This 14k gold charm is a three dimensional rendering of a prospector’s tools. A shovel and pick-axe make a crisscross above a rope pulley system. Beneath them—as if underground—are several tiny gold nuggets, waiting to be mined. Each element of the charm is individually cut in lifelike detail, stacked above a concave round medallion for a tiny little charm with a lot of depth and dimensionality. There is wonderful attention to detail: the rope is made of twisted wire and the tools have tiny lines etched into them. The most fantastic element of this special charm are that the gold nuggets are real 22k gold nuggets—straight from the ground in their original form.
The charm is circa the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800’s. More than 100,000 prospectors migrated to the Klondike region of the Yukon between 1896-1899 after the discovery of gold.
Gold nuggets are formed by hot fluids flowing through cracks deep in the Earth’s crust. Weather eventually releases the nuggets into streams and bodies of water, where they are shaped by erosion and time.
The charm is unmarked but acid tests as 14k gold, with the exception of the nuggets that acid test as 22k. The charm measures 3/4” x 7/7” x 1/8” and weighs 2.49 grams.
