Largest gold nugget found in England fails to sell at auction

Metal detectorist unearths 64.8g metal lump on farmland in the Shropshire Hills and it was expected to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000

A gold nugget believed to be the largest ever found in England has failed to sell at auction after being unearthed by a metal detectorist.
The 64.8g precious metal lump was discovered by Richard Brock, 67, on farmland near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, last May.
Named “Hiro’s Nugget” after his wife, the piece of gold was expected to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000 when it went under the hammer at Mullock Jones auctioneers on Monday.
However, bids reached just £12,000 before the online auction closed, although auctioneers say they are still hopeful it can be sold.
Ben Jones, the auctioneer, told BBC Radio Shropshire: “I’m sure we’ll have an influx of people coming in, which is usually the case post-auction anyway.
“You always take a gamble with these things, and sometimes you just have to see how they ride and play it out, really.
“[In the] last couple of minutes there were a few bids being placed, and you sit there thinking, ‘This could go a bit more’. We’ll have a chat to the bidders and speak to the vendor, and see if there’s something we can do.”
Mr Brock told how he had travelled three and a half hours from his home in Somerset to join an organised expedition on farmland in the Shropshire Hills.
He turned up an hour late and on arrival found he had difficulty with his detecting kit meaning he had to resort to using a faulty old machine which was “pretty much kaput”.
But just 20 minutes later he struck gold and unearthed the nugget, which was buried around five or six inches in the ground.
It is believed to be the biggest find of its kind on English soil. The previous largest was 54g. One found in Scotland in 2017 weighed more than 85g.
The father of four had planned to split the proceeds of the sale with the landowner.