Very stumped on these stones (edit)

[Lindsey]

My fiance and I went out fossil hunting and came home with something other than fossils. They are quite glittery and the sun shining on them is what brought our attention to them, at first I thought Pyrite but after doing some research I crossed that out(but then I don't know), the mineral is formed on a quite heavy metal feeling stone which is shiny metallic silver on the inside, all stones together weigh about 5lbs. Not sure of the environment that they originated as we found them in the North Sulphur River and as anyone knows flowing water moves stuff around. Some appear to have been melted and re-hardened. The pictures don't do justice as many of them are very sparkly and I was a bit rushed due to the battery life of my camera, which died just in time for me to take the pictures, so I hope they work well enough. I might be forgetting something to say but I'm sure it will come to me as a I get replies. Any help is greatly appreciated as I've never found anything like this before.

[Cappy Z.]

I suggest you take your finds to the local natural history museum and try to have them point you to a knowledgeable source. Usually they are very helpful.

Thanks for posting the story and the pics.

Good Luck

[sniffer]

they could still be iron pyrite. the only way to be certain is to have them tested.
whatever you do, get 2 independent sources of info and do not let anyone "hang onto them" while
they are being tested

[minetres]

Sniffer,

It looks like you have found some high grade Silver, lead ore from the looks of it. If it scratches real easy more than likely lead. If it is harder than the weights on your tires or fishing weights more than likely silver. There is the possibility of it being Platinum but that is very rare in nuggets this size. Be very careful on this find it maybe very valuable. Take a small piece to a pawn shop or jewler and they can test the metal.

Fantastic
Minetres.

[sniffer]

aaahh, I didn't find it. Lindsey did. I would not take it to a pawn shop to be tested.
take it to somebody that doesn't work at selling the same kind of stuff

[DanB]

get a bottle of map gas (yellow bottle) don't use the blue bottle it doesn,t get hot enough you can get it at home depot then put some heat to it.....if it smells like fireworks when it warms up it is a pyrite of some sort.....if it is lead or silver it will melt and pool.....if it does pool there are other tests you can do to determine what metals you have....good luck....... do your own testing... its fun...

db

[minetres]

Lindsey,

Pawn shops and Jewelers do very good test they have to know what they are doing when they purchase Jewelry and scrap because they don't want to loose money when they resell. Have you tried to scratch the metal to see how soft it is? If the metal is lead it can be worth a lot in large quantities also lead and silver are found together in in vain so it can be both together, and Pyrite is associated with silver, lead and Gold so you may find some Gold mixed in with the Pyrite. You can also look up an assayer in your city and have a sample checked it may be worth it.

Minetres

[Lindsey]

Thank you everyone for the advice and input, my heart is really pumping because if it's valuable there is still even bigger chunks we left behind that we can go gather up. Some pieces did appear to look to have some gold in it but I didn't want to assume too much and get my hopes up, really hard to tell with my eyesight even with a magnifying glass lol. The metal is very hard and I can't even scratch it with a pocket knife; I'm not sure if the jeweler in my tiny town is still open or not, we have a pawn shop but it wouldn't hurt anything to make a drive to the next town over. At least I won't get my hopes up too much if it's nothing because I still like the looks of them.

[Cappy Z.]

You mention the matrix is harder than a knife blade. Maybe not so good news. Review this.

Hardness of some other items:


Fingernail
2.5–3

Gold, Silver
3

Copper penny
4-4.5

Platinum
4-5 Iron
5.5 Knife blade
6-7 Glass
6.5 Iron pyrite
7+ Hardened steel file

[Lindsey]

Cappy,
Thank you for that info, I had no knowledge of the hardness scales, I will be sure to retain that information for future reference. I couldn't get my metal detector to register it at all, but I'm still learning how to work it. I did figure out to hard way that the blade on my knife is dull, I tried with another pocket knife and also a box cuter blade and they both very slightly cut it. I'm going to try to test a piece myself and also take a piece to a jeweler to test. I've got to make it through this whole ordeal without getting my hopes up, although I will still be slightly disappointed.

[Eu_citzen]

What color does it leave on unglazed porceilain? Looks like hematite/Magnetite.
Could also be Arsenopyrite, it would then smell garlic like when struck with a hammer.

[Lindsey]

When heat was applied with a torch at an attempt to melt one of the rocks the outer layer literally exploded, after it cooled it sort of looked like lava rock like you would use for a grill in one area. Not sure if this adds to the mystery or helps, but those are some deadly rocks lol. I will try to get a updated picture posted as soon as I can.

[Eu_citzen]

Chalcopyrite is also a possibility.

[eureka77]

Sorry to bring up an old post but curiosity got the best of me. What did it turn out to be?

[Lindsey]

I put it off so long that I never got around to taking them somewhere to be checked, I need to write myself a note to get them checked out on my next day off, my curiosity is peaked again.

[coinshooter]

Hit a piece with a hammer.
If it shatters it's not gold, but probably pyrite or chalcopyrite.

[Eu_citzen]

Could also be Marcasite.

[Lindsey]

I definitely knew it wasn't gold but that it was some sort of pyrite, I just wasn't sure about the whole solid piece. Didn't know if pyrite was ever so silver in color as these, thought maybe just the outside layer was pyrite. I have broken a couple with a hammer and they broke in half with some pieces shattering off.

[Eu_citzen]

Yes, Marcasite, a low temperature variant of Pyrite can be silvery.

[Lindsey]

I just realized I have somewhere put away chalcopyrite that I had bought somewhere, never fully knew what it was. Marcasite does look alot like what I have, sad thing is I read somewhere that marcasite eventually deteriorates. I greatly appreciate everyone's help.