The largest gold nugget found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia in 1869 was called the "Welcome Stranger" weighing in at 72.04 kg : above picture was a piece of 210 lb which was broken into 3 pieces so that they could be weighed. (source)
Today I was teaching my 15 - 16 year olds about density and we calculated the density of gold and I thought I'll drop in the price of gold per oz. We only teach the metric system in New Zealand so almost all the students have no idea about the Imperial system. So it was a good place to slip in some conversion to them.
So I told them that the gold price was $US1000 per oz yesterday. Then I told them that 16 oz make 1 lb and that 2.2 lb make 1 kg. So what does 1kg of gold cost? To my pleasant surprise the naughtiest boy in class actually calculated in his head and told me that 1 lb of gold cost $16000. Then I asked him how about 1 kg? He estimated and told me about $34000. Another student calculated on his calculator and showed me the answer at $35200. And I told them that is how much a 1kg gold bar is worth now. We then went on to discuss about money based on gold reserves and how Asians like to buy gold as investment. It was quite fun for me as I got to share my work experience with them on the days when I was exploring for gold.
One student also asked me what is the biggest nugget ever found so which made me decided to look up so see above picture. The biggest nugget I have ever seen and touched was in Kalimantan, Indonesia in a gold smith shop which was over 200g (cannot remember exactly how much as it was about 20 years ago!). Even then I can just imagine the gold miner who found it in the river when he or she saw it! Must have been ecstatic!
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