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Gold Dust on Rust Crust, S.S. Central America Treasure [146653]

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 USD and UP
Gold Dust on Rust Crust, S.S. Central America Treasure [146653]
SOLD
1,500.00USDto W*****1+ buyer's premium (300.00)
This item SOLD at 2022 Dec 03 @ 13:24UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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A piece of iron-oxide rust which has agglomerated with gold dust. Recovered from the debris field sediments of the S.S. Central America shipwreck. Approx 52 x 35 mm and 9.3 grams (0.3 ozt). Very fragile and friable. Gold dust can be found almost anywhere on the S.S. Central America shipwreck site and in its surrounding debris field. There are multiple dramatic accounts of miners emptying their bags and pokes of gold, including gold dust, onto the deck of the ship just before it sank. So, the gold dust plummeted 7,200 feet down, in little clouds and clusters, before coming to rest on the seabed. Iron on the ship has been heavily corroded and altered over time since 1857. The process is partly chemical and partly biological, with iron-fixing bacteria causing the rust on elevated structures to form icicle- like stalactites that have been dubbed "rusticles." In places where iron is resting on the seabed, the rust formations appear to flow like lava onto the sediment. This is the case here, where gold dust resting on the seafloor has been entrained and cemented by rust, forming a thin, fragile, but extremely rare and fascinating rock.

Date: 1857
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Provenance: SS Central America Collection