Rare Coin Investor

The LARGEST CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH NUGGET left in existence, the 100 troy ounce gold nugget discovered last year in Nevada County, California, was sold at auction on March 16th in Sacramento for $460,000

Named the “Washington Nugget” because the nugget was discovered near the famous northern Mother lode Gold Rush mining camp of Washington, California, this nearly 100 ounce monster gold nugget (and several others) were found in an unmined section of the Omega-Malakoff Tertiary Channel in February 2010, by a lucky area land-owner.

Authenticated by geologist Fred Holabird and pre-sale valued at $250,000-$400,000, the nugget is the largest, original California Gold Rush region natural nugget still in existence.

Spectrum Numismatics came away with the nugget on Wednesday after a feverish two minutes of bidding at the Golden West Auction in Sacramento. The company was bidding on behalf of an anonymous buyer.

At current gold prices, the nugget’s gold value was just less than $138,000, but auctioneers say its connection to the 19th century Gold Rush helped boost the final hammer price.

The auctioneer said the person who found the nugget also plans to auction the 180 acres where it was discovered.

Posted on February 29, 2012 at 4:10 pm in Uncategorized   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL