In late March, Australian fruit grower Bob Boyce revealed that he had unearthed a 10-pound gold nugget while planting a citrus tree. He told the media, "I've dug hundreds of holes for trees on my property and I've never found anything apart from a few river stones." After having the nugget assayed, he named it "Mortgage Buster," because it was found to be worth around $70,000, enough to pay off his mortgage. The story was picked up by the international media, with Reuters reporting that the Australian government had confirmed the worth of the nugget.
But on April 1, Boyce confessed that the gold nugget was phony. He explained, "I didn't plan the joke for personal publicity. I just wanted to bring a smile to people on April Fools' Day."
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