Giant piece of silver? trade silver?

[Steeltowndigger]

I found this in a farm field along with a 1700's coin. some kind of work on it.. i also ran a neodymium magnet down it and it went real slow like it would on a piece of silver. is this some kind of native trade silver?

 

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[Tony in SC]

How did you determine that it is silver?

 

[Steeltowndigger]

How did you determine that it is silver?

So i collect silver bullion, and one of the tests i was shown to do to test for counterfeit silver was to take a small neodymium magnet and hold the silver object on a angle, when the magnet is dropped on it it will slowly slide down like there is a little bit of attraction, on things like aluminium and zinc and lead it will just slide right off with no attraction.

 

[DCMatt]

Almost looks like it's been in a fire... Maybe spelter? The base of a figurine?

 

[Toecutter]

looks like lead...

 

[Steeltowndigger]

looks like lead...

Definitely not lead, would feel a lot heavier

 

[smokeythecat]

Looks like an ore melt. Maybe molybdenum. It was mined in Ontario.

 

[GoDeep]

Definitely not lead, would feel a lot heavier

Lead and silver are nearly identical in weight and would be undistinguishable in odd shape objects without two identical objects, one made of lead and one of silver to compare and even then you may be hard pressed to even tell by "hand" weighing them. Silver is .38 pounds per CI, Lead is .41 pounds per CI.

You said it's far too light for lead, which also means it's far too light for silver, so we can probably rule out both of those metals until we get actual weight and dimensions of the object.

I'd guess an alloy or zinc, tin, aluminum, nickel, magnesium etc

How much does it weigh? What are it's approximate dimensions (width, length and thickness?) and I can calculate within about 90 percent certainty what material it is.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Silver isn't magnetic at all. Might be nickel silver alloy ("german silver").

 

[mick56]

I also thought it looked like some melted lead that was left over in a pot, or ladle.

 

[Steeltowndigger]

not sure if this helps.

 

[desertexplorer]

You said that a neodymium magnet drags on it so that rules out lead and nickel silver. A neodymium has nearly no effect on lead but will slightly drag on nickel, aluminum, tin and zinc. It will really drag on silver & platinum (and copper too but for obviously reasons copper is ruled out).

 

[desertexplorer]

Check the specific gravity, that should really narrow it down.

 

[Steeltowndigger]

Check the specific gravity, that should really narrow it down.

How would i do that?

 

[desertexplorer]

Divide the weight of the bar by the weight of the bar suspended in water.

If it is silver it will be around 10.2 - 10.4 (provided there is no gold in it)

 

[Steeltowndigger]

Divide the weight of the bar by the weight of the bar suspended in water.

If it is silver it will be around 10.2 - 10.4 (provided there is no gold in it)

So i weighed it dry and got 175.0 grams

i put a glass of water on the scale.. hit tear and then lowered the piece in and got 18.8

175.0 / 18.8 = 9.3

sooo not silver?

 

[ARC]

So i collect silver bullion, and one of the tests i was shown to do to test for counterfeit silver was to take a small neodymium magnet and hold the silver object on a angle, when the magnet is dropped on it it will slowly slide down like there is a little bit of attraction, on things like aluminium and zinc and lead it will just slide right off with no attraction.

You have been misinformed.

 

[desertexplorer]

9.3 could be nickel. Does the bar scratch easy? If so it could be a tin/lead mix. That would be close to a specific gravity of 9.3 or maybe even diecast. Both tin and some diecast will drag a neodymium magnet. If it doesn’t scratch easily then you’re back to nickel or silver still. Also, as smokythecat said earlier it is possible to be Molybdenum but with some impurities could make it 9.3 and Molybdenum will have a strong drag with a magnet too and silver could still be on the table but maybe with some impurities, that could bring the specific gravity down some also.

 

[Steeltowndigger]

9.3 could be nickel. Does the bar scratch easy? If so it could be a tin/lead mix. That would be close to a specific gravity of 9.3 or maybe even diecast. Both tin and some diecast will drag a neodymium magnet. If it doesn’t scratch easily then you’re back to nickel or silver still. Also, as smokythecat said earlier it is possible to be Molybdenum but with some impurities could make it 9.3 and Molybdenum will have a strong drag with a magnet too and silver could still be on the table but maybe with some impurities, that could bring the specific gravity down some also.

it doesnt scratch easy at all

 

[desertexplorer]

Another option you could do is if you’re near a scrap yard some of them use a Handheld XRF Analyzer that gives an exact composition of metal they’re buying, precious or otherwise. It takes all the guess work out and will tell you exactly what you have. It only takes a couple min.’s and some yards don’t even charge for the service.