Where was the first U.S. gold rush? North Carolina, in 1803. It supplied all the gold for the nation’s mints until 1829.
It is estimated that only about 100,000 tons of gold have been mined during all the recorded history.
The word garnet comes from the Latin word for pomegranate. Garnets were thought to resemble pomegranate seeds.
Rarest gem: Painite, discovered in Burma. Fewer than 10 specimens exist in the world.
The name “”turquoise”” comes from the fact that it was first brought to Europe from the Mediterranean by Levantine traders, also known as Turks.
The California gold rush yielded 125 million ounces of gold from 1850-1875, more than had been mined in the previous 350 years and worth more than $50 billion today.
From 330 BC to 1237 AD, most of the world’s emeralds came from Cleopatra’s mine in Egypt.
