LOS ANGELES, CA.- Bonhams & Butterfields, the world’s fastest growing auction house, will offer in its December 3rd, 2006 sale of Natural History in Los Angeles perhaps the most famous and recognizable collection of gold nuggets in the United States. Dubbed the “Golden Nugget Collection” for the legendary Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada where it has been on display for nearly 30 years, the collection is also known as that of Alaskan businessman and entrepreneur Arthur J. Sexauer.

Hotel impresario Stephen Wynn finalized negotiations with Mr. Sexauer to display the 32 nuggets at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in October of 1979. The collection has been continuously on view until it was removed in August 2006. Over the 27-year period, the “Golden Nugget Collection” had become a Las Vegas tourist attraction with buses stopping at the casino for the distinct purpose of allowing passengers to view the nuggets -- securely exhibited in a custom designed high security bullet-proof case.

According to Bonhams & Butterfields specialists, gold nuggets are rare—less than two per cent of the world's mined gold is found in nugget form. As far as big nuggets are concerned, Alaska has never been known for very large specimens. The largest recorded gold nugget ever found in Alaska was 294.10 ounces. The 21st largest nugget found weighed 38 ounces—so it can be seen that Alaskan nuggets weighing more than a few ounces are extremely rare. Gold nuggets, in particular, are valued as gemstones rather than gold. Their value has much more to do with their rarity and the general character of the nugget—for instance—a one ounce gold nugget is more rare than a five-carat diamond. The present collection of Alaskan nuggets, all retrieved during the second half of the 20th Century, were selected by Mr. Sexauer for their beauty and for their role in local Fairbanks lore.

Highlights and recognizable pieces from the “Golden Nugget Collection” include: specimens purchased from noted prospectors John Pettyjohn and Bill Nordeen; specimens from Fairbanks bar owner Deke Brown; the “Eagle’s Head” nugget weighing 12.07 ozt.; a fifteen-nugget watch chain, one of the largest in existence (this piece accompanied by a rare, nuggeted railroad switch key); the “sweet potato” nugget; and the largest nugget in the collection, the “Parrot head,” panned from American Creek and weighing 21.61 ozt.

At the heart of the collection is the “Worry Stone”. An elongated nugget purchased in September of 1974 from Jimmy Lee, a popular Fairbanks restaurateur. Lee carried his “worry stone” in his change pocket for more than 20 years. Originally 8.27 ozt.—he reportedly wore off nearly two ounces of the nugget, as well as several pants pockets. Lee’s Restaurant was first located on 2nd Street in Fairbanks in the basement of the Mecca Bar. It was later relocated to the basement behind the city’s First National Bank, and finally on 7th and Lacy Streets. A beloved Fairbanks character and friend, as Lee was dying of throat cancer in Port Angeles, Washington, he kept his 15-year promise to give Sexauer first chance to buy the nugget. The pre-sale estimate for the “Golden Nugget Collection,” which will be sold as a single lot, is available upon request.

Additional works from the December 3rd, 2006 Natural History sale include the Levi Smith Mineral Collection - the most significant institutional de-accession of a mineral collection to be offered at public auction for many decades. The collection features azur-malachite specimens from the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee and Morenci, Arizona. It was donated to the Warren County, Pennsylvania School District by Levi Smith, a gentleman who made his fortune in the oil business. Given the delicate nature of many of the museum-quality azurites and malachite in the collection (making it difficult to employ for student use), the collection was subsequently loaned to Penn State University’s Earth & Mineral Sciences Museum more than 50 years ago. Portions of the collection were on display there until 2005, when they were returned to the Warren County School District.

At the core of this collection, originally assembled by a Colorado State Mineralogist, are a large number of Arizona minerals. Exhibited at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, the collection was seen by as many as 27-million visitors, nearly one quarter of the American population at the time and received first prize for beauty. Levi Smith of Warren, Pennsylvania then purchased the collection and donated it to the local high school as a memorial. The collection comprises nearly 700 in total and contains excellent examples of minerals collected in the late 1800s. This collection is estimated to bring between $250,000-350,000.

As long-time pioneers of Natural History sales, Bonhams & Butterfields, with the guidance of Thomas Lindgren and Claudia Florian G.J.G, has expanded the collecting area’s strict association with million-year old remnants of plant and animal life or rough mineral specimens, to include rare and unique objects d’art, exquisite jewelry and wearable gemstones as well as exceptional décor. Auction previews open to the public on Friday, December 1 and continue daily from 10am-5pm until the start of the auction. The illustrated catalog will be available online in the weeks preceding the sale at www.bonhams.com/us.