Gold nugget found 10 Years ago .....

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

Tonight I was going through hundreds of old gold pictures I have and found a nugget I found on this date, but 10 years ago! There is a story behind the nugget, but most importantly when I found this nugget the spot price was around $350/ounce. I still own this nugget today and it's worth 5 times it's spot value, if not more due to the size and character.

The nugget came in just shy of two ounces, weighing exactly 1.9 troy ounces.

Story behind the nugget - It was found with a Minelab GP Extreme & Coiltek 14-inch Mono Round Searchcoil. I walked over this nugget a dozen times due to it sounding like the typical loud trash in the area. It was found in a known placer area with tons of old diggings, but overwhelming trash in spots. One morning I decided to dig it, just to get the trash out of the spot ..... low and behold it was a nice chunk of gold!

Dig all targets, not just the ones you think are gold.

[Gravelwasher]

I am heading out to do some more detecting tomorrow, will take your advice on digging it all. Hopefully with a little...lol lots of luck I will have a pic to post for all you all to see. I plan on running a wallaby coil and swinging slow and low. Will try an detect less obvious spots as the area is public and been hit hard by others in the area. One guy I talked with said he used his smallest coil on the creek beds and pulled a 5 gram nugget, so I am hopeful. Thanks for all the tips and most important inspiration to swing another day and leave that darn sluice at home.

[nvchris]

Beautiful Rob,

I've seen a lot of folks run from the loud ones…….

[oldies1955]

Dang thats a baute!

Good that you still got it...brings back happy memories

Tom H.

[Dakota Slim]

Great story & super nugget Rob. How deep was it?

[AZNuggetBob]

Rob your story reminded me of this.

I was hunting an old hammered patch I like to call the three pound patch. I had not been back there for years but thought I would give it a try because I was armed with new technology and a whole new attitude on old patches.I was packing a new detector it was a Minelab 2000 and I was sure it would give me some depth advantage. I knew where the original nugget runs were in the patch having discovered the patch originally but at time I was using a popular VLF machine.. there were three distinct nugget runs in the patch. the center run had produced some of the largest nuggets so that's were I decided to start. Running low and slow not to mention kicking some rocks out and pushing some bushes aside I hit the first one about a two dwter as I recall about 6 inches deep. the ground is hot there trust me.I moved up the slope slowly and found two more, the largest almost a 1/4 ozer. I remember at that point thinking I'm having a great day. Im squeaking nuggets out of an old hammered patch. just up ahead a schist dike running about three feet high going left and to my right with a nice almost flat area above it. I climbed over the dike and there are detecting holes everywhere. some within about 3-5'feet of me. there were old holes, new back filled holes. I'm thinking well probably the end of hunting for today. I turn around and my detector screams!. my 10.5" Minelab mono coil is two feet off the ground and the detector is screaming? I remember thinking with all the old holes, probably trash someone had thrown aside.I look around didn't see anything but I've got some nice nuggets, I'm tired,I'm going home. Well got home and was cleaning up the nuggets some and got to thinking, maybe if I went real slow and over cranked my detector settings a bit I may be able to get one or two more nuggets out of that old patch run.

Next day I'm fresh, my detector is cranked,I'm ready. I worked my way up the ridge I'm digging hot rocks, lots of hot rocks I'm running over cranked. but no gold. before I knew it I'm back up to that dike again and about to quit. All of a sudden I'm thinking well maybe if I move that piece of garbage I hit up there yesterday, I may find a nugget under it or near it. Its happened before.(another story) I climb over the dike and wham bam there it is! I still cant see it and I'm backing away trying to pin point were it is. finally I get down and I just start ripping up the ground with my pick were I think it may be, and about four or five inches deep out pops this 4-1/4 ounce nugget! It was stained brick red but I could see it by the rounded character. I reached down and grabbed it and when I felt the weight and waved it past the coil I knew for sure. what a day,I had to sit down. I could not believe I had walked away from it the day before.

lesson learned.

If you have any doubts,Dig It! "Their out there".

Take care and good luck to you. AzNuggetBob

Here is a old close up photo of it.

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

The nugget was just a few inches deep, but right in an area with a lot of rubbish and can pieces. Anyone would just guess it's another piece of metal or can, but I was wrong.

AZNuggetBob - Great nugget. I remember you telling me the story. That would have been one you wouldn't wanted to miss.

[Border Boy]

Great Stories, dig dig dig , makes me wonder how many I passed up during the rookie years

Beautiful pieces, Rob whats that one in new avatar??

Hey guys are those central AZ nuggz??

[AZNuggetBob]

Hey Rob

I thought I'd told you that story. but my story may be a little out of context. I just thought I'd share it with the members here.

Your 1.9 nugget does have fantastic character. great photo of it too.

BorderBoy my nugget was found in mid Az. I agree that is one awsome looking nugget in Robs avatar.

AzNuggetBob

[LuckyLundy]

Yep, "Dig them all, let the scoop sort them out". Nice nuggets men!

LuckyLundy

[JeffinPhx]

Very cool nugget Rob. It looks like a baby T-Rex.