Using neutron techniques at LANSCE (which involves using a particle accelerator to fire neutron atomic particles that can penetrate the surface of gold), scientists were able to “see through” the interior of this large gold specimen without causing any damage. From there, they could investigate its structure, atomic arrangement, elemental chemistry, and isotopes.
The “Ram’s Horn” is currently housed in the Geological and Mining Museum at Harvard University (USA). It was donated to Harvard in 1947 by alumnus Albert C. Burrage as part of the AC Burrage Collection.
Before his passing in 1931, Harvard alumnus and mineral collector Albert C. Burrage left behind impressive collections, part of which was transferred to his alma mater in Massachusetts. Among more than 1,500 specimens, there is one particularly valuable item: the “Ram’s Horn.”
This captivating gold specimen was exhibited for public admiration in the “Rare and Beautiful” exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History during the spring of 2020.
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