What is this???? Could it be a gold nugget? (SOLVED)

[Nuggets4me]

Okay, this was found pretty deep, it seemed like we dug about two feet. We got a high toned signal on the detector that registered 25 cents. So, we started digging. We found a small piece of porcelain first. We then began digging and sifting with our hands and this is what we found. I did not take home with me all of the broken porcelain. There was so much! Also not pictured was a porcelain light socket which I think is a part of the base we found. It says 250watts on it. In and around the same area we found a heavy black "rock". We began scratching it and I don't think the pictures do it justice, but it seems to show a gold color. Also, I could be mistaken-but I am pretty sure I can see (with a jewelers loupe) a bit of quartz in there. It weighs 1¼ ounces. I am in the process of cleaning it to reveal the true color. For now, I have pictures of what it looks like when it was found.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Since gold doesnt corrode, you would not have to scratch it to see gold. Gold looks a fine as the day it was lost, even if lost 500 years ago or melted.

Well, i just found this.....http://www.desertusa.com/magdec97/gold/pegleg2.html, a passage.....

On the drive home another thought occurred to me. The story of Peg Leg's black nuggets was well enough known that it wouldn't be a good idea to show anybody a black nugget while trying to find out what it was. I'd scraped through the black varnish or coating with my pocketknife, so maybe there was a way to remove it so I could show something that wasn't black. After some trouble I finally removed the black coating from one nugget and took it to an assay laboratory. They ran a spectroscopic assay and it was, indeed, gold.


I later learned that the so called black desert varnish or coating on the nuggets was simply copper oxide. Most gold found in its native state, particularly in California, is usually alloyed with silver, which averages 10 to 20 percent. The Peg Leg black nuggets contain about 70 percent gold, 20 percent silver, and 10 percent copper. It was the copper molecules that oxidized and gave the nuggets their black color.

I remember that story. Ill have to read it again lol. Usually corrosion will not stick to gold even at 70%.. Gold looks the same even after 500 years in saltwater. I would think if anything stuck, it would come off easily.

It looks brass to me or gold colred solderbut its hard to tell by a picture and I have no experience with desert gold so I will read wait and learn. I would think any pawn shop could tell you. Maybe its a low percentage alloy?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Fingers are crossed for ya!It has obviously been melted,but I have a place that I mine that all the gold comes out Black....its from Graphitic Schist.The "clay",actually stains your hands black

Does the black come off easily?

 

[kuger]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Fingers are crossed for ya!It has obviously been melted,but I have a place that I mine that all the gold comes out Black....its from Graphitic Schist.The "clay",actually stains your hands black

Does the black come off easily?

Sometimes....it smears off,other times I have to use Nitric Acid

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Cool. I hope it turms out to be gold. Out of all the melted blobs I have found, (that were shiny after cleaning or scratching) only a small percentage of them were actually precious metals so the odds are against it.

 

[CC Hunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Cool. I hope it turns out to be gold. Out of all the melted blobs I have found, (that were shiny after cleaning or scratching) only a small percentage of them were actually precious metals so the odds are against it.

Aluminum used to be a precious metal. If we could only time travel back a couple hundred years, a fortune could be made with pull-tabs!

Now that the melted metallic "blob" is cleaned, there is noticeable areas of green verdigris in places. This indicates copper content. I have personally seen 10K gold jewelry, (only 41.6% gold) come from beaches that has turned dark with tarnish. These are usually a dark brown/black though, and no green coloration. My hunch is this mystery piece may be some melted copper alloy or brass type metal.

CC Hunter

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

I agree. I have seen some lo carat gold corrode. A general rule of thumb 12K is 50% gold content. I dont recall ever seeing 14k or above corrode.

 

[Nuggets4me]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Did you find any other evidence of a fire where you where looking? If so I'd think that maybe it's melted jewelry,HH

Yes, there was definitely a fire. There was charred pieces of wood, and some of the plates were black. Also melted glass.

 

[homefires]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Just take it to a Pawn shop or Jeweler and ask them to test it.

They may do it for free just to find out.

 

[Nuggets4me]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Well, if it's not gold-I don't know what it is! 8) Found more and Gold Test Kit on the way....(picture includes the first nugget)

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Well, if it's not gold-I don't know what it is! 8) Found more and Gold Test Kit on the way....(picture includes the first nugget)

You got my attention now lol. How hard did you have to search to find 2 more or were they just laying on top of the ground too? Is this a burned down house, a forest fire or a trash fire? The latest pictures are looking more like gold but I dont know how much cleaning was done to make it look that way. One of the latest has a flat bottom, definitely melted.

Maybe you live in the country with no pawn shops. We have them here on every corner. Even if you get the test kit, you may not be able to use it properly. A pawn shop will be happy to tell you because they want to buy it. Pretend that you are considering selling. Good luck.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Just take it to a Pawn shop or Jeweler and ask them to test it.

They may do it for free just to find out.

Homefires do you specialize in home fire sites?

 

[Nirros]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Wow.....I bet you are way more excited than I am now.....I cant wait to hear the answer to everyones question. Makes me want to dig my entire lawn up do to the fact that about 12 inches down there are old burn pits from way back in the day.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Makes me want to dig my entire lawn up do to the fact that about 12 inches down there are old burn pits from way back in the day.

lol

 

[Bayter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Nirros,

I've got the shovels in the car and I'm heading your way!

 

[Nirros]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

bring a jack hammer........just went out to test the ground....hard as concrete where its bare. soft as a babies bottom under the snow though.

 

[Bayter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

I want one!!!

 

[homefires]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Just take it to a Pawn shop or Jeweler and ask them to test it.

They may do it for free just to find out.

Homefires do you specialize in home fire sites?

No! LOL

That name referse to keeping the Home Fires a burning.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Homefires do you specialize in home fire sites?

No! LOL

That name referse to keeping the Home Fires a burning.

OK gotcha. I thought you specialized in metal detecting old home fire sites lol.

 

[Nuggets4me]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Ok guys, whoever said even if you get the kit you may not be able to accurately test it is right! LOL, it seems you need somewhat of a trained eye to know what you are looking for. However, a coin store said it was 14k, and from our tests it looks like 10k. IDK but its GOOOOOOLLLLLLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nuggets4me]

Re: What is this? Could it be a gold nugget?

Well, if it's not gold-I don't know what it is! 8) Found more and Gold Test Kit on the way....(picture includes the first nugget)

You got my attention now lol. How hard did you have to search to find 2 more or were they just laying on top of the ground too? Is this a burned down house, a forest fire or a trash fire? The latest pictures are looking more like gold but I dont know how much cleaning was done to make it look that way. One of the latest has a flat bottom, definitely melted.

Maybe you live in the country with no pawn shops. We have them here on every corner. Even if you get the test kit, you may not be able to use it properly. A pawn shop will be happy to tell you because they want to buy it. Pretend that you are considering selling. Good luck.

No, nothing was laying on the ground! It was buried pretty deep with lots of other debris. Including bricks, and we also found a part of an old stove. Says George M. Clark and Co. I don't think the house burned down itself, but was abandoned already and a forest fire burned it. The only cleaning that was done was with muriatic acid. It sizzled the impurities off the top and the end result was the shiny stuff. OH and jewelry cleaner.

The latest piece was very long and melted looking and it weighed a little over two ounces. We also broke it up into smaller pieces so that is not all of it. The reason it is more flat is because we wanted to see if we could do the hammer test. The piece on the left is what it looked like at first, and the more flat one was "hammered" But yes it had a melted appearance but was not black like the "nugget".