STRANGE HUNK OF METAL

[50chevyJoe]

Found this strange metallic piece in a grassy field all by itself about 8" down. Field is an undisturbed area adjacent to a colonial era house. Dimensions are 3" long by 1 1/2" at its widest point. One side is concave with striations. It is extremely heavy for its size at 8 1/2 ozs. The flat sides are smooth while the edges have the appearance of something that was cast. I buffed the piece out and it has a shiny silver surface while the sides have a gold hue to them. It has NO magnetic qualities and give a consistent reading of 80 on the detector. I put an ice cube on it and it melted in less than a minute. I read that silver has this quality. My grandson thinks it may be a piece of a well drillers point. Any ideas what kind of material they use on them, outside of diamonds. I'm thinking something from the cosmos. Quite a change from the relics and coins we dig.

 

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[Hangtown]

piece of a spaceship....

 

[pepperj]

There's the spark test that can be done, but it will leave a mark on the piece.
How to test the item is put it to a high speed grinder wheel, (wear safety glasses) look at the spark that is produced. It's a proven method of finding out what category a piece of metal will be in, and if your's is non magnetic it very well could be a stainless steel high heat and strength alloy. If you do the spark test it would produce a short deep red spark, compared to a regular long bright spark that one would find if the test was done on a piece of regular stainless.
There's videos showing the different spark results produced from the various metals tested.

 

[50chevyJoe]

Thanks Pepperj, I tried the spark test on my specimen and low and behold, absolutely no spark. After watching the youtube videos on the spark testing, the metals which displayed no spark were copper, magnesium, aluminum and brass. After grinding an area I detected a smooth golden hue. As I stated before, the surface is silver colored with a golden color under the surface with some green patina patches. I guess right now, I'm leaning toward a brass alloy.

 

[pepperj]

Thanks Pepperj, I tried the spark test on my specimen and low and behold, absolutely no spark. After watching the youtube videos on the spark testing, the metals which displayed no spark were copper, magnesium, aluminum and brass. After grinding an area I detected a smooth golden hue. As I stated before, the surface is silver colored with a golden color under the surface with some green patina patches. I guess right now, I'm leaning toward a brass alloy.

Looking at the centre photo I can see now where it can be of a brass alloy. Darker it is, the higher copper content would be of the brass/bronze item.

 

[DizzyDigger]

My guess is that it's a chunk of a meteorite.