Pulga Jade

In the early days of the expanding Central Valley of California, the Western Pacific Railroad was pushing its rail line through the the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains and found a beautiful, translucent apple-green rock in the Feather River canyon. The stuff looked like jade but confirmation was needed so George Frederick Kunz, the Vice President of Tiffany & Co and a leading gemologist of the time, was called to the canyon to identify the rock type. Kunz  determined that the material was not jade, but rather idocrase. He named it Californite, to commemorate where it was discovered. Today it's known as either Californite, or Pulga Jade, named after the little town of Pulga, near where it was found. -WET pic.-(2.5"x 2"/2 oz./5mm thk) one fracture on edge...nice cutter