If still intact today, it’s estimated that the Welcome Stranger would be worth at least $3 million.

Prospecting in the wilds of Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, Englishmen John Deason and Richard Oates came across the mammoth, record-setting nugget, which was soon broken up into three pieces - each of which was later melted down. Weighing in at a staggering 3,524 ounces, or just a shade under an even 100 kilograms, it would have been hard to miss the welcome - and would have surely required a wagon or two to haul - provided by this beast of a gold nugget back in 1869. With that in mind…get a load (and a lode) of these historic nuggets, and the unique and colorful stories behind each of them. While there’s no official breakdown or classification of sizes between dust, flakes, pickers and nuggets, a piece of gold is often considered a nugget when it exceeds one gram in weight. The most common size of gold is so fine that it’s called “gold dust” - and it might take thousands and thousands of gold dust pieces to compile a single ounce of gold. To get a sense of just how large and rare these nuggets are, consider that around 98% of the gold that’s been mined from Earth didn’t come in the form of a placer gold nugget, since the vast majority of gold is typically recovered by forcefully blasting it out.

In fact, as “luck” might have it, each of these three beauties was unearthed in one particular exotic locale: Australia. And in fact, the largest intact gold nugget currently in existence, the Hand of Faith, is now on display at the Golden Nugget Casinoīut for the purposes of this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the three largest gold nuggets ever discovered – not just in America, but throughout our mineral-rich planet. When you hear the term “Gold Nugget” today, you might think of a classic Las Vegas casino. Its place is equally prominent when it comes to our treasured jewelry pieces. Its discovery drove, inspired and expanded America, paving a brilliant path to modern society, ingenuity and industry. The Germansen Creek nugget was discovered in 1934 and weighed 24 ounces.Gold. It was exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1900. The Wright Creek nugget was discovered in 1899 and weighed 25 ounces. The McKee Creek nugget was discovered in 1901. The fourth largest nugget on Spruce Creek was discovered around 1903 and weighed 30 ounces.

The largest nugget found on Lightning Creek was discovered in 1864 and weighed 30 ounces. The second largest Pine Creek nugget was discovered 1899 by an unknown prospector. The largest Bridge River nugget discovered weighed 32 ounces. The Wild Horse River nugget was discovered in 1864 by a prospector named Reynolds. The third largest Spruce Creek nugget was discovered in 1902, weighing 36 ounces. The largest Dease Creek nugget was discovered by an unknown prospector in 1874. The second largest Spruce Creek nugget was discovered in 1936, by a prospector named Lykergaard. The Defot Creek nugget was found in the Cassiar area in 1878. The Squaw Creek nugget was discovered in 1937, weighing 46 ounces. The Ruby Creek nugget was discovered in 1931 and weighed 47 ounces. The Pine Creek was located in 1925, and weighed an impressive 48 ounces. The Dease Creek nugget was found in 1875 and weighed 50 ounces. The nugget was kept a secret until it was finally sold to Wells, Fargo and Company.

The nugget weighed in at 50 ounces and was the largest nugget ever found in the Similkameen-Tulameen area. The Lockie (Boulder) Creek nugget was discovered in 1887 by an unknown Chinese miner. The nugget was named the Turnagain Nugget. The nugget was found wedged between boulders and weighed 52 ounces. The Alice Shea nugget was found in 1937 by Alice Shea, wife of claim owner Vern Shea, while walking along the creek on her husband’s claim. It was located roughly where Fork Creek flows into McDame Creek. Weighing 72 ounces, it was the second largest solid gold nugget found in B.C. The McDame Creek nugget was discovered by Al Freeman in 1877. The largest pure gold nugget was found on Birch Creek in 1913. The nugget contained some quartz, and was therefore not considered to be the largest nugget solid gold found in B.C. The nugget weighed just over 83 ounces and was named “the west”. The Spruce Creek nugget was discovered in 1899 by two American prospectors named West and Hoffman.

Largest gold nugget ever found