In England’s Shropshire, a metal detectorist made a remarkable discovery by unearthing England’s largest-ever gold nugget, valued at £30,000 (Rs 31.62 lakh). Despite facing challenges, including arriving an hour late for the dig and encountering issues with a faulty metal detector, 67-year-old Richard Brock persevered. Travelling three and a half hours from Somerset to participate in an organised expedition on farmland in the Shropshire Hills last May, Brock had to make do with an older malfunctioning machine due to technical difficulties.
Richard said that while the rest of the expedition members had state-of-the-art instruments, all his faulty metal detectors were able to detect at first were a few rusty old tent pegs. But about 20 years later, Richard was to make the most historic find of his life. His metal detector detected something about 5-6 inches under the soil. Believing it was another tent peg, he started digging but his jaw dropped when he realised he had unearthed a large 64.8g golden nugget. The metal, which has been named Hiro’s Nugget, is now expected to fetch at least Rs 30 lakh at auction and is believed to be the biggest find of its kind on English soil.
The nugget was discovered on a site near the village of Much Wenlock, speculated to have been an old track with railway lines, possibly containing stones from Wales- a region renowned for its gold deposits. According to Brock, research indicates that the only larger gold nuggets found in the UK were discovered in Wales and Scotland. In Anglesey/Ynys Môn, Wales, a nugget weighing 97.12g was found, while Scotland yielded the Reunion Nugget, weighing 121.3g, in 2019.
The nugget is scheduled to be auctioned, with the timed auction running until April 1. It is estimated to fetch around Rs 30 lakh. Richard Brock has said that whatever money is received from the auction, he will split it equally with the owner of the land.
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