Photo Credit: nuggetsbygrant
Natural British Columbian Gold Nugget Weighing 12.75 Grams
Buy It Now Price: $696.50 (price as of 2016; item no longer available)
Pros:
-Alluring and precious, this 12.75 gram (0.4099 troy ounce) natural gold nugget was found near the town of Atlin in British Columbia, Canada.
-Atlin, Canada is within the Alaska-Yukon-British Columbia gold corridor. Along with Australia, this area is one of the most prolific sources of gold nuggets today. This corridor is best known as the location of the famous Klondike Gold Rush from 1897 to 1899, when tens of thousands of often ill-prepared prospectors descended on the wilds of Alaska and the Yukon Territory looking to strike it rich in the remote gold fields.
-This British Columbian gold nugget has a very distinctive, water-worn appearance. This is due to the extensive hydraulic action gold nuggets undergo when deposited in the fast flowing rivers and streams of the region. This characteristic look helps confirm that the gold nugget’s British Columbian provenance is most likely correct.
-This natural gold nugget has an interesting, wonderfully organic shape and a deep, rich gold color. Both of these attributes are highly desirable when considering the investment merits of a gold nugget. Nuggets with pale, washed-out colors or boring or awkward shapes typically sell for substantially lower prices.
-Weighing in at a substantial 12.75 grams (0.4099 troy ounces), this British Columbian gold nugget is nearly the size of a U.S. quarter. Natural gold nuggets this large are rare, highly desirable and in strong demand from collectors and connoisseurs alike.
-With spot gold trading at $1,270 a troy ounce and assuming a purity of 90%, our British Columbian gold nugget has a melt value of approximately $468. Therefore, the nugget’s asking price represents a premium of 48.8% over bullion value. This is a reasonable premium to pay for a nugget of this size and obvious quality.
Cons:
-Although this British Columbian gold nugget is sizable, even larger, more desirable natural gold nuggets are available. However, prices escalate very quickly above about 0.5 troy ounces (15.5 grams). This nugget isn’t quite there size-wise, but it is knocking on the door of greatness.
-Natural gold nuggets that are still embedded in matrix (parent rock) typically trade at higher valuations than a “clean” nugget like this one.
