Help with Gold?? Nugget find - with Pics!

[NHsorter]

Anyone care to voice their opinion on this piece? My stepdad found it in an undisclosed, rocky, isolated saltwater cove. No joke.

It looks silvery in color and does not feel particularly dense so initially I suspected that it MIGHT be silver. I wondered aloud what pewter would look like after some time in the ocean. By the growth on it(barnacles?), it appears that is has been in the ocean for a long time, so I can rule out a bunch of metals that would rust. Anyway, I put a drop of silver test acid on it. It did not turn red. Damn. But wait, even after a full minute, there was no color change at all. When I wiped away the acid, there was no mark. Strange, could this be gold or platinum?

Scratched it on the stone and applied 14K acid. No color change and after 30 seconds the line had not dissolved at all. Went up to 18K acid and the same thing happened as with the 14K. 22K acid did dissolve the line after 15 seconds or so. Platinum test acid dissolved it a little faster than the 22K did. Are there any other metals that these acids don't dissolve?

I just got my acid test kit yesterday so I am a total noob and although I am now optimistic about this "nugget" I am still not convinced that it is gold. Thought I would run it by you guys to see what else it might be. Oh, it is 0.58ozt

NOTE: The pictures came out looking much more like gold than the piece looks in real life. It appears silver in color.







If this IS real, we are going to have one hell of an expedition soon!

[rsk1963]

if that is legit! Holy mother nice find.

[brian0918]

Weigh it on a gram scale, then determine its volume by putting it in a narrow measuring glass or graduated cylinder in water (i.e., put some water in the glass, measure the water's volume before, then drop the nugget in, then measure the volume again, and calculate the difference). Divide the mass in grams by the volume in mL, and that gives you density, which could tell you what metal it is, if it is pure enough. If it's a mixture of a couple metals, you might get a density measurement that is in between two different elements.

Gold should be 19.30 grams/mL, silver is 10.49, brass is about 8.5.

Note: when measuring the water, do so from the meniscus (lowest point of the surface):

[tedandcam]

Send it to Market Harmony, my guess is he can help you out with this one. I hope he pops up on this one, it will be interesting to find out what that thing actually is.

[brian0918]

Is it smooth because of water flowing over it, or because it was melted down?

[Oakair]

[blackrabbit]

Make sure it is not lead by rubbing it on that piece of paper and see if it leaves a mark. If it does it could be an old lead weight.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Now that is one tantalizing nugget!!! If it has Platinum Group metals in it.... WOW

Go on-line and buy a small gold test kit. They are affordable and there are many to choose from. If you get a positive test result... KA-CHING!

Best of luck to you and your stepdad!!!

[NHsorter]

Is it smooth because of water flowing over it, or because it was melted down?

I don't know. It surely has some wear from the ocean, but I don't have the knowledge to determine if this is something that was melted, or if it natural. Maybe naturally melted even?

- Attempts to determine g/ml have not been fruitful yet. The nug won't fit in any graduated cylinders that we have.

- I rubbed it on paper and it left a little bit of a mark. Known 14K ring leaves a slightly lighter mark. Known platinum ring leaves no mark at all. Hummm, so maybe this is lead? It feels harder than lead though. Definitely not as soft as a piece of known lead here. How does lead react with 14K solution? Sucks if that's what it is, but I would not be surprised considering it came from the ocean.

[brian0918]

If you have a narrow round glass with a flat bottom, you can determine the volume (in mL) by measuring the height of the water (in cm) and the inner diameter (in cm) of the glass. The volume is 0.785*(diameter squared)*(height). So to get the volume of the nugget, just take the difference in heights of the water, and plug it into: 0.785*(diameter squared)*(height_2 - height_1).

[deacon]

I was wondering where I put that nugget. Thanks for finding it for me.

I found a round metal like that on the beach once. I thought it was lead so I threw it back. Yours looks much more promising though. Have you researched the area around the discovery site? Maybe there is a mountain of PMs just upstream.

[Oakair]

Best I've ever found is a chunk of turquoise in the Dominican republic...thought it was gum at first

[NHsorter]

Have not been back to the spot since. Fairly certain no one else has either. It's an island miles offshore. If anything else is in there, it is safe for a while.

Back to the lead thing... I grabbed a lead ball, this nugget, a 14K ring, and a 40% half. Lead ball made a huge mark on paper. Nugget, ring, and 40% half all made very similar marks to each other. All much less pronounced than the lead ball. So I am thinking that the nugget it not lead. It is also considerably shinier than lead, not that dull color.

