Abstract: A gold pan comprising an elongate upwardly opening gold receptacle with a flat, finger-engaging central bottom wall, inclined end walls joined with and extending longitudinally outwardly and upwardly from the bottom wall and having upper outer transverse edges, and laterally spaced substantially vertical side walls join with and projecting upwardly from and between related edges of the bottom wall and end walls and having upper edges cooperating with the upper outer transverse edges of the end walls to define an upper rim about the pan; one side wall has an upwardly and transversely opening thumb-receiving recess in the central portion of its upper edge portion and said bottom wall has stop means defining finger-engaging surfaces at the exterior of the pan.