GOOD Friday finds silver coin, ring, and 2 lb ingot????

[Jaichim24]

So a friend and I hit an old park on Friday, an old picnic grove which has been producing pretty well. We have yet to visit without each of us leaving with silver and IH's. This past Friday was no exception.

It was late in the day when I got my first piece of silver a nice ring with what I think is turquoise in it? Can anyone confirm? It doesn't appear to have a silver mark on the inside, but I'm 100% sure this is silver. Could it be Native American? Anyone have a guess to it's age.

A short while later I thought I was about to dig up an extremely well preserved cannon ball.....however there was not one bit of rust on it, and well, it was only 1/3 of a cannon ball. After cleaning it up a bit, I am wondering if it may be a silver ingot. It is not magnetic, and scraping the edge and the top of it on a piece of paper leaves no marks, meaning I don't think it is lead. I am scraping very hard with no transfer. It is very heavy, I have a normal scale at home, and plopping in on the scale it consistantly weighs 2 pounds. It is about 1 inch thick, and slightly oval in shape. Diameter across one way is 4", and 3.75" another way.

I can't remember what forum I saw it in, but I remember a post with a similar shaped object that turned out to be silver. I believe after they melt down the silver ore, but prior to refining into pure silver they pour it into this shape for transportation to a refinery. At least that's the gist of how I remember it.

Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions? Have some input or ideas on how to truly test it?

Thanks for the feedback and thanks for looking,

Jai

 

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[Daedalus]

This does not look like Silver to me by the photo . But I am no expert on Silver either .
It would seem to me that if it was silver then you should be able to at least polish it up a little
as that would help . You might try to do that to the underside to see what comes of that.

I am sure someone on here will be able to tell you what you have . And who knows you might have something there
that you will be glad you found. And you might just have an old metal pour .

 

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

holy crap! a petrified turtle shell from the devonian period!
nah j/k no idea what it is but it's definitely not silver!
your bracelet IS silver and native american without a doubt!
take a tiny file to the underside and see what color the metal is under that brown.keep us posted!

 

[steelheadwill]

Nice days finds!
Keep us posted on that ingot, seems heavy for stated size.
often mixed scraps would be melted together to cast new items.

 

[Jaichim24]

I'll keep you all posted on what I find out. The pictures don't do it justice, as I used a copper "brillo" pad to shine it up a bit. There are some parts of it that "scream" silver to me, very shiny.

I would have to agree, I'm sure this is a composite of metals, and I'm hoping one of them is silver.

 

[EagleDown]

Hi Jai,

Great finds! I would also be interested in knowing what the ingot (pig) is composed of.

The ring? It "might" be Native American made, but from the way it's made, it's not extremely old. The stone is natural turquoise and the metal appears to be silver. But it appears the stone is cushioned by the use of vermiculite, so, I would place it in the mid 50s or later.

Also, usually, a Native American will stamp or etch his initials or mark on the bottom side of his creations. In this case, it should be found on the bottom of the stones bezel. Though, there are times when a "rush order' might occur where the signature might be forgotten. Or, an apprentice that is so new to silver smithy that he might not be allowed to sign his work yet. And, there could be many other reasons for not signing it.

All in all, a recovery I'd be quite happy with.

Eagle

 

[steelheadwill]

Did you check your 09 wheat for S mark
I dug a vdb, still looking for the S ! ($$$)