The Fricot Nugget is a crystalline gold nugget found in El Dorado County, California in 1865 during the California Gold Rush by William Russell Davis.[1] It is listed as the eleventh largest gold nugget ever found, and is the second largest gold nugget found in the United States of America. At 201 troy ounces (13.8 lb; 6.3 kg),[2] it is the largest surviving single piece of gold from the California Gold Rush.[3]
The nugget was found in Davis' Grit Mine at Spanish Dry Diggings at a depth of 200 feet (61 m),[1] and was eventually shipped to New York City, where it was purchased by Jules Fricot for approximately $3,500.[4] Fricot took the nugget to Paris for the 1878 Paris Exposition. Following the Paris Exposition, the Fricot Nugget was missing until 1943, when it was found in a safe deposit box in Calaveras County, California.[2]
The nugget is on permanent display in the California State Mining and Mineral Museum. It came close to being stolen in 2012 during a robbery at the museum; however, safety measures protected it from being taken by the intruders.[5][6]
References
edit- ^ a b "The Fricot Gold Nugget from California". Gold Rush Nuggets.
- ^ a b "fricot nugget". The Georgetown Divide. 25 January 2009.
- ^ "California State Mining and Mineral Museum". California State Parks.
- ^ Nuggets, Rare Gold (September 23, 2015). "These 3 Huge Gold Nuggets Were Found in California".
- ^ "Four arrested in hijacking of gold and gems from mariposa museum". Los Angeles Times. 15 November 2012.
- ^ "Thieves armed with pickaxes take $2 million in gems, gold from Calif. museum, officials say". CBS News. 2 October 2012.