Giant gold nugget found in California could sell for $350,000
| SAN FRANCISCO
One of the biggest聽gold聽nuggets聽found in modern times in Northern California's historic聽Gold聽Country is going up for sale.
Weighing in at 6.07 pounds, the Butte聽Nugget聽is expected to carry a price tag of $350,000.
The reported Wednesday that the聽nugget's聽finder asked dealer Don Kagin to keep his name and the location of the discovery secret.
What's known is that a聽gold聽hunter found it in July on public land in the Butte County mountains. Prospecting for聽gold聽is legal on most public lands in the state.
David McCarthy, a coin and rare-minerals expert, told the Chronicle that he took a blindfolded ride to the site of the discovery so he would be satisfied the聽nugget聽was genuine.
The聽gold聽chunk will be unveiled Thursday at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show.
Prospectors found many giant聽gold聽nuggets聽in California's 19th century聽Gold聽Rush days. That includes a 54-pound聽gold聽chunk found in Butte County in 1859. The Chronicle said its research shows it has been decades since a report of anyone discovering a rock of 6 pounds or over in California.
The finder of the Butte聽Nugget聽used a metal detector and told colleagues he initially thought he had come across a pipe or some other "big piece of trash" underground, part-time local prospector Bob Van Camp told the .
Worried that the strong reading on the metal detector would mask any signal from surrounding聽gold聽nuggets, the man decided to dig it up, said Van Camp, who filmed himself briefly holding the Butte聽Nugget.
