Big Copper!

[goldencoin]

Hello, since I've moved to michigan, I've always wanted a copper nugget, but I wasn't expecting it today. I drove an hour and a half to an old church I got permission from. The pastor told me about a field they used to play baseball on from early 1900's to 1960's. However, he must have been mistaken, because it was silent- literally. Barely a nail to be found. However, I had no choice but to keep going. I got a memorial then the nice copper nugget. The ground was clay, so, the area probably was the remains of an old waterway or glacier remains, thus the worn look. Enjoy!

HH
-GC

 

[hogge]

Well....Ya got me. Sure it's not counterfeit?

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

You got me there... I was expecting a large copper coin... You got me interested though.... Are you saying that copper nugget might have been carried along by a glacier from another place. I don't know anything about that but I would like to hear more.

DANGLANGLEY

 

[goldencoin]

Well , Michigan is famous for cars and copper. The great copper mines are in the Upper Peninsula. There are huge deposits of float copper that breaks up into nuggets. I live in the thumb of michigan, which has no significant deposit. So, I thought that it may have came from the UP via a glacier, as they were the primary force in moving rock. Also, the worn look of the nugget (often nuggets have fragile arms from the main mass) suggests that it may have been ground up with the glacier or moved in a river, which also wears the nugget. Such nuggets were used by native americans to make some of the only metal tools before Columbus. Hope that helps!

HH
-GC

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Cool chunk of copper! HH, Mike

 

[allen]

wtg on that unique find !!!

 

[garthbfan169]

Very nice! You just never know what your gonna find next!!

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Thanks for the explanation. Cool find!!!

DANGLANGLEY

 

[BandB1]

Cool find! Don't know much about it, but yes , Michigan is or was big on copper.

Good luck,
HH.

 

[trikikiwi]

Interesting find and info, thanks for that
Is that malleable enough to be worked as it is, or would you need to heat it first?
Mike

 

[goldencoin]

I'm not sure,. but if native americans could shape it, then it could be worked pretty easily

HH
-GC

 

[DMN]

Man, that's a good chunk of copper! Hope you find something even bigger.

 

[Ed-NH]

I find a lot of that copper here in NH. I believe that it is copper roof flashing that was bunt in a fire when a building burned down

 

[mcmich]

Here is an interesting read on Michigan copper.

http://www.exploringthenorth.com/cophistory/cophist.html

Also see the copper artifacts forum on TNet. Pretty interesting. My grandfather and his brothers were all copper miners back in the day. They say the Porcupine mountain range was once as tall as the Rockies. Mile high glaciers mowed them down to the stumps they are today. The glaciers took allot of the copper from up there and deposited it all over.

nice find!