It is certainly no coincidence that the territory between Ballarat, Bendigo and St Arnaud, in the Australian state of Victoria, is nicknamed «the golden triangle». In fact, in the 19th century it made the fortune of many nugget seekers. However, not even in his sweetest dreams would a man who wished to remain anonymous never think he was in front of a rock containing well 2,6 chili of the precious metal. Yet that’s exactly what happened to him in November thanks to his metal detector: a device for amateurs which proved to be providential in allowing him to get his hands on a stone which, current quotations in hand (that is more than 58,000 euros per kilo), earned him the equivalent of about 150 thousand euros.
Absolute rarity
Be the first to discover the value of the block, the total weight of 4,6 chili, the manager of a gold shop that the lucky hobbyist turned to in the city of Geelong, not far from Melbourne. «He took this rock out of his backpack and as he dropped it into my hand he asked me:“Do you think it could be worth 10 grand?”», said the shopkeeper, as reported Tuesday and news.com.au. «Try 100kwas, at first sight, his answer. She wasn’t wrong. «It happens that large nuggets are found underground by large companies – he then explained -, but when it comes to metal detectors, this is the biggest I’ve ever seen.’ In other terms – he concluded – «it’s one of those life changing pieces».
New Gold Rush?
As revealed and Insider, the buyer then spent “several weeks” meticulously cleaning the rock, which is still in his possession. In addition to wanting to keep her for a while longer, in fact, he would be thinking of selling her as a collector’s itemthus maximizing profit. In his opinion what happened will push now other amateur prospectors to venture into the golden triangle. Unlikely, however, that someone will be able to be kissed by the same amount of luck. According to what is handed down, the largest nugget ever was extracted right in the State of Victoria – and more precisely near Moliagul – the February 5, 1869 by the English John Deason and Richard Oates: renamed «Welcome Stranger» («Benvenire Sconosciuto», in Italian), weighed more than 78 kilos gross and returned a net weight of just over 71. Today he would therefore have made them pocket the beauty of 4.1 million euros.