page_title: Alba County
section_title: Tourist attractions
hierarchical_section_title: Alba County / Tourist attractions
caption_attribution_description: English: Gold, Quartz Locality: Roşia Montanã (Verespatak; Vöröspatak; Goldbach), Alba County, Romania (Locality at mindat.org) Size: miniature, 4.3 x 2.7 x 1.3 cm Gold on Quartz This piece has to be one of the most aesthetic golds I have ever seen for sale from the old deposits here. It feaures an arborescent cluster of thick gold crystals leaping off contrasting TERMINATED quartz matrix. The gold is sturdy itself, and strongly embedded in the quartz as well. This incredibly aesthetic specimen has a long history! It was in the collection of the Austrian Museum of Vienna, until traded out and sold to collector Al Partee in the 1980s. When Al sold his his best miniature competition pieces, it went from him through Steve Neely to Irv Brown's miniature collection. I got it from Irv sometime in the late 1990s and traded it to Cal Graeber. Cal sold it to Mark when Mark was a curator up in Canada. Mark moved to Houston a couple of years ago. Mark brought it to lunch here in Dallas in July, and voila, its back with me again! I recognized it immediately. And, as a bonus, its now on the front cover of an important book on the mineralogy of Transylvania and these historic deposits. Deutsch: Gold, Quarz Fundort: Roşia Montanã (Verespatak; Vöröspatak; Goldbach), Alba County, Rumänien (Fundort bei mindat.org) Größe: 4.3 x 2.7 x 1.3 cm
context_page_description: Alba County is a county of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536.
context_section_description: The main tourist attractions in the county are:
  The city of Alba Iulia
  The Apuseni Mountains
  Scărișoara karst complex
  Maidens' Fair on the Găina Mountain
  The Dealul cu melci ("Snail Hill") west of Vidra
  Barren Detunata and Shaggy Detunata (Detunatele)
  The Câlnic Castle and the castle of Gârbova
  The towns and churches of Sebeș and Aiud
  The Ocna Mureș resort
  The Țara Moților ethnographical area. Situated in the Apuseni Mountains, Țara Moților is a region with strong and distinct Romanian traditions.
  Roșia Montana Mining Cultural Landscape - Mining began 2000 years ago on Mt. Kirnik, with well-preserved Roman galleries. A Canadian company attempted an open-pit mine, but abandoned the project around 2007. Roșia Montană is a famous locality among mineral collectors for fine native gold specimens.
caption: Gold in quartz, Roșia Montană. Size 4.3 × 2.7 × 1.3 cm.
exif: {}