Recommended Posts

Looks like a Triceritops tooth! :)

Ok..Ill stop.

Try dipping it in pool acid and see what it does.

Noble metals like silver and gold will do ok in it...copper will clean up nice and bright and any alkaline material will fizz off.

Tom H.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the help everyone!

Here are some new pictures:

http://imgur.com/a/krNaE

You can view a much higher resolution version of each picture by hovering over the picture and clicking on the gear in the top right corner.

I did file a tiny window and its metallic silver inside. I imagine the red side was facing up when I found it..

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a tough one.......Its not tarnished like natural silver or like copper ...Was it a PI detector or a VLF ? is it light or heavy for its size? is it magnetic? was it a solid silvery sheen when you filed it or flakes of silver color? Im saying galena until you tell me it was found with a pi and its magnetic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DesertNuggets
I'm reasonably confident that your nugget is a fire pit nugget. When I first started nugget hunting I found several fire pit nuggets that I thought may be something good.. the ones that really fooled me were the brass ones. at first I thought gold for sure. but after testing (a little nitric acid) they frothed in the acid green blue color, Dang Brass. the key to spotting these fire nuggets (aluminum or Brass) and they are common because the old timers burned almost all of their trash.
They are almost all are well rounded almost bloated round and smooth looking surface and they have that tell tail dimples with black or brown spots right in the middle of the dimples. trust me I worked for commercial jewelry casters and have been a bench jeweler for many years too.. these dimples are from impurities that attached to the metal in the fire pit as the metal melted. and in some cases can cause a weird looking wrinkle skin as it cooled on the outside that does not form in nature.
Hope this helps AzNuggetBob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got to go with Bob on this one, it looks like a fire pit nugget to me. You see some like this around old burned out cars in the desert also. The aluminum and base metals combine in droplets like that one. Hang on to it, it will be a nice talking piece in the future around the campfire.

Old Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DesertNuggets
Old Tom may be correct. does it feel abnormally light for a metallic object? does it leave a tingly feeling in your hand when you hold it? is it resistant to every acid you've tried on it? does it glow in the dark? did you find it near Roswell? doesn't matter it could be a new crash site. you may want to keep it in a sealed container just in case.

you can have a lot of fun with it around the camp fire. :)
take care out there, AzNuggetBob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DesertNuggets
All kidding aside take a look at this link below.
I found this nugget down near Tucson. we were staking claims and the area was known for its silver so I had this thought in my head all along. so I cleaned it and left it on my desk. you see I had this nugget sitting on my desk as a paper weight for several years thinking it was a silver nugget. one day I looked at it and it dawned on me? why isn't it tarnishing??? I took a look with a 10x and thought I could see gold! the rest is here. http://forums.nuggethunting.com/index.php?/topic/9406-electrum-gold/
The moral to the story I guess is never toss anything until your sure what it is. it may even be a space rock. AzNuggetBob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

Hey Guys,

I couldn't tell you over the years how many "unknowns" I have found, many looked just like this. Some I just tossed out eventually, some I still have around somewhere. I have to agree with Bob, many are probably melts, whether it was a campfire or some type of minesite.

Most were small, probably not worth much anyways, so I didn't really get too excited besides trying to figure out what it was.

When you're around placer or lode areas, you will find stuff like this. If I had to make a guess, it's something that was melted and worked it way down into a wash. Stuff like this can travel a long ways.

If anything, just hold onto it and hopefully at some point you might run into someone that has a hand-held unit that can ID the metal.

Just my thoughts,

Rob Allison

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So true Rob. Also the meteorites. geesh back when I started reading up on meteorites I thought back on how many hot rocks I'd thrown away that looked an awful lot like several meteorites in the book, and I have to say I've found several confirmed meteorites since. they are out there too, don't toss them till your sure. :) AzNuggetBob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.