Last thing left in the pan: any idea what it is?

[BrettCo124]

I'm new to this. Just working out some newbie questions if you don't mind. I was on my local creek in Pennsylvania that I don't believe has gold in it, but I had to try. What is this? It was the last thing left in the pan, but its not gold. At least I don't think it is. And it almost had a slight rust look on one part of it. Wasn't sure if this may be a common thing to find.

Also, I wasn't sure where to post this question. I didn't see a better option on the app, so I used this forum to post.

Thanks,

BrettCo

 

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[motohed]

I would say Gold or garnet .

 

[nsdq]

pyrite ?

 

[vaquero44]

looks like a garnet to me

 

[BrettCo124]

That's pretty neat if it is! Are the last things remaining in a pan (if not metal or lead) typically something cool like that?

 

[Silversurfer79]

I believe garnet.

 

[PurpleGold]

Garnet will be very hard. Gold is very soft. You can do a hardness test. Good will bend. Mica or pyrite break.

 

[arizau]

The smoothness of the gold colored area suggests gold. The off colored material may be remainders of part of the matrix that the gold, if it is gold, was encased in.

 

[Ragnor]

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I'm new to this. Just working out some newbie questions if you don't mind. I was on my local creek in Pennsylvania that I don't believe has gold in it, but I had to try. What is this? It was the last thing left in the pan, but its not gold. At least I don't think it is. And it almost had a slight rust look on one part of it. Wasn't sure if this may be a common thing to find.



Also, I wasn't sure where to post this question. I didn't see a better option on the app, so I used this forum to post.

Thanks,

BrettCo

Well that's gold. It's kind of ugly and I would have guessed eastern Oregon, but that's gold.

 

[BrettCo124]

Well that's gold. It's kind of ugly and I would have guessed eastern Oregon, but that's gold.

Really? It doesn't have that gold-like appearance, but I'll have to check for more of it when I go back to see if I can find bigger pieces. I should not have "enhanced" the first photo that I posted. I did that to lighten up the photo and it kind of almost made it look like a piece of gold. The middle picture depicts what it looks like the best, and the last picture (small piece) shows exactly what it looked like in my pan. It had more of that "rust" appearance than "gold" appearance.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

It could be gold covered with mercury, or some type of alloy; maybe gold and copper.

 

[OwenT]

Looks like gold to me but the pictures may not be an accurate representation of what you see in it. If it looks redder then it's probably rose gold, gold mixed with coppe. I've found some pretty coppery colored gold before. And you posted in the right place

 

[BrettCo124]

Looks like gold to me but the pictures may not be an accurate representation of what you see in it. If it looks redder then it's probably rose gold, gold mixed with coppe. I've found some pretty coppery colored gold before. And you posted in the right place

Is there a way to ever really know? Besides crushing it? I don't think the creek I am in is a gold-bearing creek, so I'm very skeptical of everything I find. If it's not bright and shiny like gold, to me, it's not lol.

 

[arizau]

Is there a way to ever really know? Besides crushing it? I don't think the creek I am in is a gold-bearing creek, so I'm very skeptical of everything I find. If it's not bright and shiny like gold, to me, it's not lol.

If I am unsure that a piece(s) that I am looking at is gold my first test is color. If looks like gold in direct light AND in shaded light AND it acts like gold in the pan then it's gold. If the piece dulls out in shaded light then it is not gold and actually those pieces usually don't act like gold either. You will know how gold acts when you actually find some or you pan some paydirt.

 

[OwenT]

Well you may not find out, unless you find some more and determine definitively that it is gold. Really though it's something weird, looks kind of cool, but this is a tiny spec in a pan, lets just assume it's gold so you can get out there ad find more next time.

 

[BrettCo124]

Love the advice. I took out some gold found in paydirt I bought and messed around with it, looked at it closely, watched it move around in the pan (or not move at all), and watched it sink inside of a vile with water in it. Looks to me like, when you have gold, you'll know it!

Very helpful. Thank you!

 

[KevinInColorado]

That's pretty neat if it is! Are the last things remaining in a pan (if not metal or lead) typically something cool like that?

Yes!

Pretty much anything dense enough to behave like gold can have value...so ask before you toss it out!

 

[BrettCo124]

Yes!

Pretty much anything dense enough to behave like gold can have value...so ask before you toss it out!

Man I'm learning everything from you guys. Thanks! I'll be sure to hang on to my findings.

 

[BrettCo124]

How bout this: it looked like a tiny tiny spec. Last thing left in the pan from a local creek not known for gold. I checked for some reason to see if it would be magnetic, and it is. This is a photo I took of if under 60x microscope I bought:

 

[Asmbandits]

The first pics look like gold possibly, easy test is smack it with a hammer, if it crumbles it's probably pyrite, if it flattens out its most likely gold.