44-POUND NUGGET IS CENTERPIECE OF NEW GOLD MUSEUM.

Byline: Associated Press 

A gold nugget considered the largest of its kind in the world has gone on display at a winery in the Mother Lode, the scene of California's fabled Gold Rush almost a century and a half ago.

A 44-pound nugget dug up at Sonora Mining Co. on Christmas Day 1992 was unveiled last weekend at Kautz Ironstone Vineyards. Perched on a pedestal of mariposite rock, the nugget will be the centerpiece of a gold rush-era museum.

``It's absolutely magnificent,'' said Leona Rosenthal of Stockton after a vault door opened to reveal the chunk of gold.

``Your wildest imagination wouldn't have supplied you with the image you got.''

Gov. Pete Wilson presided over the ceremony opening the Mother Lode Heritage Museum and Gallery and said this gold nugget ``is like most things in California - world class.

``California's Gold Rush began what has been ever since an endless migration to California,'' the governor said. ``But they no longer come in search of gold, but for opportunity, which is invaluable.''

This nugget resembles thousands of layers of gold sheets pressed together and is considered the world's largest crystalline leaf gold specimen. It is shiny compared to the duller sheen of solid gold.

The winery's owners said security is in place to protect the nugget which a 1993 appraisal valued at $3.5 million.

``The governor may have more physical security, but we have more electronic devices to protect the gold,'' said Ron Kent, the winery's marketing vice president. He would not say how much Kautz Ironstone Vineyards paid Sonora Mining for the nugget.

The nugget's unveiling previewed a celebration that will begin in 1998 and climax in 2000 with the 150th anniversary of California's Gold Rush in 1848 and founding as a state in 1850.