Mondays nuggets

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo · Jul 22, 2014

Monday's nuggets

Here are my nuggets in 3% hydrogen peroxide (couldn't get anything stronger), madly bubbling/fizzing (as they did for hours, until I got bored and removed them!). They came out of the sea untarnished, and I'm told silver would have had tarnish, so maybe platinum?

(The scratch marks are where I was trying to see if I could break or cut in any way, and eventually a big serrated knife made a few scratches, but that was all. Yes, as small as these are and therefore as close as my fingers were, that could have been dangerous, which is why I have the name I do. But no stitches this time around!)

Very pretty, I think.

Argentium · Jul 22, 2014

Interesting Finds ! I think you should have them tested by a jeweler . Welcome to Treasurenet !!!

redcobra8u · Jul 22, 2014

Where did you find these? I've found one like it here in Cali and tossed it in my junk pile. I guess I should check mine.

vpnavy · Jul 22, 2014

Nice! Thanks for sharing...

foilfinder · Jul 22, 2014

Could be slag from a boat fire or something...Find allot of that here near the fire pits but smaller.

Qball · Jul 22, 2014

platinum is soft so it should have scratched easily.

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo · Jul 23, 2014

I'm in the Aegean Sea this summer...

Scooter86 · Jul 23, 2014

I have found quite a bit of pieces like that and especially around fire pits too. I have always presumed them to be melted lead that took the form of the ground upon which it laid. What number does this come up as on your visual identification display assuming that your detector has one? Like what was mentioned before it should scratch easily with a pocket knife if it's a precious metal depending on hardness. Platinum is a 4.5 on the hardness scale which means a iron nail or steel nail, glass, pocket knife and steel file would be able to scratch it. A copper penny and your fingernail could not scratch it. Now if what you have is lead a copper penny should be able to scratch it and possibly your nail because lead has a hardness of 2 to 2.5. Post what you figure out!

I-DIG-IT · Jul 23, 2014

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo · Jul 23, 2014

Hi Scooter, and thanks for the reply,

I'm just traveling out of a small backpack this summer, so have nothing with me (md, etc). It scratched with a serrated knife I found in the kitchen, but not with my nail or anything. Definitely not lead. When I get to where I can have it tested (beyond the fizzing of hydrogen peroxide), I'll let you know what I find out. The two pieces together, in my hand, make a nice, light linking sound against each other. I rubbed one nugget over a piece of marble and it left a silver colored streak.

Ah, just used the fine side of a metal nail-file and gently rubbed it, and it's looking shiny and pretty!

Argentium · Jul 23, 2014

Do the pieces seem heavy for their size (not like aluminum ) is the color more silvery or brassy ?
(I just read the bit about the streak on marble looking silver )

VERODIGDUG · Jul 23, 2014

I too have found these all along the Treasure Coast. At first I thought I had found pieces of an amazing silver hoard since there were so many. What I came to find out is that they were either melted aluminum cans or space grade melted aluminum from all the launches. Either way....not from a silver hoard! Lol

Plumbata · Jul 23, 2014

Well, if the nuggets are natural I suppose the fact that they decomposed your H2O2 narrows it down to silver or platinum, which are excellent catalysts. Platinum is over twice as dense as Silver, the latter being only slightly less dense than Lead. Differentiating between Pt and Ag should be child's play given their distinct properties. Excellent finds whatever they are!

Scooter86 · Jul 23, 2014

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo said:
Hi Scooter, and thanks for the reply,

I'm just traveling out of a small backpack this summer, so have nothing with me (md, etc). It scratched with a serrated knife I found in the kitchen, but not with my nail or anything. Definitely not lead. When I get to where I can have it tested (beyond the fizzing of hydrogen peroxide), I'll let you know what I find out. The two pieces together, in my hand, make a nice, light linking sound against each other. I rubbed one nugget over a piece of marble and it left a silver colored streak.

Ah, just used the fine side of a metal nail-file and gently rubbed it, and it's looking shiny and pretty!

