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.

[worldtalker]

Nuggets4me,looks as if it could a melted piece of jewelery,with the porcelain ,there's lurkers there somewhere,just got to get your coil over them!!!!!!!!!! God Bless Chris

[Nuggets4me]

Nuggets4me,looks as if it could a melted piece of jewelery,with the porcelain ,there's lurkers there somewhere,just got to get your coil over them!!!!!!!!!! God Bless Chris

Cool, thanks! We thought that melted Jewelry could be possible too.

[Broken knee]

Welcome to Tnet, By the look of the first image of it the green leads me to think brass?
Have it tested then you'll have a definitive answer. HH
Broken Knee

[kuger]

Your one piece of porceline is from the base of a light socket...may be brass?

[Nuggets4me]

Your one piece of porceline is from the base of a light socket...may be brass?

Could be, but I have the actual light socket intact.

[homefires]

Ferric Cloride circuit board ectant would eat brass and not gold.

Muriatic Acid the same!

[kuger]

Your one piece of porceline is from the base of a light socket...may be brass?

Could be, but I have the actual light socket intact.

My bad,I initially skimmed through.Sorry!!!

[Nuggets4me]

Ferric Cloride circuit board ectant would eat brass and not gold.

Muriatic Acid the same!

So you are suggesting I drop some muriatic acid on it and see what happens?? Sounds like a good idea to me!

[Nuggets4me]

Well, we just dipped it in muriatic acid....and....NOTHING HAPPENED! Didn't do anything.

[Bigcypresshunter]

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.

[Nuggets4me]

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.

[Broken knee]

You need a streak plate, a non glazed piece of ceramic. Rub the item on it til you have a gold color line showing on the plate then put the acid on the line. If the line under the acid disappears it's not gold. There are different strength acid's for each Kt of gold. A good investment get a kit there not expensive. The main thing is the acid one for each kt marking. If you suspect 14 k use the acid for 14k and if the gold color doesn't change it's 14 k or better, if it turns brown or fades away it's less than 14k and so forth for the other acids Ie 10k 18k 22k I don't know what kind of result your going to get with store bought Muriatic acid? A gold test needle set will give you a positive control streak for each test. Please post your results. HH
Broken Knee

[Nuggets4me]

You need a streak plate, a non glazed piece of ceramic. Rub the item on it til you have a gold color line showing on the plate then put the acid on the line. If the line under the acid disappears it's not gold. There are different strength acid's for each Kt of gold. A good investment get a kit there not expensive. The main thing is the acid one for each kt marking. If you suspect 14 k use the acid for 14k and if the gold color doesn't change it's 14 k or better, if it turns brown or fades away it's less than 14k and so forth for the other acids Ie 10k 18k 22k I don't know what kind of result your going to get with store bought Muriatic acid? A gold test needle set will give you a positive control streak for each test. Please post your results. HH
Broken Knee

I know these are available online, but is it possible to buy one in a store?

[Nuggets4me]

Ok, here's the pictures of it cleaned up. When I get my hands on a test I will definitely post the results. Thank you everyone for your input!

[Broken knee]

Your best bet is online http://www.nationaljewelerssupplies....ting-kits.html
BK

[kuger]

does it seem "un "ordinarily heavy?

[Gunrunner61]

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

[Nuggets4me]

does it seem "un "ordinarily heavy?

Absolutely. It weighs 1¼ ounces. It is roughly the size of a quarter. That's actually how it was found. It was so heavy that we wondered what it was. It wasn't found with the metal detector, we were just sifting through the dirt. I myself, will not be convinced until I see definitive proof. But, the hubby is pretty excited. Given the holiday weekend, nothing is open....so I thought I'd take to the boards and see what people think.

[kuger]

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