✅ SOLVED Lead or silver ingot?

[flyadive]

This was in my grandmothers house attic built around 1915 ish. There was a tin box in the attic full of these ... perhaps 30?
The house had a slate roof back in the day. Lehighton Pa is the location and my grand pop was a carpenter whom built the house!
What do you guys think ? Should I go retrieve the remaining ingots? Or are they lead ?? It is very smooth and shiny !
Thanks everyone!

 

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[flyadive]

Forgot the width ..... 7/8”

 

[Icewing]

Can you cut it bend it or dent it fairly easily? If yes, it's lead. If no, please mail them to me for proper disposal.

 

[flyadive]

No can not do that easily....
Didn’t want to do any thing to do damage it.
Prefer not using hammers and saws

 

[jan nielsen]

Try this, then you will find out if it is silver or not. https://www.google.dk/search?q=silv...hVCb5oKHW7hD58Q_AUIEygD&biw=360&bih=524&dpr=2

 

[Vldetecting]

One thing you can do is find out the density of the item: https://www.wikihow.com/Find-Density

If it's silver, the density should be around 10.5g/cm3. And if it's lead, the density should be around 11.4g/cm3.

 

[pepperj]

Rub your thumb until you have a dark mark on the skin, smell the skin and if a sulphur odour is present then it's a pretty good indication it may contain silver.
Spit on it and WRAP foil around it, if it hests up and smells like rotten eggs you have silver bearing material.
Acid testing kits are cheap also off the net.
Go to a pawn shop, in a minute they'll tell you if you have the makings of fishing weights, or a $100 Bill.

 

[flyadive]

The foil test failed. The rub test passed !
The density is 10.9612........if I did it correctly as I’m not great with the metric system.

 

[highnam]

Rooting for 100 y/o silver bars stashed by your grand folks...Do you know if your Grandfather was a avid fisherman?

 

[Obsessive]

Silver Testing Kit Silver Acid Test Liquid with Stone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CNFUIS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_biRnAbASCZNHY

 

[Icewing]

No can not do that easily....
Didn’t want to do any thing to do damage it.
Prefer not using hammers and saws

I wasn't suggesting you break out the power tools and such and destroy it. But it's super easy to identify lead since it's a super soft metal. Just holding it lightly and tapping it with another metal can yell you a lot. Lead more or less absorbs the tapping and won't 'ring' if you will like a harder metal such as silver.

By cutting I just meant a small mark on the edge with a pocket knife or something would happen without much effort.
Or of you can bend a bar at all by hand it's definitely lead and not silver. Silver is a much much harder metal than lead.

 

[Jason in Enid]

The foil test failed. The rub test passed !
The density is 10.9612........if I did it correctly as I’m not great with the metric system.

Silver has a massive love for sulfur. There is a "down and dirty" silver test you can try. Take some cheap, regular yellow mustard and put a drop onto the bar and let it sit for several minutes. Wash away the mustard and see if it left a dark spot. If it did you almost certainly have a silver bar.

 

[flyadive]

Thank you everyone!
Icewing, the knife trick worked. I was able to shave it easily with my car keys ! I should have remembered that trick! I quest I kept my blinders on knowingly it would turn out to be lead! Darn darn darn!
I remember my aunt telling me they we’re used for making toy soldiers

 

[Icewing]

Thank you everyone!
Icewing, the knife trick worked. I was able to shave it easily with my car keys ! I should have remembered that trick! I quest I kept my blinders on knowingly it would turn out to be lead! Darn darn darn!
I remember my aunt telling me they we’re used for making toy soldiers

Man that blows, I was really hoping you found an old hoard of silver bars.

All is not lost, it's pretty easy to find buyers. I recently sold a little over 18 pounds of lead ingot that I made from reclaimed (dug) lead on Craigslist.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Man that blows, I was really hoping you found an old hoard of silver bars.

All is not lost, it's pretty easy to find buyers. I recently sold a little over 18 pounds of lead ingot that I made from reclaimed (dug) lead on Craigslist.

Heck, maybe you can find the mold used to make the toy soldiers. If so, you make a lot more $$$ selling those!