Now, let me state that I am NOT an expert in gold hence my close shave with being sold a gold alluvial nugget on eBay.  Fortunately, prior to completing the transaction I was away from my PC for a week and on my return I received a LOT of emails from the seller telling me to hurry up or it'll go to the next bidder down (Obviously, I HAD advised him at the beginning that I would be away and would deal with the sale on my return), but I also got a lot of advice from several other non-competative sellers that there was a VERY high chance this nugget was NOT a real natural nugget - sure it was gold, but most probably bullion , rather than Nature's own.

The seller of this nugget was not going to give me a copy of the assay (all I wanted to know was the composition of the nugget ie %age Au, %Ag, % other elements and so on) - I was told that he could not possibly give me this info as it was "illegal" for him to send me an assay report without the location identified. There was also a lot of "ol' Grandpappy" story to go with the nugget, and he implied that as soon as I found the location I'd be over there, 6,000 miles to scoop his fortune away!  It the source was so rich why was he not out there collecting the stuff?!

Had I have bought the nugget (I declined the sale - he gave me the choice) and had it XRD'd I bet it would have shown up as regular bullion 22kt gold.

The seller was very easy in letting me off the sale and the price it sold for was indeed rather cheap (ie avoided by those 'in the know') - so- if it looks cheap, has a silly story attached to the listing, then ignore it - I strongly suspect that the nugget for sale is a fake - which kind of defeats the objective if you are a mineral collector like me.

The seller changes or has several different IDs so read the blurb before you bid -I had a close shave!

thanks for your time - hope this helps!

dave