STORIES........

[cactusjumper]

Cubfan64,

I have to agree with your conclusion about Carl Bodericks silver/nickel bar. I had no idea if it was silver , nickel or any other metal. I just knew the story as it was told to me and saw the photo of Carl with the bar like everyone else.

Since it appears the bar is not silver, do you think Carl scratched the wording off the bar ? Do you think Andy Barrik also was part of the switch because Andy told the story that Carl's silver bar was stolen from the Silver King and buried north of Government Well where Carl found it ?

Matthew

Matthew,

There were many such "artifacts" floating around Apache Junction as well as Phoenix back in "the day". Many were accompanied by convincing "treasure tales". All were designed to part a rube from his cash. I heard a number of stories about prospective "sales" of hot caches of gold and silver. Ernie Provence was often being enticed into such deals.

Can't imagine the folks in this particular scam did not know what they were dealing with. Even without the physical presence of the bar, it doesn't take much time to reveal the truth. That's especially true when you get someone like Paul eying the "evidence". Fakes don't really stand much of a chance these days.

Good luck,

Joe

 

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[azdave35]

Matthew,

There were many such "artifacts" floating around Apache Junction as well as Phoenix back in "the day". Many were accompanied by convincing "treasure tales". All were designed to part a rube from his cash. I heard a number of stories about prospective "sales" of hot caches of gold and silver. Ernie Provence was often being enticed into such deals.

Can't imagine the folks in this particular scam did not know what they were dealing with. Even without the physical presence of the bar, it doesn't take much time to reveal the truth. That's especially true when you get someone like Paul eying the "evidence". Fakes don't really stand much of a chance these days.

Good luck,

Joe

joe...as far as i'm concerned no one has proved the bar is fake....and it will be hard to do without seeing the bar...everyone i talked to that saw the bar seemed to think it was real

 

[larrywv]

It would have been easy to pick up an extra Nickel bar. Pound it a bit on the Nickel leaving the L mostly visible. Would have been handy if Johnny law or the Tax man came visiting. Hello all Larry

 

[Cubfan64]

Matthew - I honestly can't answer those questions. All most of us could do at this point is pure speculation until/unless that bar were to reappear to be tested, and even if it were available there would always be someone questioning whether it was the same bar or not.

I try to put myself in other people's shoes when speculating on stuff like this so I'll go out on a limb on just a couple points.

1) I believe Carl knew what metal the bar he's holding is made of. I know if I were ever to find something like that, the very first thing I would want done is to have it tested. Note - there is no "Ag," "0.900" or other indication on the face of the bar to indicate what it's made of (perhaps there was something on the bottom or sides?) or purity. I know I would never have been content just finding it, holding it and for the rest of my life telling people "yup, I found a silver ingot."

2) If it truly is a nickel ingot, I don't know if anyone handling it would have been able to tell without having it tested. Density of Ni is ~8.9 g/ml while that of Ag is ~10.5 g/ml (not enough of a difference to tell just by holding it imho). Nickel has a Mohs hardness lvl of 4 while silver is 2.5-3 so in theory, a silver ingot should be softer and easier to scratch than a nickel ingot, but that only works if they aren't alloyed with other metals and/or impurities. One of the references I found for "nickel ingot" described the appearance as being "lustrous silvery metal."

3) Who's to say the ingot Carl showed people and made the rubbing of is the same one he actually found? For whatever reason, maybe he kept the "real" bar hidden someone, or sold it and just showed the fake one in public thinking maybe if he were ever robbed, they would take the wrong bar?

If it really IS a nickel ingot, SOMEONE at one point or another hammered, scraped or otherwise defaced it to remove the words "nickel" from the surface, but to speculate any further would be irresponsible of me since I don't know any of the folks involved. People do strange things for strange reasons sometime so who knows?

