The Golden Eagle Nugget is believed to be the largest solid mass of gold ever found in Western Australia, and one of the largest nuggets ever found in the entire world.
It was unearthed by a depression-era miner working in a very remote goldfield near the famous Kalgoorlie gold mining area.
It was a man name Jim Larcombe who is often credited with the discovery, but it was actually his young 16 year-old son who unearthed the huge nugget, near the now long-abandoned town of Widgimooltha.
This area has been worked on-and-off for many years since the first discovery of gold here in the late 1800s, and the region was well-known for producing some spectacular large gold nuggets.
Western Australia is still considered one of the richest gold mining regions in the world. Prospectors using metal detectors are still finding nice nuggets here, including some spectacular pieces that are weighed in pounds and kilograms, not ounces.
Still, none have compared to the Golden Eagle Nugget. Officially weighing in at 1136 troy ounces, it is by far the biggest nugget that has been found in Western Australia.
Unfortunately, the spectacular piece of natural gold was melted down, as was almost all gold that was found during the late 1800s up through the mid-1900s. The value of the piece was simply based on its gold content, and nothing more. A mineral collector would value this much higher today, but at the time it was only worth its weight in gold.
A replica of the nugget can be seen at the Rock and Mineral Museum in Kalgoorlie.
The Perth Mint has a very nice display of gold nugget that still exist today, probably the best display of natural gold in Australia. Some other impressive discoveries like the Normandy Nugget can still be seen here, and although not as big as the Golden Eagle, there are still some spectacular nuggets.
