( CNN ) -- Gold is always worth its weight in , well , itself . Sometimes , it 's worth even more . A gold nugget , weighing 100 troy ounces , sold at auction in Sacremento for $ 400,000 Wednesday night . `` We valued it at around $ 200,000 , '' said Amy Baker , auction manager for Holabird-Kagin American . `` There were 6 to 7 people bidding on it , most of them anonymously . It went to an anonymous ( phone ) bidder . '' Baker said the auction house may be able to release more information on the winning bidder Thursday . Security is important when you 're dealing with a large hunk of precious metal . `` The new owner , I 'm not sure when it will exactly be delivered to him , '' Baker said . `` That 's confidential . '' On Wednesday , gold closed at $ 1,396.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange , making the nearly 7-pound nugget worth about $ 140,000 , if it were melted down . But since the nugget , found last year in Nevada County , California , is believed to be the largest one left from the state 's gold rush , it has special value . An estimated 500,000 people traveled to California between 1848 and 1864 in search of instant wealth . `` It 's the last one we know left in existence , '' Baker said . `` There have been larger ones over the years , but they have been melted down . '' The nugget will be on display this weekend at the Sacramento Convention Center , she said . The California Natural Resources Agency says the largest nugget ever mined in the state was found in 1854 and weighed 195 pounds . CNN 's Nick Valencia contributed to this report .
Gold closes at $ 1,393.40 an ounce in electronic trading on Wednesday . The price of gold has been falling for the past few weeks as investors have become concerned about a possible global economic slowdown and rising interest rates. The winning bidder pays $ 400,000 for the nugget . The largest nugget ever mined in California weighed 195 pounds .