Silver?

Recoveredmol

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May 8, 2023
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Upvote 4
Not sure its silver but a really cheap & easy test is to spit on some aluminium foil, rub on the flattest side & if it smells of rotten eggs its silver.
that is neat, si-finds said same thing on youtube..got to try it. Happy hunting!
 

Not sure its silver but a really cheap & easy test is to spit on some aluminium foil, rub on the flattest side & if it smells of rotten eggs its silver.
Always kind of wondered why spit works better than tap water.
A little hammered will stink up the whole room as bad as a rotten egg/beer fart. :laughing7:
 

I did the ice test. It melts immediately and the silver becomes extremely cold. Fast.
 

Acid test kits are inexpensive and easy to use. Some come with acid for silver but I don't know any jeweler who uses silver acid to test silver. Everyone uses 18K acid for silver since it's easier to interpret.

With the 18K acid, if it is silver, the mark will fade then very quickly come back as bluish-white. It's very obvious.

Everyone who detects should have a kit.

Here's one that has just the basic acids--10K, 14K, 18K. The complete kits also come with 20K, 22K, Silver, and Platinum (but the silver is basically useless) and don't cost much more.

Amazon product ASIN B008GXKC56
 

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I'm not sure where you are located but I'm gonna guess somewhere on the east coast. Maybe new England area. I say this because I've found that towns established way earlier than 1830s tend to produce silver blobs like you have . At one point, it was much easier to get silver than lead. Therefore it was used for nearly everything like spoons, bowls, dishes and other things. When it became broken or too worn it'd be remelted to make a new item. It was also currency. People made their own back then. They went by the weight, not coin. On the back side of your piece I can see the assay marks and I'd bet that the weight of that blob is on there also. People don't realize that pure silver (100%) is maluable like a piece of paper. Occasionally you'll find old silver with degradation spots that look like it's rotting away. Those spots are from the other alloys that were added to strengthen the silver or to cheat the scale. The place I live was founded around 1750 and I find the same kind of silver blobs. I just save them for a rainy day.
 

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