Harvey McBurnette Custom Knife Sole Authorship Engraved Apache Gold Front Lock

Apache Gold is a lovely semiprecious gemstone cabochon material. Apache Gold is bright and shiny gold Chalcopyrite and Arsenopyrite (silver) in a black Schist found in "The Big Hole" in Jerome, Arizona in 1928. Located high on top of Cleopatra Hill (5,200 feet) between Prescott and Flagstaff is the once thriving mining town of Jerome, Arizona. The town was established in 1883. Silver was actually discovered by Spanish explorers in the area in the 1500's and it was believed that Native Americans had dug there even earlier. The stream in the area was called "green" by the local Native Americans because of the nearby occurrence of green Malachite, a copper carbonite, nearby. The Spanish explorers translated the word to "verde". The area is now called the Verde Valley and the first big mine in Jerome was named the United Verde Mine. In 1918 fires spread out of control over 22 miles of underground mines, burning the inflammable massive pyrite. One of the mine fires continued to burn for twenty years. United Verde moved to open pit mining instead of underground. Blasting in the mines frequently shook the town, sometimes damaging or moving buildings; after one blast in the 1930's the city jail slid one block downhill intact. By 1953, after belching copper for more than 70 years (and about 800 million dollars worth!), the mine was closed down. Now it is mostly a quaint little tourist town. Due to the 30-degree incline of the mountainside, gravity is pulling the entire town down the slope! Chalcopyrite has been referred to as Fool's Gold because it is such a bright gold color and the black in this material is dark black, creating quite a striking contrast. Apache Gold semiprecious gemstone cabochons take a high polish. I had to shoot some of the Apache Gold cabochons from an angle to avoid a strong reflection-the loose stone cabochons are symmetrical. This ore is more than 600 million years old!