The largest single piece of gold ever found and measured is called the Beyers and Holtermann nugget. It was discovered in October 1872 in New South Wales, Australia. It weighed roughly 630 pounds and measured 59 inches by 26 inches. At the time, it was valued at more than $18,000. Adjusted for inflation, that is roughly $350,000 now. Additionally, gold prices have increased by four times their amount in 1872. In other words, if a piece of gold this size was found today, it would be worth well over a million dollars!

Great question! It turns out there is a bit of debate about the largest piece of gold ever to be found and in fact there are 2 specimens that claim to be the largest. The first and potentially better known has been called the `Welcome Stranger´ and it was found at Moliagul in Victoria, Australia in 1869. It´s weight? An impressive 78 kilograms (which is roughly the weight of a large grown man!). The second potentially largest piece of gold is called the `Canaa´ nugget. It was found on September 13, 1983 by miners at the Serra Pelada Mine in the State of Para, Brazil. It´s weight? 60.8 kilograms, making it the second largest gold nugget in history, but as it still exists in its fully in tact form some think it´s possible that the first estimate may have been exaggerated and so it isn´t entirely clear if the Welcome Stranger is bigger than the Canaa nugget. Either way, pretty big pieces of gold, right?!