QUARTZ SPECIMENS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2065, 6 October 1880, Page 3

QUARTZ SPECIMENS.

During the hearing of a case in the Rangiora Resident Magistrate’s Court on Monday, some peculiar evidence came out in reference to the sale of a quartz specimen made by a “Cumberland lad ” to a watchmaker hailing from the same district in the old country. The statement* made went to show that the seller wanted £5 for a specimen, which ho told the vendee “ha might send hamo to his fadder.” The buyer, according to his statement, had never seen a quartz specimen in his life, and was prepared to buy one as a curiosity to send to the old folks. He remarked the brightness of the stone in places, and was told this had been done by the action of the pick. Finally he bought the specimen for £2, and no sooner was the money paid than it was found that the sundry specks and two small nuggets of gold wore attached to the stone by what the buyer called “rosin.” The specimen, on being handed in to the Court, was pronounced to be simply a bit of dark-colored feldspar, on to which small pieces of alluvial gold had been affixed in the crevices by melted shoemaker’s wax. The Bench commented very severely on the nefarious transaction, and, after the case, the vendor of the specimen was exceedingly eager to re-purchase the quartz in order to avoid a prosecution.