AZDave - you're absolutely correct that nobody has proven it to be a nickel ingot, although based on what I've seen I'd lean in that direction if I had to place a bet. Like most things treasure related, I sincerely doubt anyone will ever know the full truth. Having the bar in front of us and able to test it probably wouldn't even convince everyone because some would say it wasn't the "real" bar.

Like I said earlier, sometimes people do strange things for strange reasons. As an example, I used to do a lot of beach and water metal detecting with a guy who developed a knack for finding awesome things when we were hunting together. He'd often post photos of those finds on a forum and get lots of "oohs and ahhs," and congratulations and one day I noticed he posted a photo of something I could swear I remember him finding years earlier but he was posting it as a current find. Next time I saw him I told him how amazing it was to have found 2 things that look so identical to one another years apart - I honestly didn't suspect anything at that point. He got real quiet and then "unloaded his soul" confiding in me how most everything he had found and posted photos of was stuff he had bought at estate sales, or borrowed from his wife's jewelry, etc... He would actually bring that stuff along when we went beach hunting and drop it in a hole he was digging, pull it out and come show me.

He said he only did it a couple times early on because he was jealous that other people were finding good things and he wanted to post some nice finds too. Eventually he got so addicted to the attention that he just kept doing it more and more. You never know how people will react to given situations.

 

[azdave35]

Matthew - I honestly can't answer those questions. All most of us could do at this point is pure speculation until/unless that bar were to reappear to be tested, and even if it were available there would always be someone questioning whether it was the same bar or not.

I try to put myself in other people's shoes when speculating on stuff like this so I'll go out on a limb on just a couple points.

1) I believe Carl knew what metal the bar he's holding is made of. I know if I were ever to find something like that, the very first thing I would want done is to have it tested. Note - there is no "Ag," "0.900" or other indication on the face of the bar to indicate what it's made of (perhaps there was something on the bottom or sides?) or purity. I know I would never have been content just finding it, holding it and for the rest of my life telling people "yup, I found a silver ingot."

2) If it truly is a nickel ingot, I don't know if anyone handling it would have been able to tell without having it tested. Density of Ni is ~8.9 g/ml while that of Ag is ~10.5 g/ml (not enough of a difference to tell just by holding it imho). Nickel has a Mohs hardness lvl of 4 while silver is 2.5-3 so in theory, a silver ingot should be softer and easier to scratch than a nickel ingot, but that only works if they aren't alloyed with other metals and/or impurities. One of the references I found for "nickel ingot" described the appearance as being "lustrous silvery metal."

3) Who's to say the ingot Carl showed people and made the rubbing of is the same one he actually found? For whatever reason, maybe he kept the "real" bar hidden someone, or sold it and just showed the fake one in public thinking maybe if he were ever robbed, they would take the wrong bar?

If it really IS a nickel ingot, SOMEONE at one point or another hammered, scraped or otherwise defaced it to remove the words "nickel" from the surface, but to speculate any further would be irresponsible of me since I don't know any of the folks involved. People do strange things for strange reasons sometime so who knows?

AZDave - you're absolutely correct that nobody has proven it to be a nickel ingot, although based on what I've seen I'd lean in that direction if I had to place a bet. Like most things treasure related, I sincerely doubt anyone will ever know the full truth. Having the bar in front of us and able to test it probably wouldn't even convince everyone because some would say it wasn't the "real" bar.

Like I said earlier, sometimes people do strange things for strange reasons. As an example, I used to do a lot of beach and water metal detecting with a guy who developed a knack for finding awesome things when we were hunting together. He'd often post photos of those finds on a forum and get lots of "oohs and ahhs," and congratulations and one day I noticed he posted a photo of something I could swear I remember him finding years earlier but he was posting it as a current find. Next time I saw him I told him how amazing it was to have found 2 things that look so identical to one another years apart - I honestly didn't suspect anything at that point. He got real quiet and then "unloaded his soul" confiding in me how most everything he had found and posted photos of was stuff he had bought at estate sales, or borrowed from his wife's jewelry, etc... He would actually bring that stuff along when we went beach hunting and drop it in a hole he was digging, pull it out and come show me.

