An amateur prospector discovered what’s believed to be the U.K.’s largest gold nugget in a Scottish river and then largely sat on his find — for two years.
The Briton, who reportedly wishes to remain anonymous, wanted to keep the discovery hush-hush, too, to avoid a gold rush as interest in panning is surging in Scotland’s three “gold belts,” the Guardian reported Thursday.
The man found the nugget, weighing about 85 grams, or 3.02 ounces, while lying facedown with a snorkel in the riverbed, a method that prospectors call “sniping.”
But he has shown the discovery to experts, including one who suggested the nugget’s rarity makes it worth about £50,000 (over $65,000). That’s a different league from what prevailing market rates would suggest. The December gold futures GCZ8, -0.52% contract traded Thursday near $1,236 an ounce, near its lowest in about a year. Two years ago, when this river discovery was made, the yellow metal was changing hands on the futures market at $1,357, more than 9% higher than today’s prices.
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Found gold and silver in the U.K. is usually classed as belonging to the crown, and it was not clear whether the finder had received permission to remove it. So far, he is keeping it in a safe-deposit box, according to the Guardian report.
The largest gold nugget previously found in British waters was discovered in Cornwall in 1808 and weighed 59 grams.
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