Despite having a faulty metal detector and having to use an old back-up, a treasure hunter discovered the largest gold nugget ever found in England.

Richard Brock traveled three-and-a-half hours from his home in Somerset to join an organized expedition on farmland in the Shropshire Hills.

Upon arrival, he found he had difficulty with his detecting device and had to resort to using a dodgy older machine that was not even working properly.

But minutes later, the 67-year-old, who has been metal detecting for 35 years, discovered the biggest find of his life—unearthing a golden nugget weighing 64.8 grams.

"I actually arrived about an hour late, thinking I'd missed the action," said the father-of-four who's been detecting since 1989.

"Everyone there had all this up-to-date kit and I bowled up with three old machines, and one of them broke down there and then.

"After only 20 minutes of scanning the ground with this back-up detector that had a fading screen display, I found this nugget buried about five of six inches down in the ground.

"I was a perhaps bit too honest and started showing people, and then all of a sudden I had swarms of other detectorists scanning the same area.

"The machine I was using was pretty much kaput and only half working. It just goes to show that it doesn't really matter what equipment you use.

"If you are walking over the find and are alert enough to what might be lurking underneath the soil, that makes all the difference.

"I couldn't look for anything else as I had the land owner, the organizer of the dig and every other detectorist around me trying to get a look at this nugget."

Just what a gold nugget was doing in the Shropshire Hills, near Much Wenlock, remains somewhat of a mystery, although the area is believed to have been an old track or road with railway lines running through, containing stone likely distributed from Wales, a country known to be rich in gold.

The only examples of gold nuggets bigger than Richard's in Britain have been found in either Wales or Scotland.

"The last one which claimed to be bigger in England was 54 grams but mine is 64.8 grams, so we're pretty confident its the biggest found on English soil.

"It is quite incredible really."

Named ‘Hiro's Nugget', the metal lump is being sold by Mullock Jones Auctioneers in an online auction that runs until April 1, which they hope will fetch tens of thousands.

In a generous gesture, Richard says he's going to split the proceeds with the land owner.

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