Alaska Centennial Gold Nugget. Swift Creek Mine. Ruby Mining District. Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. Alaska, USA...

Description

Alaska Centennial Nugget

Alaska Centennial Gold Nugget
Swift Creek Mine
Ruby Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
Alaska, USA

Some offerings are so singular that it is hard to know where to begin with describing them. The Alaska Centennial Gold Nugget is first and foremost THE largest Gold nugget ever found in the State of Alaska. Discovered in 1998 along Swift Creek near the town of Ruby, Alaska, by Barry Clay, who was doing some placer mining and pushing dirt with a bulldozer, unearthed this seminal discovery and instantly made history.

Fortunately, Clay had identified something 'unusual' and immediately collected the object. He knew he had excavated a massive Gold nugget, and he summarily took it into town for subsequent examination. It was determined Clay had, indeed, found THE largest Gold nugget EVER discovered in Alaska, which is often said to be the second-largest nugget ever found in the Western Hemisphere - behind the famous "Boot of Cortez" originating from Mexico. The Alaska Centennial Nugget was sold to a private collector, where it has remained in his collection - until now. This offering represents a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.

While the Ruby Mining District is known for producing large nuggets, the Alaska Centennial, which was aptly named as it was found on the 100th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush, has been kept in near original condition making the offering an even more intriguing proposition. The piece weighs an amazing 294.1 troy ounces, which is over 20 pounds, and its owner never felt it necessary to perform an assay on the nugget, citing that the actual Gold content was not correlated to the value of a piece as important, historical, and singular as the Alaska Centennial, which clearly has "no peer" in terms of Gold nuggets from The Last Frontier.

While rather large for an evaluation with Specific Gravity testing, there was an XRF analysis performed on the massive rock. The Gold on the exterior surface of the rock tested to an average purity of 87.59 percent, which is equivalent to a rating of 21 Karat, with 24 Karat being pure Gold. The actual Gold in this superlative example is extremely high quality.

The unbelievable specimen is quite gorgeous, with vibrant yellowish Gold all over the surface of the giant rock anchored by a "muddy" white Quartz matrix. The shape is naturally artistic and rather intricate for the size of the nugget. Riverine-type flows of Gold cover the complex surface of this Gold in Quartz specimen that has a severe visual contrast of the precious metal and the crystalline mineral so often associated with it.

This is one true museum-quality specimen that deserves to be on permanent display for the treasure it is.
Measurements: 6.69 x 5.70 x 4.33 x inches (17.00 x 14.50 x 11.00 cm), weighs 9.14 kilograms (294.10 oz t)



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