1lb 13oz Silversmith Silver Bar! (I think hehe)

[itzyoboyandrew]

Found this bar at an 1830s house, had been there before (but with a crappy metal detector...) Used my bounty hunter lone star pro today... (still not the best of metal detectors, but it works for my liking.) Found 2 more Ball mason jar lids (found 3 last time...) When i got a "Coin" signal.. Started digging.. and digging... 1ft down later, on the sides of the hole i hit this object, thought it was a can based on the tiny bit i saw. Pulled it out (well pried it out.) And i have this weight i thought, immediately thought lead because it was SO heavy for its size.. So i got home and decided to test it... (Mom said it didnt look like lead.. shes regretting saying that now because of my persistence! "

It passed a bleach tarnish test, acid test (my acid test is weird) and i tried melting it.. I took a lead weight and this thing, put the solder on the lead weight for 45seconds... it melted some off (not alot but it was noticeable..) did 45seconds on the bar, nothing. My dad said try to melt a shaved down part which i did... 45 seconds later... no melting...

I also think this was made by an actual sivlersmith. Why? Well it has a various amount of hammered dents on most sides.. Of varying sizes of hammers (or whatever tool was used.) Like someone was trrying to carve it? or shape it? Even if its not silver, still cool IMO..

\

Note: If you have any tests for me to try, ill do them.. im intrigued..

 

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[Nitric]

Sometimes if you look for something really hard you will find it, whether its there or not, especially with treasure hunting. Many people here post pictures of rocks claiming they are native indian tools, when they clearly are not. But because they look long and hard, they find reasons to convince themselves that infact what they are looking at is a worked stone. Do yourself a favor, google a jewelry store that buys silver and gold, grab your mom when she has a free minute and go get it tested there, if its silver, the guy will tell you that it is, and will offer to buy it from you, you dont have to sell it if you dont want to. If its not silver, but he still offers to buy it from you, dont sell it to him, might be a crook.

What you will most likely hear is that its a brick of lead, with a rusty hook still in-bedded in it from when it was used as weight for one reason or the other, maybe a counterweight to a door or something, who knows. Let us know when you do that and what the guy said. Trust me, everyone here is rooting for it to be silver, if it is you will be on the top with a banner, if not, hopefully you will have learned your lesson.

Happy Digs.

I've done exactly what you mentioned above many times! And probably will again!............... I know it's gold, I know it's gold, I know it's gold.........OOOpS It's not gold!

Sry...Your post made me laugh, because of how many times I've been down the road you mentioned! Sometimes even with Nitric acid. Greed or the thrill kicks in and everything else went away!

 

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[Msbeepbeep]

I have the opposite reaction, you practically have to hit me over the head with the gold (silver in this case) brick before I believe I found anything that awesome....it's a good thing I test my questionable stuff!

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

Sometimes if you look for something really hard you will find it, whether its there or not, especially with treasure hunting. Many people here post pictures of rocks claiming they are native indian tools, when they clearly are not. But because they look long and hard, they find reasons to convince themselves that infact what they are looking at is a worked stone. Do yourself a favor, google a jewelry store that buys silver and gold, grab your mom when she has a free minute and go get it tested there, if its silver, the guy will tell you that it is, and will offer to buy it from you, you dont have to sell it if you dont want to. If its not silver, but he still offers to buy it from you, dont sell it to him, might be a crook.

What you will most likely hear is that its a brick of lead, with a rusty hook still in-bedded in it from when it was used as weight for one reason or the other, maybe a counterweight to a door or something, who knows. Let us know when you do that and what the guy said. Trust me, everyone here is rooting for it to be silver, if it is you will be on the top with a banner, if not, hopefully you will have learned your lesson.

Happy Digs.

Cant agree with you there... I did all these tests legitimately... Do you think I WANT to be told im wrong and its silver and be complained at that im wrong? Im not making this up... Also ive already looked for pawn shops/silver shops in my area... there are no reputable ones.. The only thing i can do now is somehow buy nitric acid... even then you will probably still be convinced its lead

 

[Jason in Enid]

Thing is, most of those "tests" you did are pure BS. The nitric acid test is much more reliable.

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

besides, some of the tests required math.. I cant look for something thats not there in actual numbers... Also i did comparison with lead with alot of the tests... they turned out DIFFERENTLY

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

Thing is, most of those "tests" you did are pure BS. The nitric acid test is much more reliable.

Ok so an ice test, density test, acid test, are pure BS? Seems like your looking for something for it to be lead...

 

[Jason in Enid]

Ok so an ice test, density test, acid test, are pure BS? Seems like your looking for something for it to be lead...

