Gold-bearing quartz, or gold quartz, is found in only a handful of places in the world. Discovered by gold miners in California in the 1850s and in Alaska in the 1880s, this previously unknown (and actually quite rare) stone was cut and set into jewelry worn worn by miner's who struck it rich as well as ordinary (rich) people who loved the stone for its novelty and newness (to them). This bezel-set slab of gold quartz has been converted from a stickpin into a pendant.