LOW ALPHA LEAD BUYER WANTED

[cklfmba]

Hello,
I have a 4 ton solid lead keel on a 50' sailboat that was made in 1914. While it's not antiquity lead, I believe it has a low alpha content.
I am looking for a lab capable of testing alpa particles in lead. Once the results are known, I want to sell the lead for a fair price.
Any advice on how / where I might find a tester and/or buyer of low-alpha lead is greatly appreciated.
CKLFMBA

 

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[ticm]

Hello,
I have a 4 ton solid lead keel on a 50' sailboat that was made in 1914. While it's not antiquity lead, I believe it has a low alpha content.
I am looking for a lab capable of testing alpa particles in lead. Once the results are known, I want to sell the lead for a fair price.
Any advice on how / where I might find a tester and/or buyer of low-alpha lead is greatly appreciated.
CKLFMBA

I wonder how many low alpha lead buyers are out there.

 

[cklfmba]

I'm wondering how to find just one alpha lead buyer. Once I do this, my Treasure find will become a treasure find for the buyer, too. Most recycling centers and scrap yards are unfamiliar with low alpha lead. The amounts being paid for low alpha lead in the world market range from $25. lb. to $230 lb. in US Dollars. Obviously, such a valuable find is worthless without interested buyers. I'm totally ignorant of how this market works. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[NY ROB]

if you find any info or a buyer please pass it along. pm or ncsurfer83@aol.com thanks

 

[ZrinkaMarija]

Hello. I have question concerning low alpha lead. I am also interested in selling antiquity lead but did not have any luck so far in finding a buyer. Where you successful perhaps in finding a buyer? And if so, could you be so kind to redirect me to him? Thank you , greetings from Croatia :-)

 

[Dave Rishar]

Hello. I have question concerning low alpha lead. I am also interested in selling antiquity lead but did not have any luck so far in finding a buyer.

That seems to be an ongoing problem with low alpha lead...it's worth a ton of money to the right person, but no one can find that right person.

I'm actually beginning to think that the whole thing was just an urban legend, as the CPM numbers that I've seen quoted for it (CPH(!) actually) are orders of magnitude above background radiation levels, and background in most places is already lower than most instruments can accurately detect. The whole concept is actually a bit suspect. If I had to guess, I'd say that this is story originated with low background steel, which itself is rapidly becoming obsolete. The difference between the two metals is that low background steel used to make sense, but low alpha lead never really did.

If the low alpha lead approach doesn't work, there may be collectors that are interested in your antiquity lead. They may not pay the prices that LAL supposedly goes (went?) for, but they'll probably pay more than scrap value.

 

[ZrinkaMarija]

Thank you for your answer/help.Yes, it really looks like urban legend. It looks like I will not buy myself a yacht and cruise around the world after all hahaha :-P

 

[Dave Rishar]

I could go into some detail about the radiological problems with the whole low alpha lead story, but I won't. Such a thing would be technical, dry, and very, very boring. I'll simply say that if someone had some gold, or platinum, or some other valuable metal laying around that they wanted to dispose of, finding a buyer would not require scouring internet forums. There may very well be a market for this lead but if there is, I'll bet that it's not a large one, and I'd go further and opine that any interested buyers (from an end user standpoint) have not done their homework, as a basic understanding of how lead is produced and how things are contaminated with radiation would show that this really isn't an issue with lead. (It can be with steel, which is why low background steel was a thing until the smelting process was improved, and why the lead story may have originated here.)

Turning ores into metals is admittedly not my area of expertise, so others may know more.