Unique author's
Sculptural Paintings

Painting Size: 120×90cm

The Welcome Stranger — the largest nugget of gold ever found in 9 miles to the northwest of Dunolly, Australia. Found only 3 cm (1.2 in) below the surface, near the base of a tree on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully, the nugget had a gross weight of 109.59 kilograms (3,523.5 ozt) (241 lb 10 oz).

In February 1869, two British gold prospectors, John Deason and Richard Oates, were digging in the central part of the state of Victoria when their pickaxe struck something very hard just below the surface of the ground.

According to another story, they were trying to pull their stuck cart wheel out of a hole. When Deason leaned over to inspect a large rock that he thought was hindering their search, he discovered the nugget. It became the largest find of pure gold ever seen and ever to be seen by people in the future. The length of the nugget was 60 cm, and the width was almost 30 cm.

The bank paid 9563 pounds for the nugget, which, according to John Tully, president of the Goldfields Historical and Arts Society in Dunolly, was equivalent to an average worker’s salary for 42 years (based on $ 3,000 per month). At gold prices in February 2019, the Welcome Stranger would have been worth around $ 3.0 million.

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD