Image source, Mullock Jones
This large gold nugget, thought to be worth £30,00 has been found in Shropshire.
The discovery was made at an organised dig on farmland near Much Wenlock, near Wolverhampton.
Richard Brock from Somerset who found the nugget, had turned up an hour late to the event and was even using a faulty metal detector machine!
Auctioneers Mullock Jones, in charge of selling it, say it weighs 64.8g (about the weight of a tennis ball) and think it could be the largest nugget ever found on English soil.
Where do gold nuggets come from?
Image source, Mullock Jones
Nuggets or flakes of gold are usually found in rivers where they have been eroded from a larger chunk of the precious metal buried in rock, and taken down stream.
It’s not exactly known how the nugget came to be in the field in Shropshire, but an old track or road and a railway line are thought to have run through the farmland.
The site also contains stone understood to have originally come from Wales, said the auctioneers.
Treasure hunt was supposed to ‘last all day’
Image source, Getty Images
Metal detectorists use a detecting machine like this one to scan the ground looking for treasure
Describing his metal detecting equipment, which had a faded screen, Mr Brock said at first he only found a “few rusty old tent pegs”, but within 20 minutes of scanning, the gold nugget was detected about five or six inches under the ground.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“I turned up late, was only there a matter of minutes and this treasure hunting expedition was supposed to last all day.”
Bigger examples of gold nuggets have been found in Great Britain before, but they were in Wales and Scotland.
“The last one which claimed to be bigger in England was 54g but mine is 64.8g, so we’re pretty confident it is the biggest found on English soil,” said Mr Brock.