I wish I was out right now backpacking and hiking

. Marble would be a difficult rock to use to identify this piece and only because it's hardness can vary wildly from 2.5-5 on mohs scale. Marble is basically a metamorphosed limestone (carbonate) that can vary with trace elements. The fact that it rubbed off on the marble though says that it is softer than that rock. Nice job using what you have available though and they sure are some nice pieces to experiment with and analyze! You could always try melting it in a steel can with a propane torch or fire and if it melts than it is good for paper weight! Sure would be neat if it was a rare metal, then you should probably stake a claim! Keep posting when you have time!
Metal= Melting Point (°F)
Lead (Galena)= 622°F
Zinc=787°F
Aluminum= 1,221 °F
Platinum= 3,215°F

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo · Jul 23, 2014

Just went to the next town and saw the jeweler -- they are platinum! Platinum ore, he said (through my translator). So what does that mean to me? I know very little about any of this.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo · Jul 23, 2014

Scooter86 said:
I wish I was out right now backpacking and hiking

Sure would be neat if it was a rare metal, then you should probably stake a claim!

It's a pretty small a pack (a Nike one, like school-kids use for book bags?), but it forces me to keep it simple, which I like.

I have no idea what to do with these nuggets now . . .

Argentium · Jul 23, 2014

Wow ! Platinum ore - That's good news ! It raises two questions immediately 1) did you g the weight in grams/ounces ?
2) did the jeweler give you an indication of the purity (assay= % of pure platinum ?) a third question - can you possibly go
back and get a bunch more of same ?

huntsman53 · Jul 23, 2014

Argentium said:
Wow ! Platinum ore - That's good news ! It raises two questions immediately 1) did you g the weight in grams/ounces ?
2) did the jeweler give you an indication of the purity (assay= % of pure platinum ?) a third question - can you possibly go
back and get a bunch more of same ?

I was going to say pretty much the same thing and post the same questions! I will also add that you may be able to find a Buyer there and continue to fund your backpacking/hiking adventures, treat yourself to something nice, have some nice meals and by all means, fund going back to find some more of the nuggets. Whatever you do, do not scratch, scrape or attempt to cut anymore of the nuggets as they are more valuable than the Platinum which they contain and can bring premiums due to being natural. Congrats! Also, I hope you find many, many more of them and also have a great and safe backpacking/hiking trip. Who knows, if there are a lot more of the nuggets, maybe you should look into getting the mining rights to the location where you found them and start mining Platinum if in fact there are Platinum deposits in this location. If they came from a ship, maybe you can get salvage rights. However, it might be best to keep quiet about the finds to anyone over there, retrieve as many as possible without getting anyone's interest up or encountering problems and get the heck out of Dodge.

Frank

Argentium · Jul 23, 2014

Girl With Band Aid Tattoo - ( I too read the Steig Larssen trilogy- and love Scandinavian murder mysteries in general - I do digress)
Regarding what to do with these nuggets - considering that pure platinum at the time of this writing is $1477.00 a troy ounce ,
You need to establish their weight in grams or % of an ounce , and you need to establish the assayed purity of the platinum so
as to evaluate their precious metal value on today's market . With the relatively high value of platinum (well over gold !) you would
do well to gather as much more of this material as you can . Having established the value (preferably with the help of more than one
professional jeweler ) you will have the option of selling them to a refiner or jeweler , or safeguarding them for future sale .

Girl With Band-Aid Tattoo · Jul 24, 2014

Hi again,

Sorry it took me 24 hours to reply, but was at the medical center getting bandaged up today (was walking down a road, coming down from a climb to the highest point on the island, a very steep incline, looking back over my shoulder at a view and contemplating a photo, and tripped in a hole and went flying. Blood, bruises, and gravel embedded in knees. That was the part that needed a doctor -- I couldn't dig all the grit out).

Anyway, to answer a few questions, and reply to advice (thank you!), I'm still pretty close to where I found this, for another 5 days (until I head to the next island), so I'll try to find more. I don't think I want to sell it -- will likely just see my local jeweler at the end of summer, when I head back to work, and ask him to do something cool with these (I'm thinking wrap them in a fine gold 'thread', maybe a lacy design, then sort of 'melt' it in place, and hang them from a necklace chain?). If I find lots more, maybe I'd sell it, but with just two chunks, I think I'll keep them.

They weigh (together) 1.194 oz, are thought to be about 94-95% platinum, and I was told they're worth just under $2,000.

So, that's the story! I have another find I'll have to post as well -- probably my best one ever (from last week).

Time for a G&T for the pain . . . I think that's what the doctor said to do?