He said he only did it a couple times early on because he was jealous that other people were finding good things and he wanted to post some nice finds too. Eventually he got so addicted to the attention that he just kept doing it more and more. You never know how people will react to given situations.

cubfan....look at gregs pic of the bar....you will notice the bar has a dull appearance and appears to have black discolorations down in the nooks and crannies ...they use nickel to plate guns and tools because it is durable and doesn't tarnish ,,,silver will tarnish and get a black oxidation on the surface when exposed to the elements for years...carl would have cleaned the bar to remove the oxidation and that looks to be what happened to that bar....look close and you can still see traces of black.....nickel would still be as shiny as the day it was cast no matter how long it had been left outside....it would not be hard to tell if the bar was silver if you had seen it in person....i know i could have...silver is kind of a whitish color..nickle has a slight yellow tint to it....

 

[Matthew Roberts]

cubfan....look at gregs pic of the bar....you will notice the bar has a dull appearance and appears to have black discolorations down in the nooks and crannies ...they use nickel to plate guns and tools because it is durable and doesn't tarnish ,,,silver will tarnish and get a black oxidation on the surface when exposed to the elements for years...carl would have cleaned the bar to remove the oxidation and that looks to be what happened to that bar....look close and you can still see traces of black.....nickel would still be as shiny as the day it was cast no matter how long it had been left outside....it would not be hard to tell if the bar was silver if you had seen it in person....i know i could have...silver is kind of a whitish color..nickle has a slight yellow tint to it....

cubfan64, azdave35,

I never (personally) saw or held Carl Boderick's silver bar. I was told the story and saw Carl's photograph holding the bar and a pencil rubbing done by someone who knew Carl. The person who did the pencil rubbing would have been in an excellent position to say if the bar was silver or nickel. I never heard the bar was not silver.

azdave35 is right about the discoloration of the bar and there is also an understandable scenario that supports the bar being silver and not nickel if you think about it. azdave35 is also correct, no one who actually saw and handled the Boderick bar ever said it was nickel and that includes some well known old timers.

Again, I don't know which way the wind blows on this story and I don't have any money on it one way or the other, but before I start shoveling dirt in on Carl and Andy and making definitive statements about fakes and how we're too smart today to not figure things out, I'd like to see all the angles and possibilities covered.

Matthew

 

[cactusjumper]

cubfan64, azdave35,

I never (personally) saw or held Carl Boderick's silver bar. I was told the story and saw Carl's photograph holding the bar and a pencil rubbing done by someone who knew Carl. The person who did the pencil rubbing would have been in an excellent position to say if the bar was silver or nickel. I never heard the bar was not silver.

azdave35 is right about the discoloration of the bar and there is also an understandable scenario that supports the bar being silver and not nickel if you think about it. azdave35 is also correct, no one who actually saw and handled the Boderick bar ever said it was nickel and that includes some well known old timers.

Again, I don't know which way the wind blows on this story and I don't have any money on it one way or the other, but before I start shoveling dirt in on Carl and Andy and making definitive statements about fakes and how we're too smart today to not figure things out, I'd like to see all the angles and possibilities covered.

Matthew

Matthew,

From what I have seen, the bar was nickel. Now I have been wrong, sometimes very wrong, so I could be wrong on this. Like many such stories, the actual bar is no longer available to be tested. Some folks here believe the bar was real silver. Perhaps Carl did as well.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

 

[Cubfan64]

cubfan64, azdave35,

I never (personally) saw or held Carl Boderick's silver bar. I was told the story and saw Carl's photograph holding the bar and a pencil rubbing done by someone who knew Carl. The person who did the pencil rubbing would have been in an excellent position to say if the bar was silver or nickel. I never heard the bar was not silver.

azdave35 is right about the discoloration of the bar and there is also an understandable scenario that supports the bar being silver and not nickel if you think about it. azdave35 is also correct, no one who actually saw and handled the Boderick bar ever said it was nickel and that includes some well known old timers.

