The “Au” rush of 1849?

ISSUE 90– STEVE KOVACS FUN WITH MAPS

DAILY FEATURE: By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (October 19, 2020) – In Issue 90 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps we learn the chemistry of GOLD.

Au, from the Latin “Aurum”.  Atomic weight 197, atomic number 79.

Gold. 

And that is the chemistry component of today’s post.

The largest single mass of gold was found 148 years ago today near Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, located about 50 miles west from Sydney, by Bernardt Holtermann, a German gold miner.

It was not classified as a “gold nugget” as it was still in the quartz vein from which it came, therefore it was actually a “mother lode”.  Technicalities…

The specimen weighed 630 pounds, of which 205 pounds was pure gold.  That much gold is valued today at about $6.25 million.

Here is John Tallis’s map of New South Wales from 1851 with his characteristic vignettes of local scenes.  Bathurst is located on the map.     

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Click here to visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Antique Maps & Fun Facts here on Loveland Beacon.