Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget (77)

Mar 26, 2013 6:02 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
Newlife08
Newlife08Newlife08On the coast, Queensland Australia165 Threads 2,715 Posts

Here's a pic for our mate Rob, I wandered into the Vic State Parlt which had an Open Day on the Sunday and saw a replica of the Welcome Stranger which is the largest alluvial nugget ever found weighing 71 kgs. In today's value it would be $3,700,000.

Sadly it was melted down and made into ingots to be shipped to England sigh

Wouldn't it be nice?



---- IMAGE REMOVED because photobucket.com no longer allows embedded images ----
Mar 26, 2013 6:03 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
Newlife08
Newlife08Newlife08On the coast, Queensland Australia165 Threads 2,715 Posts
Ooops meant to add the Wikepedia link for more info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger
Mar 27, 2013 1:46 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
tarris
tarristarrisnew plymouth, Taranaki New Zealand4 Threads 395 Posts
Newlife08: Here's a pic for our mate Rob, I wandered into the Vic State Parlt which had an Open Day on the Sunday and saw a replica of the Welcome Stranger which is the largest alluvial nugget ever found weighing 71 kgs. In today's value it would be $3,700,000.

Sadly it was melted down and made into ingots to be shipped to England

Wouldn't it be nice?
yes read a book on this recently!!
Guy who found it drank it away and paid debts etc
Was broke again in a year or two
Mar 27, 2013 4:28 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
would be great to trip over one even half it's size
Know doubt others will be found, likely heaps still berried below the surface.
Considering this area, which produced around the same amount of gold as Bendigo was producing at the time, round here a vast area besides the very old river beds, most of the gold was taken from a few tunnels recovering gold embedded in rock, number of tunnels that were dug, so there is bound to be heaps still out there, sadly though this area doesn't produce much in the way of nuggets like West Victorian gold fields do.

thanks for the picture-took Newlife
Mar 30, 2013 12:46 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
benidorm
benidormbenidormwellington, Wellington New Zealand58 Threads 1 Polls 499 Posts
You got me wanting to go find these beauties be handy.
Mar 30, 2013 1:33 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
conduit
conduitconduitmelbourne, Victoria Australia2 Threads 236 Posts
Newlife08: Here's a pic for our mate Rob, I wandered into the Vic State Parlt which had an Open Day on the Sunday and saw a replica of the Welcome Stranger which is the largest alluvial nugget ever found weighing 71 kgs. In today's value it would be $3,700,000.

Sadly it was melted down and made into ingots to be shipped to England

Wouldn't it be nice?



Just to find a gold nugget or even precious stones would make my dreams come true. My soft spot for precious stones are, sapphire,diamonds,rubies and pearls.I would keep them in their original condition until you desperately need to sell them. Surely they would go up in value, like antiquated cars or collectors items. WHAT A DREAM!!!angel2 angel2 angel2
Mar 30, 2013 2:52 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
mickyj63
mickyj63mickyj63adelaide, South Australia Australia101 Threads 2,362 Posts
I couldn't wear it around my neckrolling on the floor laughing
They were selling gold "dust" in that 88 stories building for 9.95
Mar 30, 2013 2:53 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
mickyj63
mickyj63mickyj63adelaide, South Australia Australia101 Threads 2,362 Posts
conduit: Just to find a gold nugget or even precious stones would make my dreams come true. My soft spot for precious stones are, sapphire,diamonds,rubies and pearls.I would keep them in their original condition until you desperately need to sell them. Surely they would go up in value, like antiquated cars or collectors items. WHAT A DREAM!!!

I know you must be careful buying this stuff conduit but pawnbrokers can be cheaper than retail stores !!
Just need to be careful scold
Mar 30, 2013 3:51 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
Newlife08
Newlife08Newlife08On the coast, Queensland Australia165 Threads 2,715 Posts
tarris: yes read a book on this recently!!
Guy who found it drank it away and paid debts etc
Was broke again in a year or two


Hi Tarris cswelcome

I was gonna say maybe they should make a movie about it but already been done "The Nugget" laugh

Not quite the same, but good movie.