Again, I don't know which way the wind blows on this story and I don't have any money on it one way or the other, but before I start shoveling dirt in on Carl and Andy and making definitive statements about fakes and how we're too smart today to not figure things out, I'd like to see all the angles and possibilities covered.

Matthew

I should probably have just said nothing. My instincts told me to bow out of this discussion after I posted what I found about the refining and smelting company and finding images of a nickel babbitt bar and enhancing the photo Greg had. I really need to listen to those instincts.

I never knew Carl, never heard of Andy and certainly didn't mean to imply that I'm too smart or that the bar is definitively a fake.

I won't let the door hit me in the a$$ on the way out... carry on

 

[cactusjumper]

I should probably have just said nothing. My instincts told me to bow out of this discussion after I posted what I found about the refining and smelting company and finding images of a nickel babbitt bar and enhancing the photo Greg had. I really need to listen to those instincts.

I never knew Carl, never heard of Andy and certainly didn't mean to imply that I'm too smart or that the bar is definitively a fake.

I won't let the door hit me in the a$$ on the way out... carry on

Paul,

Hope all is well.

Personally, I would listen to your opinion on this kind of subject, over almost anyone else's here. As I mentioned before, it's possible that Carl, like others here, believed the bars were silver. Treasure hunters, it's been mentioned before, want to believe.

Fact is, there have been many hoaxes perpetrated before, and there will be many more to come in the future. I would keep an open mind, but the pictures seem to point at the truth. Az Dave is someone whos opinion I respect, and he seems to believe the story. I will look into the background history a little more.

Take care,

Joe

 

[azdave35]

I should probably have just said nothing. My instincts told me to bow out of this discussion after I posted what I found about the refining and smelting company and finding images of a nickel babbitt bar and enhancing the photo Greg had. I really need to listen to those instincts.

I never knew Carl, never heard of Andy and certainly didn't mean to imply that I'm too smart or that the bar is definitively a fake.

I won't let the door hit me in the a$$ on the way out... carry on

it's not proper to speak ill of the dead..there are still alot of people around here that knew carl

 

[deducer]

I should probably have just said nothing. My instincts told me to bow out of this discussion after I posted what I found about the refining and smelting company and finding images of a nickel babbitt bar and enhancing the photo Greg had. I really need to listen to those instincts.

I never knew Carl, never heard of Andy and certainly didn't mean to imply that I'm too smart or that the bar is definitively a fake.

I won't let the door hit me in the a$$ on the way out... carry on

Paul,

I hope you are not leaving the discussion or the forum- a good poster who really knows what he's talking about is invaluable, and we've lost too many over the years to the point that for every solid poster that's left, there are two or three crackpots spouting bizarre theories. I have always appreciated your input on everything.

 

[EarnieP]

Cubfan posted some excellent material and actually went out of his way not to disparage anyone.

Great stuff, enjoyed reading the input from all you guys!

 

[Matthew Roberts]

I should probably have just said nothing. My instincts told me to bow out of this discussion after I posted what I found about the refining and smelting company and finding images of a nickel babbitt bar and enhancing the photo Greg had. I really need to listen to those instincts.

I never knew Carl, never heard of Andy and certainly didn't mean to imply that I'm too smart or that the bar is definitively a fake.

I won't let the door hit me in the a$$ on the way out... carry on

Cubfan64,

Your posts concerning the Carl Boderick silver bar were right on target, making excellent points, and welcome by EVERYONE, including myself. I learned things about babbit bars I had not previously known.

Reading back through your posts, at no time did you make comments about "fakes," or about being too smart to be fooled by frauds. So if you're offended by any reference to those phrases I don't understand why you would be, they were not aimed at anything you said or posted.

