From the Bronze Age to modern times, gold has been a highly valued metal, ranging from an indication of the owner’s status to the monetary value of the metal. Therefore, it is not surprising that many people became professional gold miners
Over the history of mankind, many gold nuggets of various sizes have been found: from tiny grains of sand, barely visible to the naked eye, to whole stones that weigh no less than an adult man. The largest of them are told by IFLScience .
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The world’s largest gold nugget was found on February 5, 1869 in Victoria, Australia. Two Cornish miners named John Deson and Richard Oates discovered the nugget while searching. The nugget weighed 72 kilograms and was 61 centimeters long.
Two men took the nugget to the town of Dunolly to be weighed at the London Charter Bank. Unfortunately, the nugget was so large that it couldn’t fit on the scale, and it was smashed before it could be photographed. The replicas are made from drawings made at the time. The two men received just under £10,000 and the nugget was broken up and melted down into gold bars. It is likely that such a nugget, if found today, would be worth around £2 million.
Among other giant nugget news, Pepita Kanaa ranks first as the largest gold nugget still in existence. This stocky nugget weighs 60 kilograms. Found by Julio de Deus Filho in Brazil in 1983, it is now on display in the Golden Room of the Central Bank Treasures Museum in Brazil.
The development of technology plays an important role in the discovery of large gold deposits, especially in the case of the Hand of Faith. Found in 1980 by Kevin Hillier, this large nugget has earned the title of the largest piece of gold ever found with a metal detector.
Although also found in Australia, this extraordinary nugget is now on display in a Las Vegas casino after being sold for over $1 million. It is said to contain 875 troy gold ounces.
The troy ounce was used for weighing gold before the introduction of the metric system, and is used for weighing precious metals and gemstones in jewelry. One troy ounce is equal to 31.1 g. This is different from the more familiar avoirdupois system, where 1 ounce is usually equal to 28.5 g. The prices of gold sold today may be quoted in terms of per ounce prices, but they usually refer to troy ounces.