Yep, wouldn't mind if that thing dropped on my head even! cool
Mar 30, 2013 4:44 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
conduit
conduitconduitmelbourne, Victoria Australia2 Threads 236 Posts
mickyj63: I know you must be careful buying this stuff conduit but pawnbrokers can be cheaper than retail stores !!
Just need to be careful




Thanks for your advice Micky63. I would only keep beautiful precious stones or gold nuggets if I found them from the ground myself. I would never buy them---don't have the money. I remember years ago going to a place that was supposed to have gems. I was terribly disappointed not finding anything. There were so many pebbles and grit. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I also remember panning for gold in the Yarra River at Warrandyte, when my children were little,just for the sake of the experience and also hoping "we might strike it rich". Again we found nothing. After watching a video on fossil bones---Kew was mentioned. So we attempted to find some kind of fossils along the cliffs. We could not find any. However one day while we were walking along the beach we found a large rock with a carving of a fish and some lines.Could be a fossil rock,(possibly from Kilcunda beach). I still have that rock.Now I need to study it. These are some reminiscence of my happy past.
Mar 30, 2013 4:55 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
if you go to a creek or river in an area that gold has been found, pull out roots of grass from cracks in the rocks and wash the roots in your pan you can often find tiny bits of gold just like these

Embedded image from another site
Mar 30, 2013 5:12 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
wash2u
wash2uwash2uMelbourne, Victoria Australia79 Threads 1 Polls 3,768 Posts
conduit: Thanks for your advice Micky63. I would only keep beautiful precious stones or gold nuggets if I found them from the ground myself. I would never buy them---don't have the money. I remember years ago going to a place that was supposed to have gems. I was terribly disappointed not finding anything. There were so many pebbles and grit. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I also remember panning for gold in the Yarra River at Warrandyte, when my children were little,just for the sake of the experience and also hoping "we might strike it rich". Again we found nothing. After watching a video on fossil bones---Kew was mentioned. So we attempted to find some kind of fossils along the cliffs. We could not find any. However one day while we were walking along the beach we found a large rock with a carving of a fish and some lines.Could be a fossil rock,(possibly from Kilcunda beach). I still have that rock.Now I need to study it. These are some reminiscence of my happy past.


I have visited a couple of caves on the Nullabor where there were a lot of fosillised shells in the strata. Managed to pick up a couple of fossilised shells being in the rock rather than just the imprint.

Have also gotten a few Garnets, Zircons and Opals over the years. Found some that have been cut and set so now my daughter has some "family heirlooms" to pass on. "My Dad found these."dancing
Mar 30, 2013 7:17 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
conduit
conduitconduitmelbourne, Victoria Australia2 Threads 236 Posts
wash2u: I have visited a couple of caves on the Nullabor where there were a lot of fosillised shells in the strata. Managed to pick up a couple of fossilised shells being in the rock rather than just the imprint.

Have also gotten a few Garnets, Zircons and Opals over the years. Found some that have been cut and set so now my daughter has some "family heirlooms" to pass on. "My Dad found these."




wow!!!you are very fortunate. Good idea to have heirlooms. I suppose it is difficult to find these here,close to Melbourne---Or is it??? Warrandyte and it's surrounding areas was supposed to have had gold in the past. There are some actual caves where gold was dug out---most likely in the gold rush era. I have never seen anyone panning for gold now. But I will give it another go. Where would you find the precious stones,close to Melbourne?
Mar 30, 2013 7:24 AM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
conduit
conduitconduitmelbourne, Victoria Australia2 Threads 236 Posts
robplum: if you go to a creek or river in an area that gold has been found, pull out roots of grass from cracks in the rocks and wash the roots in your pan you can often find tiny bits of gold just like these



