Only two rushes in Scotland for gold

Goldmining in Courier Country dates back to Fife in 1852, during one of only two gold rushes in Scotland.

With gold valued at £4 an ounce and a skilled worker earning less than £50 a year, the prospect of making a year’s wages in less than a month inspired labourers to head for the hills around Auchtermuchty and Kinnesswood.

Unfortunately, most did not know how to extract gold or what natural gold looked like. Their sacks of glinting minerals mostly turned out to be pyrite, known as fool’s gold or fairy balls.

In Perthshire, Cononish near Tyndrum was historically known for lead mining but gold was not discovered there until the 1980s.

A 10oz nugget from Cononish was the first commercially mined gold to be extracted in Scotland.

Mine owners Scotgold Resources released 10 limited edition 1oz gold rounds in 2016, which sold for an average of £4,557 per oz.

Each round was stamped with the Scottish gold mark of the stag’s head and has a unique serial number from the Edinburgh Assay Office.

In December, an anonymous treasure hunter claimed to have discovered the UK’s largest gold nugget in an unnamed Scottish river.

Weighing 4.2oz, the gold was in two pieces which fit perfectly together, gaining it the name “the Reunion Nugget”.

It could be worth £80,000 but its provenance has yet to be confirmed.

The Douglas Nugget holds the current record for the largest gold nugget found in the UK for 500 years.

It was also discovered in a Scottish river and its finder kept quiet for two years before revealing his treasure.