West Australian woman sells one of the world’s rarest gold nuggets for thousands in auction

An Australian woman who came into the possession of one of the world’s most rare gold nuggets has had an eye watering payday.

An Australian woman was left speechless after coming across one of the world’s rarest gold nuggets.

West Australian Gold prospector Tyler Mahoney got her hands on a “once-in-a-lifetime find” after a prospector in Queensland discovered a hopper crystal – a crystal in a pyramidal shape – in almost perfect condition, Perth Now reported.

The Gold Rush star showed off the gold nugget on social media, saying discoveries like this don’t happen often.

Tyler Mahoney got her hands on a “once-in-a-lifetime find”. Picture: TikTok

A prospector in Queensland found the hopper crystal. Picture: TikTok

“I’m holding one of the world’s rarest gold nuggets. I will never ever hold anything like this again, and I’m a gold digger; I do this for a living,” Ms Mahoney said.

“When I saw a photo of this, my jaw dropped to the floor.

“This is insane, It is one of the rarest types of gold nuggets in the world. It’s called the INCA nugget.

“It was found in Queensland by a local prospector, and it’s an almost perfect hopper crystal.”

Ms Mahoney revealed she went up against another prospector in a bidding war for the nugget and luckily won.

“If I had found something like this, I would have never got over it,” she said.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find, this is a collector’s edition nugget.”

She said her jaw dropped when she first saw it. Picture: Instagram

She promoted it online ahead of its auction. Picture: TikTok

Ms Mahoney explained that most gold nuggets are rubbed smooth as they travel through waterways which made this uniquely-shaped nugget so rare.

“This just does not occur in nature like this, those perfect straight lines, almost perfect rectangle, shapes like that don’t occur in nature and that’s what makes it so rare.

Ms Mahoney put the nugget up for auction, giving people around the world a chance to own the special piece of gold.

The nuggets fetched an eye-watering $15,000.

This article originally appeared on Perth Now and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as West Australian woman sells one of the world’s rarest gold nuggets for thousands in auction