Thanks robplum
Warrandyte was a gold mining town in the past. The area does have the clay,marble rocks. It also has some deep caves where gold was dug out. Must try out the panning. I will be quite thrilled just to find a few small ones.
Mar 30, 2013 3:39 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
dig the dirt out of small cracks, pull couch grass out by the roots and wash the roots in your pan, where creek, river has turned a corner find the backwash out of the current and dig into the grass roots, another place to look is under big rocks where the water has flowed over bit like a waterfall under the bottom side the rock.
Black iron sand is prospectors best friend in your pan usually the gold will be found in that, some pictures in this thread
Mar 30, 2013 4:10 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
Gold is usually formed by pressure during large upheavals such as earth quakes. Some becomes exposed by water one way or another, even if millions of years ago, lots of nuggets have been found in very old river beds, which was the case up in Omeo, long time ago earth quakes occurred and rivers changed course so its possible to locate gold in very old river beds other than current water courses, while other gold is found in veins in rock, the rock is crushed to extract it.
In creeks and rivers as Gold is 19 times heaver than water, it is mostly found right down in deeper holes on the bedrock rock, mostly in places where it is sheltered and isn't getting ground smaller by harder rock.
Most larger bits are located in deep holes by dredging which is illegal in most parts of Australia, the tiny bits i've been finding have been washed into the creeks, river off the hills and have got caught in the cracks and roots of plants
Mar 30, 2013 6:21 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
notauser
notausernotauserMt Waverley, Victoria Australia32 Posts
I have been a gold prospector for many years now and I use a metal detector to find gold. Whilst I have found hundreds of bits of gold they are only small nuggets. There is still plenty of gold out there in fact it is said that, of all the gold ever recovered from the ground it only represents 5% of what is still in the ground. A lot of gold can still be found on its travels from the reef to the rivers below. This is were a modern metal detector can speed up the search process. However, the gold is usually only about the size of a grain of rice. Larger nuggets are extremely rare and shouldn't be the reason to go prospecting as disappointment may come sooner rather than later. Gold is around $1700 per ounce here in Australia and there is about 32 grams in an ounce. One gram is about the size of that piece of rice. So that puts that little and much easier to find, little bit about $53 The best and most secure way to sell gold like this or any old jewelry is to send it directly to a gold refiner, Never use pawn shops or gold buyers in shopping centers unless you are in a hurry and don't mind the loss. You can also have your gold returned to you after refining, in the form of a pure gold ingot that can be kept for investment purposes or as a party conversation piece, Not many people have ever held pure gold without the additives that are put into jewelry. Finding a nugget is like nothing no other type of buzz and yes it is pure gold in color when it comes out of the ground.
Mar 30, 2013 7:21 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
Blizzard14u
Blizzard14uBlizzard14uGosnells, Western Australia Australia67 Threads 2 Polls 1,430 Posts
robplum: if you go to a creek or river in an area that gold has been found, pull out roots of grass from cracks in the rocks and wash the roots in your pan you can often find tiny bits of gold just like these


Rob, ABC 24 had a story about 1kg off gold per day gets washed up in the sewerage system off large cities like Sydney, yet they haven’t found away off retrieving it yet? Now there a job for you! Think off a way to extract the gold and I will go you half’s, in the profits that is,
professor rolling on the floor laughing rolling on the floor laughing cheers
Mar 30, 2013 7:46 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
notauser: I have been a gold prospector for many years now and I use a metal detector to find gold. Whilst I have found hundreds of bits of gold they are only small nuggets. There is still plenty of gold out there in fact it is said that, of all the gold ever recovered from the ground it only represents 5% of what is still in the ground. A lot of gold can still be found on its travels from the reef to the rivers below. This is were a modern metal detector can speed up the search process. However, the gold is usually only about the size of a grain of rice. Larger nuggets are extremely rare and shouldn't be the reason to go prospecting as disappointment may come sooner rather than later. Gold is around $1700 per ounce here in Australia and there is about 32 grams in an ounce. One gram is about the size of that piece of rice. So that puts that little and much easier to find, little bit about $53 The best and most secure way to sell gold like this or any old jewelry is to send it directly to a gold refiner, Never use pawn shops or gold buyers in shopping centers unless you are in a hurry and don't mind the loss. You can also have your gold returned to you after refining, in the form of a pure gold ingot that can be kept for investment purposes or as a party conversation piece, Not many people have ever held pure gold without the additives that are put into jewelry. Finding a nugget is like nothing no other type of buzz and yes it is pure gold in color when it comes out of the ground.

welcome to the forums notauser
lot people been selling part grams on eBay, i've brought a few, is actually cheaper i reckon than the diesel used to prospect...they selling at part gram price + ebay + paypal and purchaser pays postage.

I've a Fisher 70 but not found any gold thus far, not really nugget country round Ensay, though was a big producing area, most was crushed out of garnet, though some Lobs and reefs were found to
Mar 30, 2013 8:02 PM CST Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
notauser
notausernotauserMt Waverley, Victoria Australia32 Posts
robplum: welcome to the forums notauser
lot people been selling part grams on eBay, i've brought a few, is actually cheaper i reckon than the diesel used to prospect...they selling at part gram price + ebay + paypal and purchaser pays postage.

I've a Fisher 70 but not found any gold thus far, not really nugget country round Ensay, though was a big producing area, most was crushed out of garnet, though some Lobs and reefs were found to


Hello robplum,
I too, have to travel to find gold but that is the fun part of making an outing of it. The history behind this hobby is enormous and not covered very well in schools. I have given talks to kids in schools about our history in this area and they are absolutely amazed. I was part of management on gold prospecting forums for a few years and the concept of selling gold on eBay was a great idea for some as a macro lens on a camera could make a tiny piece of gold look big and hence a price above gold value was common. The fisher 70 struggles to find the smaller gold that can be picked up by the very sensitive machines available now days, however it will find the big ones if you swing over them and they are close to the surface. Good luck to you.
Thank you for the welcome.
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