Once upon a time, thousands of gold miners left their homes and rushed to foreign lands, hoping to get rich. The so-called "gold rush" began in the middle of the 19th century and continues to this day. Some of them went down in history.
Those who were lucky could then make their fortune. Sometimes it was possible to find nuggets of considerable weight, by selling which they could provide themselves for life. Interestingly, their true value was not always found.
So, young Conrad Reed found in a stream, as he believed, a stone weighing almost 8 kg, which he used as a backup for the door, and meanwhile, it was a huge piece of gold. Amazing event.
But most often the largest gold nuggets in the world have their own interesting history and do not go unnoticed.
List
- 10. Large hole, about 3 kg
- 9. Bunny ears 3.344 kg
- 8. Camel, 9 kg
- 7. Dolphin, 10.4 kg
- 6. Horse head, 13.777 kg
- 5. The hand of fate, 27.2 kg
- 4. Oliver Martin, 36 kg
- 3. The big triangle, 36 kg
- 2. A welcome stranger, 70.9 kg
- 1. Holterman plate, 83.3 kg
10. Large hole, about 3 kg
This openwork piece of gold was found in the Urals about three hundred years ago. Got the name "Big hole"Because of its shape, is one of the very first nuggets that were discovered in our country.
9. Bunny ears 3.344 kg
Its name is "Bunny ears"Received due to its shape, similar to the head of this animal. It was found by Peter Simonov in 1935, next to the Leninsky mine.
Peter decided to dig a pit right in the middle of the road, in front of the workshop door, tried to break through a frozen layer of earth. Two girls, seeing how he was tormented, decided to help him, but then fled on their own business.
When the workers left the workshop, they saw Simonov, who was sitting among the clods of earth, in them lay a huge nugget of an unusual shape. He appeared among the crystals of rock crystal and calcite, reached an extraordinary size.
Experts have found that this is a high, 932 gold. The sizes of the “ears” are 6 and 7 cm, their thickness is about 2 cm.
8. Camel, 9 kg
He was found in Kolyma in the distant 1947. It weighs more than 9 kg (9 kg 288 g). This name was given due to its shape, which really resembles the body and head of a one-humped camel.
He has a conch surface, he himself is very rounded, from which experts concluded that "Camel”For a long time he was in the riverbed, river pebbles encircled him from all sides, giving him such an unusual shape.
7. Dolphin, 10.4 kg
Like previous nuggets, "Dolphin"Got the name because in shape resembles this animal. It weighs more than 10 kg. Such a huge piece of gold was discovered in the Bodaibo deposit, off the banks of the great Lena River, back in 1958.
6. Horse head, 13.777 kg
This long piece of gold, which weighs almost 14 kg, is called "Horse head"Because in outline it resembles the head of this animal. It is 37 cm long and 15 cm wide. It was found in 1936 in the Urals.
5. The hand of fate, 27.2 kg
He was found in Australia in 1980. On the net there is a story by Ellie Hiller, who, together with her family, made this significant find. She, her husband Kevin and 4 children decided to travel by bus in Australia. They sold, everything they had, quit their jobs, and hit the road, intending to stay in one place for no longer than 3 months.
In September 1980, they took metal detectors and set off to search for gold, as they did every day. And Kevin was able to find the nugget. He and Ellie tried to dig him out in the ground, but he only increased in size. Had to dig for a long time, somehow they loaded 27 kg of gold into the car.
They decided to call him "Hand of fate"Because he looks like a blessing hand. His other name is “Hand of faith". It was found in Victoria, near Kingauer. It is one of the champions, i.e. the largest nugget of this precious metal found with a metal detector. It was acquired by one American casino, and now it is exhibited in its lobby, in the center of Las Vegas.
4. Oliver Martin, 36 kg
One of the largest gold nuggets was found in the United States, California. It was named after the one who found it - Oliver Martin. This happened in 1854. Oliver at that time was a bit richer than an ordinary tramp.
He and his friend drank hard and walked out of the bar, heading for the camp. But an incredibly heavy downpour began, the companions were in the rain at the foot of the mountain. Due to rain in the area, flooding began.
The water that poured from the cliff washed away the friends right into the stream. Martin nearly drowned, but was able to grab onto the branches of a tree and hung like that until the morning. Then the water finally left.
But his friend, John Fowler, could not survive the flood. Oliver decided to dig a grave at the cliff for him. Digging a hole, he suddenly stumbled upon a huge nugget, he was not inferior in size to the head of a bull.
The happy owner of a huge piece of gold got rich, the nugget was sold for $ 22,700, then it was demonstrated in different cities of the United States. Martin himself got rich.
3. The big triangle, 36 kg
Its weight is 2 pounds, 7 pounds and 92 spools, if we transfer to our measure of weights - 36.2 kg. He was found on October 26, 1842 by the craftsman Nikifor Syutkin.
The placer in this place has already been worked out, there is only a place under the factory. It was disassembled, and during work Syutkin came across a nugget, which was called for its shape "Big triangle". Now it is stored in the Russian Diamond Fund.
The fate of Nicephorus himself was not very successful. Syutkin before that received 3 kopecks per day. For the found nugget he was supposed to be 15 kopecks per spool. The Big Triangle was estimated at 28,146 rubles, from this money Nikifor was supposed to get 1,266 rubles 60 kopecks, for such a person a huge amount.
The head of the Ural mountain assurances, fearing that he would immediately waste everything, gave him 66 rubles and 60 kopecks, and put the rest to the bank at interest. Nicephorus immediately arranged a revel with his comrades. Then he began to beg for money by all means. The authorities were tired of dismissing him and gave him all the money.
Syutkin continued to drink, his binge lasted almost his whole life, interrupted only at those moments when he was planted in “cold” bread and water or flogged in a mining office. He died in poverty, forgotten by all, despised.
2. A welcome stranger, 70.9 kg
This nugget was found in 1869, in Australia, Victoria, in the city of Moliagul, 200 km from Melbourne. Prospectors John Dyson and Richard Oates were lucky.
Once Dyson was loosening the ground when he suddenly discovered something very solid. Like a person associated with gold, his first thought was that it was a nugget. But reality exceeded all his expectations. Dizon dug up such a huge block of gold that he could not move it from its place. Moreover, he could not immediately find out the weight of the find, because it was hard to find a scale where he could be weighed.
Unfortunately, this huge nugget called “Welcome stranger", Not preserved. It was crushed into pieces, chipping one piece after another for 5 hours. There was not even a photograph of this unique nugget. Where he was found, they placed a pillar on which you can read the names of 2 miners, they were able to earn 9 563 pounds.
1. Holterman plate, 83.3 kg
In Australia, near Sydney, in 1872, a record-breaking huge nugget was found at the Hill End mine. It was a gigantic block weighing 280 kg, but it could not be called pure gold.
The find was a quartz slab, the length of which was 144 cm, the width was 66 cm, and the thickness was only 10 cm. Gold was smelted from it. This huge nugget was named after the man who could find him - Bernard Holtermann. Before that, he had been searching for gold for several years, until he became famous thanks to his find.
«Holtermann Plate"Also has not survived to our times, was fragmented and melted, but remained its photograph, because Bernard loved taking pictures.