Snorkeler Discovers Gold Nugget Worth $65,000 in Scottish River

A man “sniping” for gold in a Scottish river managed to find one of the largest gold nuggets ever discovered in the UK, according to the BBC.

Sniping is a prospecting method that involves lying facedown in a river while wearing a snorkel and mask and searching the bottom. It yielded treasure for the anonymous man, who is in his forties and made the discovery two years ago, only now sharing the news publicly. He hasn't revealed the exact location of the river—and probably for good reason. Dubbed the Douglas Nugget, the gold weighs 85.7 grams (about 3 ounces) and is worth more than most new cars purchased off the lot.

"I would say it is worth at least £50,000 [more than $65,000] but, as it's rarer than an Aston Martin or a Fabergé egg, a billionaire could easily come along and pay a lot more for it,” gold expert Leon Kirk told the BBC.

Whatever the gold's value, the man hasn’t decided what to do with it yet.

Another authority on gold told the BBC it looks as if the nugget had been in the water for a while, based on its rounded edges. While sizable, it doesn’t beat a record set two years prior by a 3.4-ounce nugget found off Wales’s Anglesey coast. Significantly larger chunks have been found beyond the UK, like a rare 12-pound gold nugget worth $300,000 that was discovered in Victoria, Australia, in 2013. For those with the time and patience, treasure awaits.

[h/t BBC]