An Australian couple was searching for gold using a metal detector in the Kalgoorlie Goldfields in 1979 when they uncovered the largest gold nugget found in the region in the previous 50 years.
Coming in at nearly 10 pounds, the “Golden Beauty” sold Wednesday at Heritage Auctions for $612,500, including buyer's premium.
Large gold nuggets often sell for far more than the spot price of gold due to their scarcity— it’s incredibly rare to find an intact nugget of this size in nature — as well as their desirability as display pieces. Additionally, nuggets often are melted down to create jewelry or coins.
“For perspective: a nugget weighing just one troy ounce is as rare as a five-carat diamond,” said Craig Kissick, vice president of nature and science at Heritage, describing the odds of finding a nugget weighing 1/145th of the Golden Beauty. “Finding a Gold nugget of any size is an absolute trophy, but to find something like this is beyond rare. A lot of people have spent their lives searching for gold and never found anything even close to this.”
The nugget was once part of a private Swiss collection.
The largest gold nugget ever discovered was “Welcome Stranger,” found in Australia in 1869 weighing 156.6 pounds. It was split into fragments and split between 17 miners, according to the BBC.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.