There is a point however that goes over the head of some who read our posts. What you found and posted was great and right on target. However, it did not definitively prove the issue. It did not "close the case".

While you posted powerful evidence to lean one way, there are also understandable scenarios that could just as powerfully lean the other way.

The problem comes when "others" read your evidence and set themselves up as the judge, jury and executioner based on your evidence and proclaim to the world through inference that Carl Boderick and Andy Barrik produced "fake" silver bars and how it's just a long line of similar frauds and how researchers today are too smart to fall for those "fakes". All this without once thinking that there might be compelling evidence to the contrary. Others read their posts and are led to believe Carl and Andy produced fake, fraudulent bars. Later on you'll be reading everywhere and listening to that it was proven by cubfan64 how Carl and Andy made up fake silver bars. Before long it becomes accepted fact, your name is linked by others to it and I don't believe that is what you intended. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't think so.

azdave35 brought up some compelling arguments, discoloration, Great Western refinery doing more business than Nickel babbits, the host of old timers who actually saw and held Carl's bar and their belief it was silver. Lots of folks around yet who knew Carl and Andy and had good impressions of them. Carl and Andy are not here anymore to defend themselves however.

I don't know if Carl and Andy's bar was silver or nickel and I don't have a cause one way or the other. Your research has helped me add to which way I view the issue. All I meant was before someone blows off about "fakes" and "frauds" and pronounces final judgement on Carl and Andy, all the evidence should be fairly weighed. And as of this point it hasn't.

I apologize for any offense you may have taken cubfan64, it surely wasn't intended.

Matthew

 

[azdave35]

I should probably have just said nothing. My instincts told me to bow out of this discussion after I posted what I found about the refining and smelting company and finding images of a nickel babbitt bar and enhancing the photo Greg had. I really need to listen to those instincts.

I never knew Carl, never heard of Andy and certainly didn't mean to imply that I'm too smart or that the bar is definitively a fake.

I won't let the door hit me in the a$$ on the way out... carry on

some of you people have awful thin skin....how the h-e double toothpicks you get in and out of the mountains without scaring yourself to death is beyond me....i dont know what that silly bar is made of ...but i do know at least one person and maybe two that have seen it...they don't have cell phones or internet or i would get in touch with them today but i will try to get them out to the rendezvous this year and you can ask them in person what they thought of carl and their interpretation of what the bar was made of...it has been a while since they related the story to me so i may be remembering it wrong..both of them are very well known dutch hunters and i would respect their opinions...Paul....nobody told you to quit posting...i just said it wasn't nice to beat up on a dead man ..nobody is picking on you...your opinion is appreciated so continue posting on the subject but don't cry if some of us disagree with you

 

[cactusjumper]

Cubfan64,

Your posts concerning the Carl Boderick silver bar were right on target, making excellent points, and welcome by EVERYONE, including myself. I learned things about babbit bars I had not previously known.

Reading back through your posts, at no time did you make comments about "fakes," or about being too smart to be fooled by frauds. So if you're offended by any reference to those phrases I don't understand why you would be, they were not aimed at anything you said or posted.

There is a point however that goes over the head of some who read our posts. What you found and posted was great and right on target. However, it did not definitively prove the issue. It did not "close the case".

While you posted powerful evidence to lean one way, there are also understandable scenarios that could just as powerfully lean the other way.

The problem comes when "others" read your evidence and set themselves up as the judge, jury and executioner based on your evidence and proclaim to the world through inference that Carl Boderick and Andy Barrik produced "fake" silver bars and how it's just a long line of similar frauds and how researchers today are too smart to fall for those "fakes". All this without once thinking that there might be compelling evidence to the contrary. Others read their posts and are led to believe Carl and Andy produced fake, fraudulent bars. Later on you'll be reading everywhere and listening to that it was proven by cubfan64 how Carl and Andy made up fake silver bars. Before long it becomes accepted fact, your name is linked by others to it and I don't believe that is what you intended. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't think so.

azdave35 brought up some compelling arguments, discoloration, Great Western refinery doing more business than Nickel babbits, the host of old timers who actually saw and held Carl's bar and their belief it was silver. Lots of folks around yet who knew Carl and Andy and had good impressions of them. Carl and Andy are not here anymore to defend themselves however.

