Any tricks to identify melted blobs of mystery metal?

[hunterbill]

I have been hunting an old house fire spot. The owner says there was a good amount of silver and gold that was lost. Been finding lots of mystery blobs, some are obviously aluminum and others are more heavy. Found one half melted bar so I know it got HOT. Would the silver and gold melt together? How would one identify mystery metal? For now I will just hang on to whatever is heavy.

 

[RobRieman]

You can buy test kits to verify silver or gold. They even sell them on eBay.

 

[hunterbill]

Thanks for the tip. Dang, I HATE spending money.

 

[jeff of pa]

Thanks for the tip. Dang, I HATE spending money.

You & me both, Been there did that.
beware of the cheap testers
in a plastic test tube, Junk !

the cheap ones are not accurate

great for sitting around collecting dust,
But when you need them, their as good as doing a taste test

 

[hunterbill]

Thank you for the heads up. I really HATE getting ripped off.

 

[woof!]

One of the world's oldest physics problems, solved about 2,500 years ago, history's most famous "Eureka!" moment.

Weigh a piece. Then measure what weight of water it displaces, either directly by weight, or indirectly by volume. The ratio of the weight of the piece to the weight of the water displaced is the Specific Gravity.

If you think lead is heavy, that ain't nuthin', gold is nearly twice as heavy.

--Dave J.