Found this cant tell what it is platinum maybe???

[Carson Coin Master]

Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

OK so found this metal detecting in central California this summer. from first look I thought it was iron pyrite but it is a silver almost platinum color. it also has a mix of gold coloring in the rock. it's dimensions are 5 inches long and about 3 1/2 inches around and weighs a whopping 2.88 pounds. is there anyone on here that is a gemologist or geologist of some sort that can help identify this rock and if so what are we looking at in terms of what it is worth? thanks for looking

 

[sasnz]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

wow nice looking rock.

I have absolutley no idea on what this is but would be very interested in seeing what the rock specialist says after his test, Please keep us posted with the result. Hope you have something there.

cheers Sasnz

 

[Curious The George]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Pyrite is magnetic, it is essentially an iron crystal. It does not usually have magnetic attraction it's self but a magnet will stick to it.

 

[jpitt1970]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Could it be Galena??...not sure of the spelling

 

[Carson Coin Master]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Pyrite is magnetic, it is essentially an iron crystal. It does not usually have magnetic attraction it's self but a magnet will stick to it.

then it's definitely not pyrite i tried putting a magnet to it and no stick. so it must be galena or hopefully something else.

 

[AMorgan]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Pyrite will not stick to a magnet. Just because it contains iron does NOT mean that it is magnetic. The chemical formula for pyrite is FeS2. Ferromagnetic varieties of Iron compounds are mostly oxides, not sulfides.

Alan Morgan
BS Geology
MS Geoscience
Practicing Geophyiscist 5yrs

 

[AMorgan]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Chalcopyrite (KAL-co-PIE-rite) usually occurs in massive form, like this specimen, rather than in crystals, but its crystals are unusual among the sulfides in having a shape like a four-sided pyramid (technically they are scalenohedra). It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 to 4, a metallic luster, a greenish black streak and a golden color that is commonly tarnished in various hues (though not the brilliant blue of bornite). Chalcopyrite is softer and yellower than pyrite, more brittle than gold. It is often mixed with pyrite.

 

[Curious The George]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Pyrite will not stick to a magnet. Just because it contains iron does NOT mean that it is magnetic. The chemical formula for pyrite is FeS2. Ferromagnetic varieties of Iron compounds are mostly oxides, not sulfides.

Alan Morgan
BS Geology
MS Geoscience
Practicing Geophyiscist 5yrs

So much for the rock collectors kit my Mother and Father gave me for Christmas 1954. I guess that pyrite sample and the magnet were something else.

 

[pgleba]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

My guess is arsenopyrite.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Pyrite is magnetic, it is essentially an iron crystal. It does not usually have magnetic attraction it's self but a magnet will stick to it.

It's a iron sulfide, after heating it can be magnetic but mostly it isn't.

I was also thinking Galena. Try to scratch it with a knife.

Get a piece of unglazed ceramic tile, like the back side of a piece of tile you would put in a bathroom. Rub a pointy part of your find on the unglazed tile. If it makes a black mark it is pyrites if it makes a gold color mark it is gold. If it makes a gray or sliver mark you may have silver.

Pyrite can also leave a grey streak.

 

[Ricky1601 aka pull tab king]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

no idea, but it is neat regardless of what it is.......keep us informed...thanks for sharing and hh

 

[briankb70]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

no idea here but cool rock just the same

 

[romeo-1]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Cool find...will look good on the shelf!

 

[underdogger]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

At first site it seems to be a medeorite not a gemologist Only because one end looks to be burnt.

 

[Native1858]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

I think it's that stuff that makes Superman weak.

KRYPTONITE!

 

[pgleba]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

I have been advised that a possible identification is grey sphalerite, ZnS.

 

[pgleba]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

If it is sphalerite, then the streak on a porcelain plate will either be white or a light brown, most likely the latter.

 

[Ifoundit69]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

I dont think it is pyrite , I live in Virginia one of the pyrite capitols of the usa , and all the pyrite I have seen is in the form of a dust and small clumps and has the appearance from a distance of gold until you place it in water and it falls apart into small flakes and if you use the trusty old tooth pick you can bend each flake ,verse's real gold flakes you can bend that easy .From looking at this rock I thinking possibly platnum with real gold inside .Pyrite doesnt have the yellow look and if its that hard to take a chunk of a knife blade I am betting the yellow is real gold .

 

[Flint-seeker]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Carson_wreckmaster, any news on this rock?

 

[Trackerman]

Re: Found this can't tell what it is platinum maybe

Cool fInd