Welsh gold rush
Treasure hunter finds £50,000 nugget near 1859 shipwreck
A £50,000 gold nugget, thought to be the largest ever found in Britain, has been discovered off a Welsh beach.
The size of an egg, it was spotted glistening in the waters off Anglesey – close to where a ship carrying £120million of gold from Australia sank in 1859.
Prospector Vincent Thurkettle, 60, was stunned to find the 3oz (97.12g) nugget in a crevice on the sea bed.
It is almost twice as heavy as the previous record holder, the Carnon Nugget, which was found in Cornwall in 1808 and weighed 2oz (59g).
The Welsh nugget is believed to be part of a haul of gold which went down with the ship the Royal Charter in a hurricane north of the village of Moelfre. Some 450 people died in the disaster as the ship made its way to Liverpool.
Ever since, treasure hunters have tried to find traces of the gold. Mr Thurkettle himself spent six weeks there every summer for seven years before his efforts paid off.
15ft He was from shallowthe shore diving when aroundhe spotted the nugget, around 130ft from the shipwreck. Recent storms had exposed part of the sea bed. ‘I was abso- lutely stunned,’ he said. ‘ The sun was out so the gold was gleaming and because it was under water it was magnified, so it looked huge. ‘I was really only expecting to find gold dust so I couldn’t believe it when I realised it was a huge nugget. It was a magical moment. ‘I had only ever seen nuggets like it in a museum. I didn’t want to touch it at first, just to savour the moment and burn into my memory how beautiful it looked. As it lay where nature had hidden it, the nugget reminded me of a Faberge egg.’ Mr Thurkettle, from Norfolk, found the nugget in 2012, but kept it secret until now while the area was searched for more gold.
Because the nugget was found close to a shipwreck he had to notify the Receiver of Wreck. The piece is now property of the Crown and will go on display in a museum.
Mr Thurkettle believes the nugget could fetch as much as £50,000. He expects to receive a finder’s fee.
He added: ‘It has broken my heart to part with the nugget, but I think it’s important that it ends up in a museum for everyone to see. I had grown very fond of it.’