100 lb bar from Broken Hill Australia

[strateloss]

100 lb bar from Broken Hill Mine Australia

I found this vintage bar dimensions 22X3X3 of what appears to be lead, approx weight 100 lbs. I did find some info about the mine and current museum with a search, but haven't had much luck dating it. I believe it is old enough to be Low Alpha Lead. If you have any info that would help me out, I'd really appreciate it.

 

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[strateloss]

Matt, what's interesting is, it puts it at WWI, possible lead for ammo?

 

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[diggermatt]

How many people have 100 lb lead bar like that...prolly very few.if any.

 

[unfound]

" I want one " that thing would probably blow out my speakers on the MD.....

 

[mirage83]

So it's 100 year old lead, I don't know if it's quite old enough to be the infamous low alpha lead we've all heard about, but still a unique find that can fill the gas tank as a worse case scenario...

It's old enough to potentially qualify as low alpha given it's age. Can't locate a reliable, recent price, but Bloomberg reported it as being between $25 and $100 per pound in 2012, depending on it's exact alpha level. Just have to find someone to test it at a reasonable cost and cut a small piece off the backside, probably one of the corners should be enough. That way even if it's not valuable enough for you to part with it's still pristine enough to use as one heckuva door stop.

 

[thommo59]

I'm more interested in how it made it's way across to the other side of the world. The trip from Broken Hill to the coast is a bloody long way and was only dirt with horse and sulky back in 1910. That trip then would have taken maybe a a fortnight at best just to reach Sydney.

 

[Coldshuz]

Looks like a counterweight. i.e. the heavy weight added to the back of an excavator to counter the weight of the shovel and arm. The two ends look like they slid down a U channel to hold it in place..