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6-pound gold “Butte nugget” sells for $400K

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(CNN) — The term nugget doesn’t quite do it justice.

This thing is more like a whopper.

A more than 6-pound chunk of gold sold over the weekend for $400,000, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

An anonymous Bay Area buyer snatched up the “Butte nugget” — named for the Northern California county in which it was discovered this summer — at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show.

The huge hunk of bullion went on public display Thursday, piquing the interest of hundreds who flocked to the show to get a peek.

“Nuggets like this don’t come along every day,” said David McCarthy, the nugget’s appraiser. “I really didn’t believe that I would see a California nugget of this size unearthed during my lifetime.”

McCarthy told the Chronicle that the buyer is “a prominent Bay Area collector” who specializes in historical items.

A fitting specialty, given that his collection is now one for the history books.

And that’s a distinction that is worth its weight in gold.