"I bought an old Zhiguli and a TV": how a Bashkir tractor driver in 1992 found a huge gold nugget in a field

Almost 30 years ago in Bashkiria, the tractor driver Radik Utyagulov accidentally found a gold nugget weighing 4 kilograms 788 grams in a field. "Irendyk bear", as the nugget was nicknamed for some similarity with the clubfoot predator, is considered a national treasure of Russia and is one of the most valuable exhibits of the National Museum of Bashkortostan. Despite the important find, the tractor driver was almost left without any reward. Only a couple of years later, thanks to the efforts of a local journalist, he was still paid the amount that was enough to buy old Zhiguli and a TV. As part of the Unforgotten Stories project, Radik Utyagulov told how in 1992, albeit for a short time, he became the owner of a huge gold nugget.

- Radik, you didn't immediately agree to an interview, why didn't you want to communicate at first?

- There was a slight resentment against the journalists: I say one thing, but they write everything the other way around.

- Let's remember how you made such an amazing find?

Radik Utyagulov and his tractor
© hobby-detecting.ru

- It was around May 10, 1992.

We sowed, I just got a new tractor.

At the edge of the field we stopped to fill up with seeds.

While they were filling me up, I was near, I saw something incomprehensible sticking out of the ground.

I thought it was brass, which remained after the fire - about a year before, an irrigation installation burned down on that spot.

I took it and put it in the cockpit.

- Then did you think that it could be something valuable?

- I could not even imagine that this is gold.

This nugget lay in the cabin for 10 days, then I decided if it would be useful in the household, and took it home.

He threw it in the yard, he lay there for a while.

And my father used to work as a prospector in a nearby gold mine.

And so he somehow asks me: "Where is this from?"

Father decided to check if it was gold - he took a thermometer, broke it and rubbed it with mercury.

And then it turned out that it was kind of like gold, but I still didn't believe it.

I put it (nugget -

) in the room on the wall instead of an antenna - the TV showed it well, without interference.

Then he somehow broke off a small piece and gave it to his son-in-law, he was the manager of the gold mine.

He took our goldsmiths, they ask him: "Where did you get such gold?"

And he says: "We have many more there."

And then on May 28 some policeman, a captain, comes to me.

Apparently, he heard rumors from the goldsmiths.

Says: “Are you Radik?

Do you have gold?

Show me! "

We went into the room, showed him the wall.

Then the act of seizure was drawn up.

In the end, he added there that I voluntarily passed.

Now a copy of (act. - RT) is at home.

- How did the policeman react to your find?

- Yes, he himself at first could not believe, was confused.

We weighed it (nugget -

) on our kitchen scales - it was almost five kilograms.

Gold nugget "Irendyksky bear" (Weight 4 788 g. Accidental find. 1992 Baimaksky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan
vk.com
© National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan

- What happened next?

- I gave the nugget to the captain, he took it somewhere, and on this everything was quiet.

Then the journalists began to prevail: they call, then they come.

But I say one thing, they write another ... And I somehow didn't even ask the police what

happened

to him (gold. -

), but in 1994 this story was again recalled by our Bashkir journalist, who wrote to the president of the republic, that for the find I was never given anything.

- And in the end it helped?

- Yes, just after his appeal I was paid 4.9 million rubles.

- Was there some kind of ceremony at the same time, thanks?

- No, what are you.

They (money. -

) were simply transferred to

through the regional financial department and the mail, and that's it.

- For today's readers, this amount sounds solid, but in 1994, these millions, as I understand it, had a completely different value?

- Yes, then everything was different: constant inflation, and prices were completely different.

I don't even know how much it would be now, maybe somewhere around 30 thousand.

- How did you manage that money?

- I bought an old Zhiguli, a 1975 "kopeck", and a TV set.

- Did someone explain why you were paid exactly that amount?

In the USSR, the one who found such a treasure was entitled to 25% of its appraised value.

In Russia, everything is about the same, but old Zhiguli and a TV set are clearly less than a quarter of the price of such a nugget.

- Nobody explained anything.

The USSR had just collapsed, the old laws on this matter, it turns out, were no longer there, and the new laws either did not exist yet, or there were, but I did not know them.

In principle, I didn’t expect anything, so when this money was given two years later, I was, of course, glad.

- There are different versions about the origin of the "Irendyksky Bear".

Where do you think it could have come from?

There is also a very gold mine nearby, it almost adjoins the field.

I think the prospectors washed the gold, dug it out, but the nugget, apparently, turned out to be too big for their equipment, they mainly sift small grains of sand there.

And then, when the waste rock was reclaimed with the help of technology, he got to the field along with the rest of the land.

vk.com
© Radik Utyagulov

- If we take the main versions of the origin of the "Irendyk Bear", then there are two of them.

It is believed, including by some scientists, that the nugget was mined at the same mine, but either under Ivan the Terrible, or in the 20s of the last century.

Both versions agree that after the discovery of the valuable find, it disappeared without a trace during transportation.

- All this is fiction.

If everything were so, then it would lie much deeper.

In the place where I saw him, there was a track from the caterpillar of my tractor.

I think she pushed him to the surface, so that he was only covered with earth.

By the way, I have a chemical analysis of this nugget, there is even platinum in it, and in terms of composition it just corresponds to what was usually found at the mine.

- Do you regret now that then it was so easy to part with such wealth?

- How to say.

If I had found it now, then, of course, I would not have given it so easily.

But then, as I said, the time was a little incomprehensible, transitional.

- The nugget is called "Irendyk Bear".

Some

people think you came up with the name.
It's true?

- No, no, he looks a little like a bear, I also paid attention to this, but not immediately, of course.

And I myself would not have thought of such a thing.

So I didn’t come up with any names.

- In May 1992, you gave the find to a policeman.

Have you seen your "bear" again?

- I saw it, but only on TV.

When they showed him, there were police nearby, guards - I look, I sit laughing, we just held him in our hands for as long as possible.

So, of course, I would like to take a look.

In Bashkortostan, the Russian Guards provide protection for the unique gold nugget "Irendyksky Bear" during the international forum

- And you were not interested, in this mine they found something large, like your nugget?

- There the biggest one came across weighing about 900 grams, much less than mine.

- How did the villagers react to your find, what did they say?

There were no signs of envy?

- No, we live well here, nothing like that happened.

- Are you still working now?

- No, already retired, I worked on it in the same state farm.

- After you managed to make such a find in an open field, no one tried to follow in your footsteps and look for something there too?

- We went, looked, prospectors still work nearby, and now gold diggers come and find something there, but small, of course.

"I bought an old Zhiguli and a TV": how a Bashkir tractor driver in 1992 found a huge gold nugget in a field

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