✅ SOLVED Silver Alloy? or Camfire Nuggets?

[GrnEydGuy]

Well on my very first outing with my GB2 I found these nuggets:



They are extraordinarily dense, dull ashy in color, I can not scratch them with my finger nail, I couldn't even bend or scathe them with a pair of pliers.

I don't know what they are but they appear to be Silver or some alloy of silver, perhaps Nickel/Silver or Palladium or Platinum.

The other thing I was thinking was that they could be these so called "campfire nuggets" which apparently are densely compacted melted aluminum cans.

If these are any kind of aluminum I would be very surprised as they are seriously dense and heavy.

Do you have any idea what they might be? The little one has some shiny parts that look similar to gold but I have no real clue.

I found these on top of the bedrock in about 3 inches of soil by the Spokane River in Post Falls Idaho.

I have a friend that works at the Lucky Friday mine in Kellogg who says "those are silver nuggets sure as the day is long, I pull that stuff out of the mines daily." Don't know if I trust his 'expert' opinion.

Thanks much

 

[GrnEydGuy]

Also, if anyone has information on testing for different metals I would be thankful for some direction. I've heard bleach will turn silver colors, is this true?

Are there readily available chemicals for metal testing?

Thanks in advance

 

[Reed Lukens]

I don't know the first thing about silver but those look like they are man made possibly droppings from a forge. Are they flat on the back? Could they be silver? It would scratch. Platinum? Kinda maybe... But you should take them to a jewler or geologist for id.

 

[GrnEydGuy]

I don't know the first thing about silver but those look like they are man made possibly droppings from a forge. Are they flat on the back? Could they be silver? It would scratch. Platinum? Kinda maybe... But you should take them to a jewler or geologist for id.

I appreciate the reply Reed thanks for your input. Here is a photo of 3 more I found tonight at the same location (numbered 3,4&5):



I have not yet weighed them and was guessing their dimensions above, here you can see their size in relationship to a quarter.

They are not flat at all and I went back today and recovered 3 more from the same spot.

The fourth largest nugget has a tiny hole pierced at one end of its nearly spherical shape. The hole is smaller in diameter then a paperclip wire and larger than a small needle. The hole is not 'perfectly' round but slightly oblong and angular.



For a moment I thought these might be chunks of lead but like I said they are pretty hard, I haven't tried to find out exactly how hard because i didn't want to damage them, but I can not make any marks on them with the serrated edge of a butter knife. The butter knife simply polishes the metal.

These new three nuggets definitely appear more "man made" then the last two but it is still very hard to tell. The smallest nugget is somewhat rough and un-formed but the other two are smooth and roundish.

They all polish up to a copper color which is very hard to pin down, there are times when they look almost gold in the right light, all of them were white until I cleaned them.

When I found them they were covered in white/ashy soil and I found a couple tiny, TINY wire fragments, real thin and rusty, near them.

Come to think of it the soil was really moist and ashy it kind of reminded me of that sunburn lotion, I forget what its called, when dried it was dust, the first time I saw it I thought it might have been ash from Mt. St. Helens. There are nearby powerlines (60yards) a chain-link fence, found near an old bridge and on the bedrock cliffs of the Spokane River.

Its possible that this could be some kind of ?steel? solder from some previous construction.

Anyway I read you can get some nitric acid + muriatic acid and do a chemical test. I might see what I can find.

 

[bigfoot1]

I highly recomend purchasing a jewelers test kit.scratch stone and solutions at least.always nice to test soon as you get home...pretty cheap on amazon

 

[GrnEydGuy]

I highly recomend purchasing a jewelers test kit.scratch stone and solutions at least.always nice to test soon as you get home...pretty cheap on amazon

That's funny, I literally just got off of Amazon to buy one and came here to read your post LOL... thanks for the tip

 

[bigfoot1]

lol..

 

[GrnEydGuy]

ITS GOLD BY GOLLY

33% 9k GOLD
33% Silver
with traces of Paladium, Zinc & Copper

American Coin in Spokane WA gave me $103.00 for a total of 7grams... they paid me for 7g of 10k gold. Jake there used a fancy light gun to determine exactly what was in these nuggets and I feel like they paid me a fair dinkum for them being unrefined and only 1/3 of 10K Gold... What do you think?

I thought this was a fair buy... not to mention I am in shock that I found this on my VERY FIRST outing with the Gold Bug 2! I like this machine!

 

[bigfoot1]

my friend...you just paid for you testing kit and then some.I am still surprised by how many will spend 70.00 on a new scoop and never consider a jewelers kit for 60.00.....I applaud you

 

[bigfoot1]

btw...the deal you got was solid