$460,000 8.2 Pound 131.2 oz Gold Nugget Found.

Couple of you tube clips from a USA "geologist" on this unique "find".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlidopKBu2E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lX9auaJqk0&feature=related

Yes it must definitely be the Rookwood one! I sent a message to Sopes.com and they hadn't heard of any "Porkies" at all about this so it just goes to show that history has raised its head again near Rookwood? (There hasn't been too many exhumations down that way lately has there?)

You just have to check these things out fellas! I mean Look at all those little plots all around the country that might bear lookin into!

I put a link to this post on an American prospecting site.It will be interesting to see any comments posted.
http://www.goldprospectors.org/newforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19265&PID=153899#153899

1574 views at 12pm Sunday.i expect there to be a lot more soon.

I am sitting in the Rokewood pub looking at a photo of the "Orange Roughy"nugget found in 1987 just across the creek that runs past the pub. It is EXACTLY like the so called Washington Nugget found(?) in California and sold as a collectors item for a grossly inflated price. A coincidence? I don't think so. It just seems like a new way to salt the mine. The Orange Roughy is well known in this district as is the finder Reg Wilson who continues to prospect the area and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the mining history of this area. Rokewood was Australia's richest alluvial gold field and in 1900 there was over 30 mines inside the town boundaries still operating. Want to see the proof? Call into the Rokewood pub, have beer and look at the photo on the wall.
Cheers
Kezza

Redrover, What's the chances of taking a photo of that article on the wall and posting it up, I have driven past that pub 100's of times to go prospecting and never once did I stop in there.....stupid me.

Awh... C'mon Goldstalker......Call in and have a beer with Redrover. Then you can both discuss this piccy and give us all your opinion on whether the story is true or false.

Story has hit the papers.Have a look at the video included.
http://www.news10.net/news/article/140600/2/Australian-prospector-Nevada-County-gold-nugget-a-fraud

adaduam wrote:
Awh... C'mon Goldstalker......Call in and have a beer with Redrover. Then you can both discuss this piccy and give us all your opinion on whether the story is true or false.

And would love to, but since moving from Geelong I think I have been through Rokewood once in the last two years

.

Here is a copy of the photo hanging in the Rokewood Pub - my grandma has the exact same photo, and this picture is taken of that.



And here is a copy of the Sun article from November 1987, complete with dog chewing on the nugget.



I have original sizes of these photos too (6MB) if anyone is interested.

Americans love a legal battle. I'm thinking the lawyers are already negotiating some outrageous settlements for the buyer, seller, and maybe the fraudster who sold it to the recent seller too. The settlement might even be bigger than the sale price. Lawsuit = gold in the US.

.

MS wrote:Hmmm Big nuggets always fetch a better price in the US , say you found it there and you get a extra premium from the local patriotic population , get shareholders in for a stake in mining the supposed big nugget claim zone, or sell off the rights for a quick buck.
Found with a cheap detector, big bucks for the land, the Geo involved with the sale, - something doesn't sound right here

Cheers Mark

Looks like my prediction was right, well done guys for tracking this nugget down , goes to show each nugget is unique and has it's own fingerprint to speak off and the world is now a smaller place due to the access to the net and it's much easier to catch out fraudulent types.
Cheers Mark

Melbourne Heraldsun today.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/the-washington-nugget-is-the-orange-roughie-says-prospector/story-fn7x8me2-1226069757046

Stick it up 'em fellas, don't let these crooks get away with this!

I guess arfter paying 460,000dollars US for a nugg with roughly 140,000 dollars worth of gold in it, they are not going to melt it down in a hurry. The person who bought it doesn't realy have a problem but the bloke who says he discovered it in the ground in American gold field has some fast talking to do along with the Nokta Golden King manufactuers who said it was their detector that located the nugget. I know that whatever confidence I might have had in the Golden King has now been wiped out completely. Even if the detector works I wouldn't knowingly have a bar of a company that was involved in a con like this.