Hope to be able to get a good density test tomorrow if my work schedule allows. Feeling a bit less optimistic now than I was earlier today for some reason though. In hand it still feels light to me.

[Rodebaugh]

Tin alloy is my guess.

Big ol fat gold nugget is my hope......but A nugget of 22K that size would weight 2-3toz.

[IdahoCopper]

If it is a natural gold nugget, you don't want to melt it. A nugget collector will pay a nice premium over spot for it.

I would consider taking a sharp knife and cutting off a sliver. Then send it to be spectro-analyzed. That will tell all the elements that are in it.

See http://www.AssayFast.com. Last year, he did a good analysis for me on some ore from my silver claim in Idaho. Call and talk with him.

[brian0918]

I would still get the density measurement done first, since it's so cheap and easy to do. If it's closer to 19 than to 11, then that's a good sign. If it's 11 or below, then at best it's silver, which doesn't give you much reason to spend any money on any other tests. If it's below that, then add it to your rock collection.

Even if the density measured is low, it could still have some gold in it, but it's probably not likely, so not worth it to get it tested.

[NHsorter]

Well this is embarrassing... From the start I knew it was too light to be anything good. Then this acid came in the mail and I started putting it on everything I could find. No reaction with this. I was under the impression that the 14K solution would dissolve just about anything that is not gold or platinum. Well.. I guess I need to do more reading. Thanks for all the tips guys, and sorry to cause a stir! Sometime it is easy to convince yourself that you have something killer before reality hits you. I can't say how many times I thought I say doubling on a 1955 Lincoln.

Hopefully this thread will help out others in the future. At least those willing to use the search feature

~18.3g / ~7mL = Aluminum

If this was gold, it would have been 7X heavier! This nugget would have been 4 ozt! Not even close.

Anyone else ever test aluminum with 14K acid? Also thought that it would have had much more corrosion after being in the salt water. Doh.

[beauanderos]

Take heart... what you found may be of incalculable worth, if indeed it was discovered as you say "in an undisclosed, isolated cove." Scientists have long suspected that recent artifacts discovered near that location may in fact indicate the remains of the long sought after ruins of Atlantis. What you have found may well be remaining fragments of "The Prince's Throne" (pictured on the right) after it was subjected to the intense heat of volcanic magma that caused the demise of that once great civilization when Mt. Barry blew up. As the Atlantean's used to joke, "when Barry blows, he blows hard." Unfortunately, the last laugh was on them. You might try submitting the artifact to Pawn Stars and provide documentation verifying its probable provenance.

[NHsorter]

OK, I'll fess up. The undisclosed location is the Isles of Shoals. Google Isles of Shoals and Blackbeard. This is another factor that contributed to our craziness. Lots of stories and folklore out there. In reality, most people out there are just full of $h!t. We constantly expect to stumble across treasure out there. All I ever find is.. myself waking up with a hangover!

[Rodebaugh]

:LOL: Ray

and yeah....it was still a fun thread Jason.

[NHsorter]

No one read up on Blackbeards treasure at the Isles of Shoals yet?? I have a couple good theories and an all-access pass. Who has the skills to simultaneously dive/metal detect?

We already know that there are aluminum nuggets to be found! I can even guarantee lead and copper scrap too!

[OneBiteAtATime]

No one read up on Blackbeards treasure at the Isles of Shoals yet?? I have a couple good theories and an all-access pass. Who has the skills to simultaneously dive/metal detect?

We already know that there are aluminum nuggets to be found! I can even guarantee lead and copper scrap too!

They say he buried it 60 feet deep.

Probably not worth the roadtrip.... unless I can figure out.....

[SilverDragon72]

Take heart... what you found may be of incalculable worth, if indeed it was discovered as you say "in an undisclosed, isolated cove." Scientists have long suspected that recent artifacts discovered near that location may in fact indicate the remains of the long sought after ruins of Atlantis. What you have found may well be remaining fragments of "The Prince's Throne" (pictured on the right) after it was subjected to the intense heat of volcanic magma that caused the demise of that once great civilization when Mt. Barry blew up. As the Atlantean's used to joke, "when Barry blows, he blows hard." Unfortunately, the last laugh was on them. You might try submitting the artifact to Pawn Stars and provide documentation verifying its probable provenance.