I don't know if Carl and Andy's bar was silver or nickel and I don't have a cause one way or the other. Your research has helped me add to which way I view the issue. All I meant was before someone blows off about "fakes" and "frauds" and pronounces final judgement on Carl and Andy, all the evidence should be fairly weighed. And as of this point it hasn't.

I apologize for any offense you may have taken cubfan64, it surely wasn't intended.

Matthew

Matthew,

Good to see you have changed your opinion since you wrote this:

"Cubfan64,

I have to agree with your conclusion about Carl Bodericks silver/nickel bar. I had no idea if it was silver , nickel or any other metal. I just knew the story as it was told to me and saw the photo of Carl with the bar like everyone else.

Since it appears the bar is not silver, do you think Carl scratched the wording off the bar ? Do you think Andy Barrik also was part of the switch because Andy told the story that Carl's silver bar was stolen from the Silver King and buried north of Government Well where Carl found it ?

Matthew"

Your latest opinion seems more than fair and balanced to me. As I have written, Carl may very well have believed the bar was silver. It would be interesting to know what became of it.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

 

[Matthew Roberts]

Matthew,

Good to see you have changed your opinion since you wrote this:

"Cubfan64,

I have to agree with your conclusion about Carl Bodericks silver/nickel bar. I had no idea if it was silver , nickel or any other metal. I just knew the story as it was told to me and saw the photo of Carl with the bar like everyone else.

Since it appears the bar is not silver, do you think Carl scratched the wording off the bar ? Do you think Andy Barrik also was part of the switch because Andy told the story that Carl's silver bar was stolen from the Silver King and buried north of Government Well where Carl found it ?

Matthew"

Your latest opinion seems more than fair and balanced to me. As I have written, Carl may very well have believed the bar was silver. It would be interesting to know what became of it.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

cactusjumper,

When a sentence ends with a question mark (?) the subject of the sentence is stating an unknown or asking someone else to comment on an unknown. A question (?) is not an opinion or an inference or a statement of fact.

When a sentence ends with a period (.) the subject of the sentence is stating an opinion or a believed to be fact.

cubfan64 was asked the question (?) because he was the person who provided the "nickel" information but didn't offer any information on what the conclusion of Carl's story might be.
My post to cubfan64 was merely asking if he had an opinion on information he found as it related to Carl Boderick's story of finding a silver bar.

My opinion never changed.

Matthew

 

[Matthew Roberts]

I was not going to go into this part of the Boderick, Barrick silver bar story but to give some reasoning as to why the bar might actually be silver I had a change of heart.

It was Jim Hatt who did the pencil rubbing of Boderick's bar. Jim held the bar in his hands, looked at it with a geologist's loop (magnifying glass) and scratched the surface. Jim believed and said the bar was indeed silver.
Jim was not the greatest with mining and ore knowledge but he he could tell gold and silver when he saw it.
Now some here have a real problem with Jim Hatt and that is their personal problem. I knew Jim since he had came to Phoenix and have been both a partner with him in the mountains on certain endeavors, and on the other side of the fence with him on others. Anyone who was ever close with Jim rode that same ride with him to one extent or another.

When Jim told me the story of Barrick and Carl Boderick and the silver bar, about how he believed the bar was silver and why, I believed him. Not so much because I trusted Jim completely, but because I had two other good friends, both old timers who no one here would ever question their word saw that bar and told me the same thing.

cubfan64 provided some compelling evidence about nickel bars that gives everyone pause to reflect and think. I'm caught between the two. It's easy to assume cubfan64's information points to some sort of alteration of the bar? If so, who altered it? And for what reason? Boderick never tried to sell the bar. But three people seeing the bar and handling it themselves and believing it was silver is a compelling argument also. I lean one way on the conclusion but I cant be 100% certain.

