Alaska’s largest recorded gold nugget, found in 1998, later sold for $750,000

One push of a bulldozer turned an ordinary day of placer mining into a discovery that would enter Alaska's mining history. In 1998, miner Barry Clay was moving dirt near Ruby when he uncovered a massive natural gold-and-quartz specimen weighing 294.1 troy ounces, or more than 20 pounds. The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys recorded the find as the largest gold nugget mined in Alaska. For more than two decades, the specimen remained a remarkable piece of mining history before Heritage Auctions offered it for sale in 2021. The nugget ultimately sold for $750,000, adding another extraordinary chapter to its story.A discovery made while moving dirtClay was carrying out placer mining near Swift Creek, in the Ruby Mining District of Alaska's Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, when the discovery occurred.