Published on: December 12, 2025, 07:21h.
Updated on: December 11, 2025, 11:29h.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” releases new articles every Monday, including a special Flashback Friday edition. Today’s installment originally published on March 25, 2024.
The Golden Nugget Las Vegas proclaims, “The Hand of Faith is the largest gold nugget in existence, the second largest ever found, and the biggest ever discovered using a metal detector.”
While that information is accurate, the claim that it is currently on display at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas is highly questionable.
What is notably showcased beneath the sign proclaiming “World’s Largest Golden Nugget” is, based on insider accounts, merely a replica, often referred to as a Hand of Fake.
Dishonesty at Play
The Hand of Faith, weighing in at nearly 62 pounds of pure gold, was unearthed in September 1980 by Australian prospector Kevin Hillier, who nearly dismissed the find as a faulty detector reading.
In 1981, Hillier sold the Hand of Faith for $1 million to Golden Nugget Inc., who showcased it at their downtown Las Vegas casino, their sole property at the time.
In 2014, Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben revealed that the Hand of Faith had been relocated to its newer venue in Biloxi, Mississippi, effective May 1 of that year.
Even after this move, the Las Vegas casino managed to showcase a Hand of Faith. An employee divulged to Roeben that it was a stand-in, promising the original would be back by that summer.
“This loaning process appears to be rather common,” Roeben noted, “as the same situation occurred when a Golden Nugget opened in Atlantic City in 2012.” That venue no longer features a Hand of Faith display.
Where is the Actual Nugget Today?
On March 22, 2024, Casino.org spoke with a receptionist at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget. She confirmed that the nugget on display was merely a faux piece.
When asked how she knew, she replied, “My manager informed me.”
This leaves two other Golden Nuggets displaying a Hand of Faith: Biloxi and Laughlin, NV. Like Las Vegas, these locations do not announce that their exhibits may be replicas. (Another Hand of Faith was previously shown at the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles, La., until the previous year.)
Casino.org reached out to receptionists in both Biloxi and Laughlin, leading to an unexpected revelation…
Both agents confessed they believed their Hand of Faiths were also replicas.
What’s the Real Story?
As reported by Roeben, the actual Hand of Faith currently resides in Biloxi, purportedly because the cost to transport and insure it during its initial move exceeded $1 million.
Thus, the Biloxi agent may have been confused or deceiving us.
Alternatively, the original nugget could have returned to Las Vegas or be circulated among the three venues as part of an elaborate deception.
Employee knowledge might be limited to hinder any inside theft. Presently, the nugget is valued at approximately $3.5 million. While reselling the notable piece would be risky, it could easily be melted down for about $1.5 million.
Or perhaps all three displays are imitations, and the world’s largest golden nugget is no longer exhibited anywhere. It could be that insuring it proved to be the largest expense of them all.
Casino.org inquired with the Golden Nugget’s PR team, seeking clarity on which of the three displays of the Hand of Faith are fraudulent.
It was hardly surprising that we did not receive a response in time for this publication.
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