Historically, very few large nuggets were saved for their value as collectibles. In modern times, large gold nuggets are exceedingly rare and are highly valued. The following examples are gold nuggets that have been sold at Heritage Auctions and have sales prices over $10,000.
Barry, Colorado: An Early Town in the Cripple Creek District
Following the discovery of gold in the Cripple Creek district, many mining communities were formed in the early 1890s. The town of Barry was one of the first, but it was soon swallowed up by its expanding neighbor.
In the 1890s, Leadville, Colorado was experiencing an economic depression. To boost the local economy, and the mood of the citizenry, in 1895 a plan was conceived to have a winter carnival, with the main attraction being a grand palace constructed almost entirely of ice.
Cache Creek, Colorado – An Early Placer Mining Camp
Cache Creek was an important early placer mining camp in Colorado’s Arkansas Valley. Horace Tabor lived here before later becoming one of Colorado’s richest mining tycoons at nearby Leadville.
Little Girl Lost: The Story of Colorado’s Silver Dollar Tabor
How does it feel to go from unimaginable wealth to equally unimaginable poverty? In the Tabor family, youngest daughter “Silver Dollar” clearly knew, and was most affected.
An Ode to Elkton, Colorado
Author Jan MacKell Collins describes her fondness for the mining town of Elkton, Colorado. “Being there somehow made me feel at home, and I slowly but surely fell in love with that old ghost town.”
“The Twenty Mule Teams of Death Valley” presents text and diagrams from a series of reports by the Historic American Engineering Record. Included are historical images of these iconic western wagon teams.
Mojave Desert borax was first made famous in the late 1800s by by the Twenty Mule Team wagon trains that were used to transport it across the desert. Over 140 years later, borax is still an important mined commodity in Southern California.
Mining in the Black Hills
“Mining in the Black Hills” provides an overview of the geography and history of mining and mining communities in the Black Hills. Included are historic and modern maps of the mining towns and districts of this famous mining region.
Most known gold localities are no longer actively producing on a large scale or are actively mined as open pits, and the prospect of a nice nugget or matrix specimen is low. That is not to say that good size and quality nuggets are not being found, and good matrix specimens are still uncovered in old mines, now worked in the hopes of finding “pocket gold” specimens.