Long Time Relic-Hunter - First Time anything like this . . .

[parsonwalker]

I'm not a novice that jumps to conclusions. Been relic hunting since 1969 but never found something like this.

"Hot rocks" are generally light. This is heavy (not like lead, like heavy iron).

It is magnetic, but only on one side. Not found near anything else that looks of feels like this. Not near any industry or a blacksmith shop. Found in a field in Hanover County Virginia that has been in cultivation for at least 200 years. I stress, nothing else found that looks or feels like this. I have no idea what it is, and would just like to know. In the light, as you turn it, it has many sparkles that reflect light, but they are tiny specks. Found with a metal detector, not a surface find. Anybody can educate me??

 

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[Al D]

I can tell you what it isn’t
it is not a meteorite.
it would be worth the effort to clean it up to get a better look at those crystals

 

[ticndig]

Looks like coke

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Magnetic on only one side, and showing multiple small air-bubbles, sounds like iron-foundry slag. As you probably already know, there were more than just a few "local" iron-refining furnaces in this part of Virginia. The best-known one might be the Katherine Furnace, of Chancellorsville battlefield fame. Another is the Colonial-era Falling Creek Ironfoundry, just south of the Richmond City Limits on what is now US Hwy. #1.Some foundries are so desperate to get rid of the always-growing piles of refinery slag that they'd pay you to come haul the stuff away. As a result, the slag got used darn-near everywhere... particularly, as a cheaper substitute for gravel. I can testify that the Colonial-through-civil-war era sidewalks of Fredericksburg were literally paved with iron slag. Farmers would use it to "fix" mudholes on roads and paths on their property.

 

[smokeythecat]

I'm with cannonballguy. Metallic slag. I found a 12 pound piece once, and thought it was a meteorite, but it a "melt" of chromium from the mine which was 15 miles away.

 

[parsonwalker]

I'm with cannonballguy. Metallic slag. I found a 12 pound piece once, and thought it was a meteorite, but it a "melt" of chromium from the mine which was 15 miles away.

Alan, Tc, Smokey and Pete - THANK YOU GUYS! Wanted to make sure I wasn't about to take something valuable and "fix the mudhole in my driveway!" Learn something new about a MD find? It's a good day!