Happy Thanksgiving-(LG Pics)Need some assistance, Please.

ThePiggyBank

Hello Everyone,

Newbie here. My son and I were detecting earlier this afternoon near the end of a rail line and happened upon a 8.5x2x1.5 block of what appears to be silver. It weighs roughly 8 lbs or so. A magnet does not stick to this thing and there are no signs of rust, so that would rule out iron or steel I believe. Are there any other ways to determine if it might be silver, beside using the nitric acid test? Could it possibly be Lead?
Thanks






Happy Thanksgiving!
Jack

woodwalker

I'm bettin it's lead. Pretty heavy no bigger than it is.

ricko

Likely lead... looks as if it is weights for some purpose. Cheers, RickO

tesorocazador

Looks like oxidized lead. Also appears to be in sections that could be broken off for melt maybe. I've dug lead bars at Civil War camps for bullet molding but nothing like this.
De Tesoro Cazador

2bits

Lead melts at about 327 C you could hit it with a torch .

Silver melts at about 962 C close to triple the heat needed to melt silver than lead .

If its lead it will begin to melt very quickly .

ThePiggyBank

Thanks very much, everyone. I figured as much, but just needed more experienced advice. Still have the rest of the weekend to keep searching.

Have a great day!

Johnp

Very nice find, 2 more days to detect.

grip

I would put a small chip in the oven and see what happens.

ThePiggyBank

Update: It's LEAD. Got access to a torch and melted a small piece. It melted in seconds. Thanks for all of your input! Still a neat find, I'd say.

ricko

Cool... thanks for the update...Cheers, RickO