DD-777
Silver Member
Been detecting a 300 acre field for the past few months. Two weeks ago, I get a monster hit and pull this chunk from a depth of about 11 inches. It measures approximately 4.75" x 3.5" and is close to two inches thick. Weight is just over one pound. The pics don't do it justice as far as the true coloration goes. The soil here is as red as it gets and ridiculously tough to scrub clean. I let this soak in just about every concoction possible (for a week) to try and break up some of the soil stains. One side is relatively smooth when compared to the other which is a bit more "jagged". It appears to have been hit by a plow at some point in time.
The thing puzzling me is this - I have dug slag before and this looks nothing like any slag I have ever seen or dug personally. It looks like it was part of a much larger piece and has an actual "curved" feel to it. Most of the soil I was able to scrub off came from the jagged side. This revealed what looks like small (tiny) black square opaque "crystals" built up upon each other. The "smooth" side has been nearly impossible to get clean - color on this side ranges from a dark gray to black.
As far as the "magnet test" goes - the jagged side attracts the magnet but very slightly. The smooth side has areas where the magnet is very strongly attracted and some areas that are slightly attracted. What's interesting to me is a small "cavity" on the side that seems to repel the magnet and pushes it off to either side.
Sorry for the long winded post but I want to supply as much info as possible. I'd like to know the possibilities of this being an actual meteorite or not. Nearest "big" university is about two hours away as far as testing it goes. Thanks in advance for any help/info regarding this piece.
Any ideas on better ways to clean this up would be great as well...
The thing puzzling me is this - I have dug slag before and this looks nothing like any slag I have ever seen or dug personally. It looks like it was part of a much larger piece and has an actual "curved" feel to it. Most of the soil I was able to scrub off came from the jagged side. This revealed what looks like small (tiny) black square opaque "crystals" built up upon each other. The "smooth" side has been nearly impossible to get clean - color on this side ranges from a dark gray to black.
As far as the "magnet test" goes - the jagged side attracts the magnet but very slightly. The smooth side has areas where the magnet is very strongly attracted and some areas that are slightly attracted. What's interesting to me is a small "cavity" on the side that seems to repel the magnet and pushes it off to either side.
Sorry for the long winded post but I want to supply as much info as possible. I'd like to know the possibilities of this being an actual meteorite or not. Nearest "big" university is about two hours away as far as testing it goes. Thanks in advance for any help/info regarding this piece.
Any ideas on better ways to clean this up would be great as well...
