Nugget ID help PT, AG, PB, mixed?

[Frank D.]

I found this in an area I have been doing some prospecting at. It's very heavy at 14 1/2 ounces, and malleable. Not magnetic although it looks to have a slight iron presence, and it's streak is gray/silver metallic. From what I researched, the streak of lead, and Platinum are of this description. I am pretty certain that it's not slag. I took a file and gently rubbed it against random areas across the piece on front and back and a shiny silver metal is underneath. The area I found it at has no mentioned history of gold, silver, platinum, copper, lead, zinc, iron, ect. I have found iron, copper, pegmatite, quartz, schorl, beryl and other stuff here. It is of the Piedmont mountain origin. Is there some kind of cheap,simple test I can do to determine exactly what it is? Any input is much appreciated. Thanks

 

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[Frank D.]

Here are some pics I tried to take through a 60x lighted jeweler's loupe. Hoping to hear some opinions. Thanks

 

[loco oro]

thats lead man, one pics looks a lil like it was melted, proably a spill when someone was forming shot/sinkers,malleable and streak,density seals it for me,if you have a soldering iron,lead has a really low melting point,that a historical nugget bro! cool tho.

 

[loco oro]

its not galena,or platinum, actualy processed lead,lead has had many ,many uses through out history,and its everywhere,figured i would clarify my opinion ,if you want to test its very easy, lead melts at 600 degrees give or take, and you can melt the stuff easy, natural galena has a low piont as well, but impuritys drive the temp up to get it to liquify,hope this helps.

 

[Frank D.]

Thanks loco oro. I am leaning that way too man, and I'm gonna find my soldering gun and try your idea out. Great idea man. Do you think it could be native lead, or man made? I have seen a few photos of native lead that look very similiar. I am also thinking that what I thought was iron staining is Hematite instead. It's not magnetic, and there is alot of Hematite around the area too. Saw a few specimens similar of lead that were native and had the same red staining. The photos captions said it was Hematite

 

[fowledup]

Looks pretty close. My partner thought he'd found a chunk of lead or slag, turned out to be a nice silver specimen. Silver melts somewhere around 1700 degrees, so if lead is at 600 degrees should be fairly easy to figure out.

 

[loco oro]

i am leaning towards its not natural galeana, but some industrial waste, or scrap, and the foriegn stuff on it may have just,stuck to it in molten form, they have used it for many things, if found near old railroad, could be some kind of seal ,or filler, they would use it to mash into cracks and holes, to seal sleaves of iron, back before welding took place, i dont think its natural.if you look at the pic last on the right,on your first post,next to the quarter ,it appears to be molten, this would not happen like that in nature,that (bulb) spilled onto the ground in molten form, then cooled. keep it tho, leads a buck a pound.also on a historical note ,they would use lead to pipe power lines in the ground ,and would melt lead to seal the connections of the pipes, circa 1930s,and would utilize railroad right of ways to bury there lines .

 

[Frank D.]

Thanks Fowledup, and loco Oro. Hey loco Oro I tried the soldering iron idea and it didn't melt. But who knows, maybe my soldering iron is weak. I left it heating up a good 20 minutes. However, I did manage to make a tiny dent in the stuff because I was also applying a good amount of pressure on the spot by pushing down on it. I am gonna try to clean the thing up and see exactly whats underneath it. Already have stuff to clean it with, so no waisted money, but maybe just a little waisted time. Shall see though. Hey Fowledup, thats a nice looking piece of silver there!

 

[fowledup]

Pm me your location if your close to N. Cal. I can have it tested for free for you. Until you get it positively identified be careful, don't get to destructive, you might ruin the value of a good specimen.

 

[Frank D.]

Hey Fowledup,
Thanks for your offer. I WISH I was in CA, or that side of the country (love it out there), but I'm in Eastern Pennsylvania. Thanks for the advice. I was thinking the same thing. Don't want to have any regrets about ruining something that could possibly be rare. Do you have any idea what type of rock/mineral may be the outer crusted coating? The whole thing is shiny silver underneath. Have you ever tried one of those Gold, Silver, Platinum metal testing kits? I was thinking of getting one off of ebay

 

[smokeythecat]

A small piece of your specimen, if lead will melt very fast under a propane torch. Don't do it in the living room, however.

 

[fowledup]

If you have a university near by the geology dept. will almost always test for free. Ours uses it as extra credit work for students.

 

[Frank D.]

Thanks for the idea smokey. Hey fowledup, I am gonna look into that. Plenty of universities around here.

 

[Frank D.]

So here are some photos of it cleaned up. I used muratic acid/distilled water mix and soaked for two days checking on it frequently. It definately took off the majority of dirt. Then I soaked it in some water with baking soda for a while. Took it out, cleaned it off with soapy water and a toothbrush. Then took my heavy wire wheel off the grinder, and put a softer one on. Gently cleaned it off, and it came to a nice shine. Whether it's lead, Platinum, ect, it still looks really cool. Here are some photos below. Unfortunately my digital camera is kinda crappy, and the luster of this metal is a tiny bit off in the photos. It looks more like a grayish steel. I tried to fix the photos with photoshop a tiny bit.

 

[Frank D.]

 

[Frank D.]

 

[Frank D.]

Hey Loco oro, kinda like a type of old fashioned pipe dope of sort? There is no RR around there, however there was a slight human/industrial presence around the area in the 1700's so thats a great possiblity. I used to work in the marine construction industry, and have seen huge chunks of lead. When working with submersable power cable especially. Thanks for the input. I hadn't thought of that

 

[loco oro]

i have found lots of lead, but if it was old ,it would usaully have a white oxide to it ,coating ,you didnt metion that so kinda scatching my head, but still would put money on it being lead. great freak'n job with the clean up tho, very cool man. yes like pipe dope , they were encased in lead pipe, then the joints would be sealed with lead , back in the day.

 

[Frank D.]

Thanks loco oro. Of course I wish it to be something valuable (haha) but I never get overexcited about precious metal possibilities. Especially since I haven't found any yet (haha). Do you think it's natural, or man made? Kind of a hard question to answer without seeing it in person I guess though. Yeah man, before I cleaned it up, I looked at it under my 60x loupe, and there was a green type of mineral spread out on it here and there that looked like Olivine. Where I found it, there is alot of ultra mafic rocks due to volcanic activity millions of years ago. Most of the rocks are metamorphic, but there is alot of quartz, quartzite, pegmatite, limonite, hematite, magnetite, feldspar, schist, tons of mica (a few different types) pyrite, chalcopyrite, stibnite, black tourmaline, garnets, ect., and so far no gold, or at least none that looks like the typical internet photos I see all the time. Also lots of iron nugget looking clusters that are highly magnetic, and have lots of garnets, and other minerals welded to the surface I guess maybe from weathering? Ever find any iron like that? I can post some pics below

 

[Frank D.]