<P> The largest gold nugget found using a metal detector is the Hand of Faith, weighing 875 troy ounces (27.2 kg; 60.0 lb), found in Kingower, Victoria, Australia in 1980 . </P> <P> Historic large specimens include the crystalline "Fricot Nugget", weighing 201 troy ounces (6.3 kg; 13.8 lb)--the largest one found during the California Gold Rush . It is on display at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum . </P> <P> The largest gold nugget ever found in California weighed 1,593 troy ounces (49.5 kg; 109.2 lb). It was found in August 1869 in Sierra Buttes by five partners--W.A. Farish, A. Wood, J. Winstead, F.N.L. Clevering and Harry Warner . </P> <P> The Victoria, Australia gold rush of the early 1850s produced a number of large nuggets . They include the Welcome Nugget which weighed 68.98 kilograms (152.1 lb) which is considered to be the second largest gold nugget ever found . Another find, the Lady Hotham, which weighed 98.5 pounds (44.7 kg), was found by a group of nine miners on September 8, 1854 in Canadian Gully, Ballarat at a depth of 135 feet . The Lady Hotham was named after the wife of the Governor, Sir Charles Hotham who happened to be visiting the area when the nugget was found . Eighteen months earlier, in January and early February 1853, three other large nuggets weighing 134 pounds (61 kg), 93.125 pounds (42.241 kg), and 83.5 pounds (37.9 kg) were also found in Canadian Gully at a depth of 55 to 60 feet (17 to 18 m). Another nugget, the Heron, was found in 1855 in Golden Gully in the Mount Alexander goldfield . It weighed 1,008 troy ounces (31.4 kg; 69.1 lb) and was found by a group of inexperienced miners who had received a supposedly empty claim . The miners found the nugget on their second day of digging; the nugget was named after one of the gold commissioners, a Mr. Heron . </P>

Where was the largest gold nugget found in california