The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is filled with remarkable treasures, but few stop visitors in their tracks like Tom’s Baby — the largest chunk of gold ever discovered in Colorado. The museum’s renowned gems and minerals collection also includes the brilliant red Alma King rhodochrosite crystal and a 10,588-carat topaz once owned by Salvador Dalí, but this gleaming nugget has a story all its own.
What Is Tom’s Baby?
In July 1887, Tom Groves and Harry Lytton were prospecting for gold in the High Country. They found more than they bargained for: a 13.5-pound nugget of crystalline gold. Groves swaddled it in a blanket for the trip back into town, then paraded it around the streets of Breckenridge like a baby — thus, Tom's Baby. After that rollicking night, Lytton and Groves sold it to mine owner John Campion, and Tom's Baby traveled by train to Denver.
The Mystery and Rediscovery
Campion, a wealthy Leadville mining entrepreneur and the first president of what is now the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, donated Tom’s Baby to the museum along with several other remarkable gold specimens. But by the early 1970s, the legendary nugget had seemingly vanished.
Its disappearance turned out to be less mysterious than forgotten. During World War II, the museum moved Tom’s Baby to a downtown bank vault for safekeeping. Over the decades, staff changed, records faded and the nugget slipped from institutional memory.
Then came an unexpected phone call.
"[The museum] got a call saying, 'Hey, we have this crate in the basement here, and it has your name on it,'" says James Hagadorn, the curator of geology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Jack Murphy, who was the geology curator at the time, retrieved the crate, unlocked it and discovered Tom’s Baby inside.
The nugget returned to public display in 1974 for the first time since 1930 — but with one surprising difference. Somewhere along the way, it had lost nearly three pounds of gold.
What happened to the missing piece remains a mystery.
Why Is Tom’s Baby Priceless?
The value of Tom’s Baby goes far beyond the gold itself. According to Hagadorn, collectors look at much more than weight. A specimen’s history, rarity, size and even its shape all dramatically increase its value — and Tom’s Baby checks every box.
Large gold nuggets are exponentially rarer than small ones, and Tom’s Baby is the largest surviving gold nugget ever found in Colorado. Its crystalline surface, which sparkles like tiny scales in the light, is another feature that sets it apart from gold found in places like California or Alaska.
“So the math on its value is very hard to do,” Hagadorn says. “It’s…priceless. The major museums of the world would fight over getting it.”
Fortunately, that’s not a decision anyone plans to make. “That belongs to the people,” Hagadorn says. “It’s your piece. It’s my neighbor’s piece of gold. It’s a piece of Colorado history, and the reason it’s in the museum is so everyone can see it and enjoy it.”
Could there still be another Tom’s Baby hidden somewhere beneath the Rockies?
“There are definitely Tom’s Babies out there waiting to be cradled,” Hagadorn says. “Wouldn’t that be awesome?”
Where to See Tom’s Baby Today
Tom’s Baby is currently off view while the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s longtime Coors Hall of Gems and Minerals undergoes an extensive renovation. Scheduled to reopen in 2027 as the Dea Family Gems and Minerals Hall, the reimagined exhibition will feature more interactive displays and a fresh look at Colorado’s geological treasures.
The good news? Tom’s Baby isn’t going anywhere. The legendary gold nugget — along with Campion’s remarkable collection of crystalline gold flakes — will remain one of the hall’s signature attractions, giving visitors a chance to see one of Colorado’s most extraordinary discoveries up close.