March 20, 2024 – Don Kagin’s discovery of the captivating gold nugget is making headlines in the Chroniicle. The impressive find, known as The Washington Nugget, has sparked excitement in the community.
Don Kagin proudly displayed a 98.6-ounce gold nugget in the studio of the Chronicle on a Friday back in January 2011 in San Francisco. Along with his partner Fred Holabird, they planned to auction off the nugget in Sacramento on March 16, 2011. Unfortunately, it was later revealed that the astonishing find, considered the most significant in the Sierra Nevada in years, turned out to be a replica. Just to clarify, the nugget itself was real gold, but the hype surrounding its authenticity was not.
The story of the 8.2-pound gold nugget known as “The Washington Nugget” took an unexpected turn when it was revealed that the nugget was actually discovered in Australia, not on the land of amateur gold hunter Jim Sanders as originally claimed. The nugget was sold for $460,000 after Sanders claimed he found it with a metal detector near the Gold Rush town of Washington in Nevada County.
The discovery caught the attention of Aussie prospector Murray Cox, who noticed a striking resemblance between the Washington Nugget and a nugget he found in Melbourne in 1987, dubbed “The Orange Roughie.” Further investigation confirmed that the nuggets were identical, leading to the realization that the Washington Nugget was not of American origin.
Coin dealer Don Kagin and mining geologist Fred Holabird, who helped auction the nugget for Sanders, concluded that the nugget was indeed from Australia. While details surrounding the mix-up remain confidential, the buyer of the nugget was reimbursed, and the nugget was sold to a secondary bidder for less money.
Despite the controversy surrounding the Washington Nugget, two smaller nuggets found on Sanders’ land were confirmed to be genuine. However, Kagin and Holabird are no longer representing Sanders in his efforts to sell his gold-rich property. The mystery of how the Australian nugget ended up in Sanders’ possession remains unsolved.