There is an understandable reason if you think about it how the Boderick bar could be silver and the word "nickel" was scratched out. azdave35 knows that reason but then again he has worked closely with refiners and refineries for many years.

Matthew

 

[azdave35]

I was not going to go into this part of the Boderick, Barrick silver bar story but to give some reasoning as to why the bar might actually be silver I had a change of heart.

It was Jim Hatt who did the pencil rubbing of Boderick's bar. Jim held the bar in his hands, looked at it with a geologist's loop (magnifying glass) and scratched the surface. Jim believed and said the bar was indeed silver.
Jim was not the greatest with mining and ore knowledge but he he could tell gold and silver when he saw it.
Now some here have a real problem with Jim Hatt and that is their personal problem. I knew Jim since he had came to Phoenix and have been both a partner with him in the mountains on certain endeavors, and on the other side of the fence with him on others. Anyone who was ever close with Jim rode that same ride with him to one extent or another.

When Jim told me the story of Barrick and Carl Boderick and the silver bar, about how he believed the bar was silver and why, I believed him. Not so much because I trusted Jim completely, but because I had two other good friends, both old timers who no one here would ever question their word saw that bar and told me the same thing.

cubfan64 provided some compelling evidence about nickel bars that gives everyone pause to reflect and think. I'm caught between the two. It's easy to assume cubfan64's information points to some sort of alteration of the bar? If so, who altered it? And for what reason? Boderick never tried to sell the bar. But three people seeing the bar and handling it themselves and believing it was silver is a compelling argument also. I lean one way on the conclusion but I cant be 100% certain.

There is an understandable reason if you think about it how the Boderick bar could be silver and the word "nickel" was scratched out. azdave35 knows that reason but then again he has worked closely with refiners and refineries for many years.

Matthew

matthew.....i had heard that it was jim hatt that traced the bar but didn't know for sure...like you said jim wasn't a metallurgist but he knew enough to distinguish between silver and nickel....its not that hard if you have a little knowledge about metals....silver is a very bright white metal that oxidizes easily......nickel is similar to chrome in appearance and is highly resistant to oxidation...i have a nickel plated pistol that is over 100 years old and still looks like it did the day they plated it..i also have silver dollars that are over 100 years old and they are definitely oxidized..also silver is a fairly soft metal and could be scratched very easily with a pocket knife...nickel..on the other hand is used to repair hardened shafts and is very hard....you would have a tough time scratching nickel with a knife and anyone that tried to do so would immediately know they weren't scratching something as soft as silver ..

 

[EarnieP]

Wish Superstition gold was as easy to find as a TreasureNet argument!

Glad to see all you guys back and posting again, don't bruise each other up too much!

BTW, where's our old buddy, Real of Tayopa? Haven't seen him on in a while.

 

[cactusjumper]

matthew.....i had heard that it was jim hatt that traced the bar but didn't know for sure...like you said jim wasn't a metallurgist but he knew enough to distinguish between silver and nickel....its not that hard if you have a little knowledge about metals....silver is a very bright white metal that oxidizes easily......nickel is similar to chrome in appearance and is highly resistant to oxidation...i have a nickel plated pistol that is over 100 years old and still looks like it did the day they plated it..i also have silver dollars that are over 100 years old and they are definitely oxidized..also silver is a fairly soft metal and could be scratched very easily with a pocket knife...nickel..on the other hand is used to repair hardened shafts and is very hard....you would have a tough time scratching nickel with a knife and anyone that tried to do so would immediately know they weren't scratching something as soft as silver ..

Dave,

It can all be found on DUSA May 14, 2011. Not sure if it's OK for me to post that information, but TH can always delete it if it's against the rules. My apologies in advance.

Take care,

Joe