5.5 lb Native Silver Specimen

SnowdogAk20

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May 3, 2021
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Hi Everyone,

What's your opinion on this one? The photos are close ups for observing it, the appearance you see is not from weathering. I did remove tarnish in a way that you would do so if it's Silver. It's not polished I didn't add anything. I did photos with and without the camera flash to change perspective a little. The side you see what looks like a vein of something interesting, but the whole thing looks interesting. It is about the size of my large hand, so it's not gigantic in terms of volume.
20211018_125633.jpg
I'm in Alaska, not really any real services here to deal with this. Except maybe a certain mining shop I know of potentially. Suggestions?
 

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SnowdogAk20

SnowdogAk20

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May 3, 2021
91
94
Palmer, Alaska
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I've used a Fisher Gold Bug II, though now I have a cheaper Garrett model.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Did you test it?
Not yet other than tarnish removal. It's getting tarnished & ugly again pretty fast. I'm smoking in here. It's got the weight for the size to be silver. It's not brittle. I've been on the hunt for some Nitric Acid, but no luck so far. There's only a few metals that form pure metal naturally. They are; Gold, Silver, Copper, Platinum, the Iridiums, Arsenic and Bismuth. I have a good size blast furnace, but I dunno, you think I should try to super roast it? But then again if it is a true specimen that might irrevocably destroy the specimen value.
 

pepperj

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Not yet other than tarnish removal. It's getting tarnished & ugly again pretty fast. I'm smoking in here. It's got the weight for the size to be silver. It's not brittle. I've been on the hunt for some Nitric Acid, but no luck so far. There's only a few metals that form pure metal naturally. They are; Gold, Silver, Copper, Platinum, the Iridiums, Arsenic and Bismuth. I have a good size blast furnace, but I dunno, you think I should try to super roast it? But then again if it is a true specimen that might irrevocably destroy the specimen value.
Well if you have been on the "hunt for Nitric Acid-but no luck so far"

I can help you out here.

Just enter Nitric acid kits for sale in your search engine.

And a treasure load of results appear:

About 9,030,000 results (0.59 seconds)

Now I'm thinking really-no luck?
 

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SnowdogAk20

SnowdogAk20

Jr. Member
May 3, 2021
91
94
Palmer, Alaska
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I've used a Fisher Gold Bug II, though now I have a cheaper Garrett model.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well if you have been on the "hunt for Nitric Acid-but no luck so far"

I can help you out here.

Just enter Nitric acid kits for sale in your search engine.

And a treasure load of results appear:

About 9,030,000 results (0.59 seconds)

Now I'm thinking really-no luck?
Yeah locally. I don't want big shipping delays.
 

pepperj

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Well I can help you again as Wasilla AK is 13 miles down the road and there are a few places that supply the test kits.
Ok it's 13 miles from Palmer-too far I guess/don't buy from big box stores......
 

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SnowdogAk20

SnowdogAk20

Jr. Member
May 3, 2021
91
94
Palmer, Alaska
Detector(s) used
I've used a Fisher Gold Bug II, though now I have a cheaper Garrett model.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well I can help you again as Wasilla AK is 13 miles down the road and there are a few places that supply the test kits.
Ok it's 13 miles from Palmer-too far I guess/don't buy from big box stores......
Well I can help you again as Wasilla AK is 13 miles down the road and there are a few places that supply the test kits.
Ok it's 13 miles from Palmer-too far I guess/don't buy from big box stores......
Well, I don't need a Walmart kit to test for metal, because I already know it's that. It's not heavy enough to be an electrum piece or a PGM, and lead doesn't form into pure metal naturally. So that leaves pretty much Silver. Furthermore Silver isn't a noble metal and highly reactive to sulfur compounds. I smoke around it a bit, the thing tarnishes up very easily. Believe it or not there are ways that you can test without a "kit". The options can be narrowed down with some knowledge.
 

rgb1

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Well from your thread title I thought you knew.
Perhaps you should add ‘assumed silver’
TAKE ALITTLE PIECE OF WHAT YOU HAVE PUT THIS IN NTITRIC ACID AND WATER 50/50 IF SILVER IT WILL DISOLVE PAY ATTENION TO RESIDUE THERE MIGHT SHOW A LITTLE GOLD
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Red-Coat

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Appears to be a meteorite........made of nickel.

Appears not to be a meteorite and meteorites are not "made of nickel". Metallic meteorites are principally iron, with a lesser proportion of nickel... and they rust readily, as well as always being highly attracted to a magnet.

Before removal of what was referred to as "tarnish", there was some brownish colouration that could be rusting. Magnetic attraction hasn't been mentioned so far. Does it have any magnetic attraction?
 

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