Gold nuggets are certainly a unique asset. They are highly liquid, yet very scarce and are a luxury good as much as an investment. Unlike other investments, physical gold nuggets are no one’s liability and they have no counterparty risk.
Over the past several decades, the natural gold market has greatly expanded and demand for gold nuggets has grown not just among collectors, but investors as well who value and understand the rarity of owning natural gold. Many see it as a way to quietly pass down their wealth to future generations. Rare gold nuggets and gold specimens are becoming a highly sought after commodity, and many are seeing gold nuggets and gold specimens as an investment class into which funds should be allocated.
Natural gold nuggets are an asset class of their own and are extremely rare even in the overall gold market. Less than 2% of all the gold that is currently produced can be classified as a gold nugget or gold specimen. The other 98% of gold that is mined today is mostly microscopic gold, extracted through mining tons and tons of ore to extract small amounts of gold.
Because of all the gold seekers over the years, the easy to find gold nuggets have been found, and it is increasingly difficult and uneconomical to find natural gold nuggets of any size. As they say with many other rare things, “they aren’t making any more of them”. So natural gold nuggets become rarer as time goes on, and demand increases as more and more investors move assets into all forms of gold. The last serious bull market in gold peaked in 1980. Many professional gold traders believe that the current bull market in gold is still in its early stages.
While all gold nuggets are natural works of art, some are more captivating than others. Larger nuggets are not only more impressive than smaller sizes, but also much scarcer. For example, a 16 gram gold nugget is estimated to be almost 5 times rarer than its 4 gram counterpart. Consequently, only gold nuggets of more than 2 grams in weight should be considered for investment purposes.
Another characteristic to look for in a nugget is a rich, deep, golden color. Nuggets with a lower gold purity and high silver content may appear pale or washed out.
Shape can also be important, although this attribute is more in the eye of the beholder. Boring or awkwardly shaped gold nuggets are less desirable and sell for lower prices than interesting, attractive specimens. Tragically, before the hobby of gold nugget collecting became popular almost all nuggets were melted down for bullion. Prior to the early 1990s, vanishingly few specimens – usually larger, museum-grade pieces – survived.
To hold a gold nugget in your hand is to possess a great treasure. It represents millennia of relentless natural forces in combination with countless hours of exhausting labor from a shrewd, determined prospector. Gold nuggets are the embodiment of mankind’s pioneering spirit, sublimated into a small, gnarled lump of coveted precious metal. Given these attributes, it is no surprise that gold nuggets are worth considerably more than the intrinsic value of the gold they contain.
Premiums over bullion value run from approximately 30% for smaller sizes to perhaps 100% for impressively large nuggets. Specimens in quartz or other matrix rock often sell for even larger premiums. Pricing effectively starts at around $250 for investment grade examples with a minimum weight of 2 grams (with spot gold at $2,300 per ounce). If your investment portfolio needs a new beginning, then consider exploring a dazzling collection of exquisite, natural gold nuggets.
