GOLD RUSH: One of the biggest gold nuggets ever found is now for sale for $1 million!
In 1998, the gold miner Barry Clay unearthed one of the most massive gold nuggets ever found – the Alaska Centennial Gold Nugget, weighing a whopping 21lbs(9.5kg). As Daily Mail notes, the outstanding discovery took place a whole century after the 1896 Klondike Gold Rush.
Curiously, Clay didn’t rush to announce his finding. Instead, he buried the nugget under a tree until he decided what to do with it. Eventually, the miner turned to experts in the field, who told him it was the second-largest gold nugget found in the Western Hemisphere and the largest ever in Alaska.
After 23 years, the vendor who acquired the nugget from Clay is now selling it for $1 million with Heritage Auctions in Dallas alongside a host of other precious pieces.
A Heritage spokesperson said:
“The Alaska Centennial Gold Nugget is the largest gold nugget ever found in the State of Alaska. It was discovered in 1998 along Swift Creek near the town of Ruby, Alaska by Barry Clay, who unearthed this seminal discovery and instantly made history.
The Alaska Centennial Nugget was sold to a private collector, where it has remained in his collection until now. This offering represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The massive gold nugget is part of a collection of precious crystals, artifacts, and even gold geysers.
Apart from the Alaska Centennial Nugget, the line-up features two native gold crystals discovered in the Venezuelan jungle in the 1980s which are tipped to fetch $300,000 and $600,000 respectively.
What’s more, the “frozen geyser of gold” found at the Eagle’s Nest mine in California, US, is also for sale at the price of almost $200,000. The collection also includes a crystallized gold leaf thought to be from Mexico is valued at $150,000.
Craig Kissick, director of nature and science at Heritage Auctions, commented:
“I think that should be in the Smithsonian Institution because it’s the seminal gold nugget ever found. The majority of gold mined is refined.
A one-ounce gold nugget is even more rare than a five-carat diamond, and a rare group of gold specimens such as this has never been featured at auction. I mean, it’s big, it’s beautiful. It’s going to check every possible box but the sheer fact that it is the seminal luggage ever found in the state of Alaska. What else can you say?
A grouping of this breadth and caliber is not likely to be seen again.”
