In Northern California’s Gold Rush Country, a metal detector hobbyist stumbled upon a palm-sized, 6.07-pound Gold Nugget buried just 12 inches underground. This remarkable find was recently sold to a mysterious buyer for a whopping $400,000.
In July, an enormous chunk of gold, initially mistaken for a discarded pipe or trash due to its unexpected size and loud signals on the metal detector, was discovered in the hills of Butte County on public property. The lucky finder has decided to keep their identity hidden and the nugget has been named the “Butte Nugget.”
It’s fascinating to note that the old nugget (visible from both sides in the images above and below) was found in a region that was actively mined during the initial Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Interestingly, the biggest gold nugget ever found during the 19th century Gold Rush era was supposedly a 54-pound piece discovered in Butte County, California, in 1859.
Kagin’s Inc., a company specializing in rare coins and historical artifacts located in Tiburon, California, recently obtained the sole permission to promote and distribute the Butte Nugget. Shortly after presenting the impressive specimen to amazed visitors at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show last week, Kagin’s disclosed that the nugget had already been purchased by a well-known collector from the San Francisco Bay Area for around $400,000.
Kagin’s initially predicted that the sale price would fall within the range of $350,000 to $450,000. At current spot gold prices, the nugget holds a precious metal value of $119,554.
“This is a rare find,” commented David McCarthy, the senior numismatist at Kagin’s. “I honestly never thought I would witness the discovery of a California nugget of such impressive size in my lifetime.”
The Butte Nugget, despite its massive dimensions and weight, ranks as the second-largest nugget in California currently. It falls short in size compared to the Mojave Nugget, which was discovered near Randsburg, California, by prospector Ty Paulsen back in 1977. It’s worth noting that both nuggets were unearthed using a metal detector. The Mojave Nugget, weighing in at 156 ounces, was eventually gifted to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
The title of the biggest gold nugget to be unearthed was “Welcome Stranger” and it tipped the scales at an impressive 158.78 pounds. This remarkable find was made by Australian prospectors in Victoria back in 1869, at a depth of just one inch.
The massive nugget measured 24 inches in width, too big and heavy for the gold scales of that era. To solve the issue, the miners opted to break it into three pieces for weighing. In the end, the record-breaking nugget was melted down into ingots and sent off to England.
Pictures of the Butte Nugget can be found on YouTube, while the Mojave Nugget image can be sourced from Wikicommons.
