Kauri gum nugget unearthed by Coromandel children

Two Coromandel children made the “find of a young lifetime” in the Coromandel when they brought home a lump of kauri gum weighing in at over 2kg.

Kauri gum is a by-product of the kauri tree, a fossilised resin that was usually found by digging for it.

The gum was a big industry for early European settlers, particularly in the Far North and areas like the Coromandel. It was historically used in the manufacture of varnishes but these days is more commonly used for jewellery and other decorative items.

Maori used the gum for medicines and, because it is highly flammable, it was used as a fire starter and for torches.

The children’s father James McMillan said he was surprised to find the huge lump sitting on the kitchen bench when he returned home over the weekend.

Callan and Eva McMillan made the "find of a lifetime" in the Coromandel over the weekend -a huge piece of kauri gum.

Children Callan and Eva McMillan have always collected small pieces of kauri gum in local areas, James said.

“Particularly after rain events and [they] have a good idea what it looks like and its sentimental value.”

He said after the find in an undisclosed location, “some of the adults in the group were surprised and started scouring around for more”.

The lump weighed in at 2075 grams, and with an estimated raw un-worked value of about $1 per gram, the kids were “excited“, James said.

“I told him [Callan] that will get him started with uni fees, he said ‘What’s uni?’ and I said ‘adult school’. He said ‘I think I will give it a miss thanks’!”

In 2014 a 9.9kg lump of kauri resin was sold by Cordy’s auctions in Auckland to a retiree who paid a suspected world-record $16,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Grigg said at the time. “[It] would have to be a world record.”

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