I notice that KellyCo have not removed their involvement with the discovery of this nugget from their Web Site.
So did somebody actually go to the trouble of reburying this nugget in the US gold field and arrange for the re discovery along with unsuspecting witnesses who could then collaborate the story. I wonder if we will ever know the outcome of this little con.
I also left a ref to this topic on one American prospecting forum. There has been plenty of Views but not one comment left.

Well I suppose the small town of Rokewood owes a bit of gratitude to the snake oil salesmen in the USA. They have done what we haven't really been able to do here. They have put Rokewood on the international map. We have bumper stickers here with "Where the bloody hell is Rokewood?". Now a few journos in the US have a rough (or is that Roughie?) idea about where we are. We have already been phoned by a TV journo in Sacramento. Maybe we will even sell a few extra beers after all.
Cheers to all following the story
Kezza

I can see Orange Roughie fridge magnets, stubbie coolers, paper weights etc being available at the Rokewood Pub soon........

Gee Dunnart, I hadn't thought of that. Anyone out there want to quote on the mechandise?
Kezza

We may even see a beer called "Roughie Gold" with a replica nugget as the beer tap logo!

Ah Dunnart, the plot thickens. I see another conspiracy theory in the making. I wonder where I can get such a beer?
Kezza

From the Herald Sun,

"The (previous) owner of the nugget is steadfast that he found it on his property," the auctioneer told the network.

"I believe him 100 per cent."
Read more on the Herald Sun.

Probably did find it on his property coz that woz where someone buried it ta be found later .

The yanks should give up because the evidence against their claim is overwhelmingly in favour of the Aussies, buckets and buckets of proof.

Expert backtracks......

http://www.news10.net/news/article/140676/29/Auctioneer-doubts-Nevada-County-gold-nugget-authenticity

This is the same nugget on the cover of AGG&T (March 1998 I think).



I cannot find a vol number or date on this issue but one of the adverts inside is dated 03/98.

I think the small insert pic is irrelevent to the big nug.

.

I might have to delete that photo as I am not sure if it is breaching copywrite. I will have a talk to the editor of the mag tomorrow.

What we do know with a high level of certainty is that the nugget in question was found in 1987 in Victoria, and we know who the finder was. We also know with a fair degree of confidence the motive behind the scam, that being to boost the sale price of the land it was supposedly found on.

What we don't know is who the seller and buyer are, and more importantly, how did the seller get hold of this nugget without anyone else recognising it? How after 20 years has this nugget suddenly appeared on the American market? Is the recent seller the original buyer of 20 years ago?

If the finder sold it to an American buyer 20 odd years ago, who was the buyer? and why has it not been sold or auctioned until now? Something isn't right about this buyer/seller scenario to me?

For some reason the nugget has gone underground (pardon the pun) for 20+ years?

And just to throw another spanner in the works, I think we would all agree, $460,000 is a crazy price, and I'm wondering if the buyer/seller by chance happen to know each other?????????

Quote from the herald sun June 6th 2011
"In 2000, Mr Wilson sold it to a US dealer for $50,000 - the market value of the day."

An update to one of the news stories has said the seller (not the auctioneer) has been identified.
A Mr G. Warren from Usa has written a couple of good stories on this sale so far and he is keeping a very close eye on developments. Rwork

Adrian SS wrote:This is the same nugget on the cover of AGG&T (March 1998 I think).



I cannot find a vol number or date on this issue but one of the adverts inside is dated 03/98.

I think the small insert pic is irrelevent to the big nug.

Am enjoying watching this story unfold and think its great that the price of AGG&T has actually DECREASED!, by $0.70 in the last 13 years. Its even less if you subscribe to the mag

Yeh I guess it should be around 12 to 15 dollars today but then on the other hand it is only about 1/2 the number of pages now, either way the mag is great and is good value at the current price.
you blokes should start pumping out some stories for the mag like Field Tests and general yarns about your experiences while looking for the yella metal. I have done several articles, which goes ta show that ya dun hafta be a genius to get something into the magazine. Just give Mark Thomas (the Editor) a call and he will tell you how to go about it. It aint difficult, all ya hafta do iz pick up pencil and paper and start writing. Go on! go on! Do ut nar!!