Arguably the most beautiful of metals - and surely the most covetable - gold will never go out of style. This rare commodity's supply is in perpetual strain as jewelers, investors and industrialists continually bid for every gram that comes out of the world's mines.

Even to the average person gold’s properties are well known for being extraordinarily good electrical conductors and resistance to corrosion. A third characteristic is that the metal is also quite soft. If left to solidify from its molten state (technically, freeze) it will do so in patterns that resemble ice crystals or leaves. That this form appears so alien for such a well known substance is due in large part to that softness. As natural gold nuggets pool deep in the earth and are spat out in volcanic eruptions the violence of the process blunts all those delicate tips. If they even had a chance to form in the first place, that is, because the tiniest amount of contamination will impede that growth also.

In a well-appointed lab, however, those special conditions can be induced and allow the flowerlike growths to take place. It is, unfortunately, a slow process prone to unpredictable results that are less than pleasing aesthetically so that only a few are worthy of being cast as showpieces.

Each ultrapure gold crystal offered here weighs between three and five grams and is guaranteed to be prettier than any heretofore offered. Go on, do a Google image search and see for yourself :-)