What Is The Largest Chunk Of Gold Ever Found And Where Was It Found?
An immigrant from Germany to Australia named Bernhardt Holterman and a Polish miner named Ludwig Beyers discovered the largest piece of gold ever found. Although not technically a "nugget" it was named "Holtermans Nugget".
How big was it ?
The chunk of gold was almost five foot tall and weighed 630 pounds. This huge piece of gold wasn't an actual nugget, but was veins of gold that was embedded in some quartz, but it was estimated to contain around 5,000 ounces of gold!
Which would be around 343 pounds of pure gold!
Where It Was Found
Holterman and Beyers were partners in the Star of Hope Gold Mining Company. They were prospecting for gold in a town called Hills End in New South Wales Australia when on October 19th, 1871 they struck a huge vein of gold.
Welcome Stranger
The largest "true nugget" ever found was the "Welcome Stranger" in 1869. It was also found in Australia in a town called Moliagul. It was discovered by Richard Oates and John Deason, near the roots of tree. It was two feet by one foot, had a gross weight of 3523 troy ounces, which should be about 241pounds!
Hand of Faith
The largest nugget ever found by a metal detector is the "Hand of Faith" on display at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. It was discovered in Australia by Kevin Hillier in 1980 and weighs 72 troy pounds.