'49er California Gold Rush Tribute Pendant

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'49er California Gold Rush Tribute Pendant

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The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. Some of these gold seekers struck it rich panning for the yellow nuggets. And it was not uncommon for the miners to have some bling made to show off their new-found wealth. Unfortunately, the nearly lawless environment at the time meant that the prospectors usually lost most of their fortune to wine, women and the unscrupulous. <br />
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In memory of those times, Jeweler Jim of Twins Jewelry has designed the pendant shown below. Jim donated a half-ounce of 14 carat gold and Ken, the goldsmith at Keehn's Jewelry in Algonquin, IL, donated his time manufacturing the pendant and the half-carat of diamonds placed within the nugget structure. I'm told that if you were to have this duplicated it would cost over $1,600. The ladies might want to wear this on a necklace and the gentlemen could wear this as a watch fob.<br />
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The Gold Rush Tribute Pendant will be awarded during the side matches at the Good Guys Posse SASS Scholarship Charity Shoot. August 29, 2009.<br />
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Ugly

Kewl!