Huge gold nugget found by metal detector enthusiasts set for auction

A triceratop’s nasal horn, fossilized horse skull, and a 10-pound golden nugget uncovered by a couple using a metal detector over 40 years ago are only some of the rarities set for auction on April 23 at the Heritage Auction’s 2025 Nature & Science Signature® Auction.

The shiny behemoth known as the “Golden Beauty” was found in 1979 the Kalgoorlie Goldfields in Western Australia by John and Frances Aggiss. The couple was out simply looking for a little gold with their metal detector, but ended up finding the largest from Kalgoorlie in more than half a century. At the time of writing, the bid for the Golden Beauty is at $400,000. 

“Gold always has been enormously popular, in part because of its pure value and beauty, but also because it is exceedingly rare,” Craig Kissick, Vice President of Nature and Science at Heritage Auctions, said in a statement. “It has been estimated that all of the Gold ever mined could fit in a cube measuring roughly 22 meters (72 feet) in each direction. Very little remains in a natural nugget state, with the vast majority melted down and refined for things like coins and jewelry.”

Golden Beauty was once part of a private Swiss collection and is noted for its size. It’s close to 7.5 inches and weighs more than 145 troy ounces, or 10 pounds. By comparison, a nugget that weighs only one troy ounce is about as rare as a five-carat diamond. 

“Finding a Gold nugget of any size is an absolute trophy, but to find something like this is beyond rare,” said Kissick. “A lot of people have spent their lives searching for Gold and never found anything even close to this.”

Another golden nugget found in Australia that weighs 15.52 troy ounces, or about one pound, is also up for grabs. An anonymous donor placed the nugget into a Salvation Army kettle during the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign in December 2024. The proceeds from this piece are slated to benefit the Salvation Army’s Annual National Commander’s Red Kettle Challenge 2025.

[ Related: Amateur metal detector uncovers massive Iron Age treasure hoard. ]

Auction enthusiasts with deep pockets can also bid on a 13-inch ammonite fossil with predation marks from the Bearpaw Formation in Alberta, Canada. This colorful and iridescent ammonite is the only material classified as both a fossil and a gemstone. The circular dots found near the center of the fossil indicate that a predatory marine reptile called a mosasaur took some bites of it. 

Other items of note include a sword called Ekleipsis that was made by artist Tristain Dare using meteorites, several other meteorites, and a backgammon set made from various minerals. 

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