I never said it was lead. yes, the ice test is BS. whatever "acid" test you did (since never specified and obviously not nitric acid) is BS. The density test is BS because you are comparing it to densities of pure metals. If it's sterling, it won't be correct. if it's a mixture of metals like lead and tin it could be anywhere on the density scale. You are trying to find a reason for it to be silver, not looking at empirical evidence for WHAT it is.

 

[Nitric]

Cant agree with you there... I did all these tests legitimately... Do you think I WANT to be told im wrong and its silver and be complained at that im wrong? Im not making this up... Also ive already looked for pawn shops/silver shops in my area... there are no reputable ones.. The only thing i can do now is somehow buy nitric acid... even then you will probably still be convinced its lead

I don't want to be "that guy"! BUT, Make sure you understand what your doing and the fumes if you play with nitric acid! I've been burnt every way possible playing around! Mostly from the fumes! It can mess you up in a hurry depending on the metals you are putting it on too! Hey? That might explain some of my posts?

A lot of coin shops also use it. And maybe an actual jeweler. Try those too!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Hope you're going back and check for more!

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

I never said it was lead. yes, the ice test is BS. whatever "acid" test you did (since never specified and obviously not nitric acid) is BS. The density test is BS because you are comparing it to densities of pure metals. If it's sterling, it won't be correct. if it's a mixture of metals like lead and tin it could be anywhere on the density scale. You are trying to find a reason for it to be silver, not looking at empirical evidence for WHAT it is.

You do realize i have an actual legit silver testing kit right?... This isnt me mixing acids to make some other chemcial... this was an actual bought chemical tester

 

[Jason in Enid]

You do realize i have an actual legit silver testing kit right?... This isnt me mixing acids to make some other chemcial... this was an actual bought chemical tester

Nope, you said your acid test was "wierd". So what is it? What kind of acid is it? How did you apply your test? what were the results?

 

[Nitric]

You do realize i have an actual legit silver testing kit right?... This isnt me mixing acids to make some other chemcial... this was an actual bought chemical tester

If you have a Silver Test kit? And you scratched threw the oxide good? It's Silver!

To be completely Honest? If I had to guess what it was just from the picture? I'd Guess Lead or Babbit. Just because I've seen it in bars and it does get that type of look to it.(don't remember if I've seen oxidized Babbit though)

Pictures are hard to tell from. And if you've done the test? Your probably good then!! Now, sell that sucker and find more!!

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

Nope, you said your acid test was "wierd". So what is it? What kind of acid is it? How did you apply your test? what were the results?

That is true.. Ok so i know.. tell me if this is a "BS" test.. I shall take a lead weight, and my bar.. i shall cut the lead weight for 1min... take a pic of the results... cut my bar for 1min (same knife) and take a picture.

Lead is really soft correct, and i remember seeing in this thread that they guess i could cut it with a knife?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

1) Use the 18k gold acid test from a professional kit!
2) Take the danged thing to a jeweler and get it tested!

I'd have done that days ago! Especially when we're talking pushing 2 lbs in weight.

Enough.....

 

[releventchair]

At a glance your piece resembles lead more than silver.

Lead if pure you can scratch and indent with a finger nail.
Silver melts at around double the temp lead melts at.
Put an equal sized sample of each known samples together in a ladle or crucible and heat uniformly. Lead melts well before silver.
Then compare your found piece to a piece of silver by the same method.
Lead weights had a variety of uses on homesteads.
Silver was in theory anyway, not overly common and well protected.
A neat old find anyway though it is understood you want to positively I.D. it.

 

[Jason in Enid]

That is true.. Ok so i know.. tell me if this is a "BS" test.. I shall take a lead weight, and my bar.. i shall cut the lead weight for 1min... take a pic of the results... cut my bar for 1min (same knife) and take a picture.

Lead is really soft correct, and i remember seeing in this thread that they guess i could cut it with a knife?

No, that is test is meaningless as well! Thats like saying, since pure gold is soft enough to scratch with a fingernail, I can't scratch my wedding band so it must not be gold.

Do you KNOW what this is? Is it a pure metal? Is it a mixture? What are the hardnesses of the metals mixed together? Mixtures change the melting points, hardness factors and densities.

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

No, that is test is meaningless as well! Thats like saying, since pure gold is soft enough to scratch with a fingernail, I can't scratch my wedding band so it must not be gold.

Do you KNOW what this is? Is it a pure metal? Is it a mixture? What are the hardnesses of the metals mixed together? Mixtures change the melting points, hardness factors and densities.

Ok So how bout tarnish test?... Bleach tarnishes silver quickly... lead does nothing i think

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

https://glimmergirlblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/tarnish.jpg?w=474 oh wow look a cream colored tarnished silver bar..

 

[Jason in Enid]

I don't know, I've never put bleach on my silver, or lead, or any other metals.

 

[itzyoboyandrew]

I don't know, I've never put bleach on my silver, or lead, or any other metals.

I can compare it with something I know is lead?