Silver was discovered in the southwest by accident, it melted out of a rock that was being used to surround a campfire. At least that’s what I read somewhere.
There is a silver test solution made with Potassium Dichromate and Nitric Acid that can be purchased. I used to mix my own and you can test all metals by putting a drop directly on the object and compare the color with a color chart. I believe lead will turn yellow. You will notice some variations in the color charts coming out of China. Note the one I posted below says nut brown for lead. However there is no mistaking the bright red for silver, unless a person is color blind.