My camp lead doesnt appear to be lead. Platinum? Gold?

[Juice in the hole]

My camp lead doesn't appear to be lead. Platinum? Gold?

I took my new F75 LTD for a spin yesterday and got a nice hit amongst the iron around one of the old cabins on our farm. It rang up around 22 on the VDI (+/- 3 depending on swing) and was about 6" deep. When I dug it, I initially thought it was lead for sure. Although it didn't have the usual white or pale hue to it like lead that's been in the ground, but instead a dark black to emerald green hue. When I got in, a quick bath revealed some gold color coming through. So I threw it in some CLR and then polished it a bit with some Mother's and a soft cloth. Heck, it looks like platinum to me. It's heavy too. Could use some T-Net wisdom and guidance before I run off to the jewelery store and make a fool of myself...lol. I should get one of those test kits if they work on nuggets and not just jewelery. I'm in a gold bearing area of North Carolina BTW.
ETA: the length is 7/8". If you look at the pic of it flipped over, you can see the emerald green hue I mentioned. I couldn't polish that side very well.
Best pics I can get with my crummy camera:

 

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[Ant]

All that I can write is that if it were gold or platinum you wouldn't need to tumble it to reveal the color. I have found gold that tarnished like you have described but the tarnish rubbed away without any effort. The pieces look like slag, tools, or some other material left from the mining operation. From time to time I do see raw gold with iron and other minerals stuck to that only a nitric acid bath will remove. But on those specimens the gold that is visible will still have luster. A good sign that you don't have gold is that if you have to turn the specimen to see the luster. As for it being platinum... IMO not a chance on earth. Sorry, Keep Looking, and put that junk in your junk poke to compare to some real gold when you find it.

PS
Put some in a pan along with few scoops of dirt and a couple pieces of smaller lead, then pan it out and see what washes out first, easy test.

 

[DCMatt]

I don't know what 22 on an F75 indicates. But if it was green when it came out of the ground I would guess copper. If it was near an old cabin I guess "coal clinker" before camp lead.

DCMatt

 

[Gonehunting]

Gold has a really high melting point.. I don't think a campfire would have the temp to get it like that. I may be wrong.. good luck, curious to what it is..

 

[Juice in the hole]

Well, you never know. I don't want to end up like little Conrad Reed and his father who eventually sold their 17 lb. pretty nugget to a unscrupulous jeweler for only $3.50; a thousand times less its true value. The History of Gold in NC | Gold Fever and The Bechtler Mint

Ant, I did a streak test on the bottom of a coffee mug and it is gold colored. I also did a streak next to it with a piece of brass I found last year and the brass is much more copper colored. I also read that gold will not scratch a modern copper penny, but this in fact did. So I'm starting to believe that it might be melted bronze. I took my Dremel tool to it with a polish wheel last night and it looks even more bronze colored than in the pics I posted originally. Although my pictures aren't the best and might not show it well, it does have more than a passing resemblance to the many platinum nugget pictures online. Why did you make the comment that their wasn't a chance on earth for this to be a platinum nugget?

DCMatt, according to the writings of the F75 experts ( I think I read it on Steve Herschbach's web site), smaller gold nuggets ring up in that exact VDI range. A 13 lb. nugget was found last year here, so you never know what you might find. I don't believe that it is a "coal clinker" as you describe from doing a quick Google image search.

Thanks for the help anyway guys.

 

[Gonehunting]

Well, you never know. I don't want to end up like little Conrad Reed and his father who eventually sold their 17 lb. pretty nugget to a unscrupulous jeweler for only $3.50; a thousand times less its true value. The History of Gold in NC | Gold Fever and The Bechtler Mint

Ant, I did a streak test on the bottom of a coffee mug and it is gold colored. I also did a streak next to it with a piece of brass I found last year and the brass is much more copper colored. I also read that gold will not scratch a modern copper penny, but this in fact did. So I'm starting to believe that it might be melted bronze. I took my Dremel tool to it with a polish wheel last night and it looks even more bronze colored than in the pics I posted originally. Although my pictures aren't the best and might not show it well, it does have more than a passing resemblance to the many platinum nugget pictures online. Why did you make the comment that their wasn't a chance on earth for this to be a platinum nugget?

DCMatt, according to the writings of the F75 experts ( I think I read it on Steve Herschbach's web site), smaller gold nuggets ring up in that exact VDI range. A 13 lb. nugget was found last year here, so you never know what you might find. I don't believe that it is a "coal clinker" as you describe from doing a quick Google image search.

Thanks for the help anyway guys.

well good luck.. let us know!

 

[Juice in the hole]

I forgot to add that my industrial magnet failed to show any attraction to it. One thing that still bothers me a little is that there is no "brass smell" after rubbing it. I can clearly get that smell after rubbing the large brass piece I found between my fingers, but nothing on this nugget. I assume that bronze would give off the same smell being from the same family??

We'll see. I may order a test kit. The suspense and knowledge you gain from research is half the fun of finding mystery items.

 

[DCMatt]

Could it be a melted penny? What is the weight?

 

[Juice in the hole]

Could it be a melted penny? What is the weight?

I don't have an electronic scale, but there looks to be far too much material for a single penny. I just took it outside in the natural light of day and it definitely has a silvery/bronze color to it. Hard to describe unless you're looking at it.

 

[Ant]

I started studying gold and searching for it back in 1980. I have found it from Downyville to the desert where I still live and find it today. Test it out in pan like I described in my other thread, you need nasty nitric acid to conduct a streak/scratch test . Other than grain size pieces I don't post pics of the gold that I recover by mining. I have some desert mining videos posted on my you tube channel... tony2701000

PS
When you find it you won't have a question.

 

[Ant]

Study this over and over, then again and keep looking for the elusive gold and keep refering back to Doctor Williams (RIP) writings.
Prospectors Paradise - Recreational Gold Prospecting - Basement Chemistry

 

[trdking]

I think you have narrowed down your thoughts to the point where you need to buy a test kit to satisfy yourself or take it to an Assayer. He will tell you exactly what it is.

My thoughts: Not gold or Plat Definitely slag as mentioned above. More than likely copper or bronze. Take it an have it looked at then put it in your memory bank for next time!

Cheers