Silver?

bigfische

I found a melted chunk of metal with my detector that shows up as either a 50 cent or dollar coin, i know it is not lead, but how can i tell if what i have found is a chunk of silver or some other kind a metal that shows up as a silver coin?

laserart

How do you figure it is melted? Do you think something like a small creamer made of silver could have been in a house fire?

bigfische

More like melted on purpose, i cant really tell if it was supposed to be a shape and i just dont recognize it or what, ill post a pic but it is still very dirty, i scraped off some of it and it is quite shiney underneath, but it doesnt show up well in the scan. The only reason i think it is melted is because it is quite smooth, and as far as i know there isnt naturally occuring silver in Iowa.

smokinjoe925

I think you should accatone it forst, then if that dosnt work dip it and then see if you can see melted writing or somthing... some melted coins that were not melted well will still have a few words or numbers on them lol.

Zot

Molten blobs of metal are quite common finds, at least for me..
All the ones I've found have just been cheap metals (lead, iron, etc..)

That one looks rather crusty and unlikely to be silver, but hard to tell for sure from the picture

GoldenEyeNumismatics

possibly you could try a specific gravity test if you really wanted to

lathmach

Put it on Ebay.
Have the auction state you were just enjoying a Whopper from the local Burger King. You looked out the window, and you saw this meteorite looking thing come down.
You go on to say you went over that way and found this here metal thing on the ground.
Say you can't tell for sure it's what came from the sky, but it's a silver colored metal, under the crud, and for all you know it could be some part of an alien spaceship that blew up.
Write in the auction that for proof of what happened, you still have the wrapper from the Burger King Whopper, and you'll send it along with the piece of melted metal to the buyer, as a sort of certificate of authenticity.
Make sure you say it's a true auction, and there's no refunds.
Hey, you've had your eye on a top of the line Metal Detector. Now's your chance to get one.
For free.
Try it, Ebay buyers will buy hardened up dog droppings if you list them.

Ray

lordmarcovan

Actually, while not ethically kosher and probably made in jest, Ray's suggestion probably is true. The suckers would gobble that up, thinkin' it was a meteorite.

How do you know it's not lead? Not soft enough/heavy enough? It's definitely a "meltie", like you said.

Like Zot, I find much lead casting waste like that. And molten blobs of other metal. Melted doodads are a sub-specialty on some of my sites.

If it isn't lead, it might be some other alloy containing lead, like pewter or "pot metal" or something like that. And it would not be unusual for them to give a hot signal, up in the high coin range on many detectors' meters.