Yard Sale Find - 2 bullion bars

[ZigMeister]

Found these 2 bars at a yard sale and had to have them. The guy wanted 5 bucks for the pair but took my $2 offer.

At first I thought they were lead, but now I'm not sure.

Silver in color. Approx. size is 3 1/2 inches long x 1 3/4 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Any ideas?

[Lemon Thrower]

I would put them in glass of water and measure how much water they displace. That will give you the volume and with the volume and mass in grams you should be able to compute the density and compare to published densities for silver and lead.

they are pretty interesting looking bars in any event.

[justoneguy]

take them to a scrap yard or pawn shop,
they will tell you what it is.
or scratch it with a key.
lead will go deep easily but silver is much harder + will only make a surface scratch

[avidbrandy]

The guy wanted 5 bucks for the pair but took my $2 offer.

Hey look a good deal. But not good enough. Let's get it cheaper.

Just, brilliant.

[Somnophore]

That's a lot of silver if it is. Get it tested, doesn't look like lead.

[blackrabbit]

Rub them on a piece of paper. Lead will leave a grey mark, silver will not. They look like sterling silver bars to me looking at the pictures.

[97guns]

i stole the pic and threw 'em up on ebay, we'll split the profits

[Somnophore]

Yeah they do look like silver, not sure what else they could be, they look like hand poured sand cast bricks, top
one has a mark that shows this. What are the dimensions.

[theshoenlebens]

Hope they are silver but my guess is tin or some variant.

[Lemon Thrower]

The guy wanted 5 bucks for the pair but took my $2 offer.

Hey look a good deal. But not good enough. Let's get it cheaper.

Just, brilliant.

I'll give you $3 for both shipped.

[Rodebaugh]

Hope they are silver but my guess is tin or some variant.

My vote goes for tin or zinc. Two common metals with low Melt temps. Still cool.

[slickeast]

For less than $1 a pound, you did good.

Now find out what those things are so we can stop wondering.

[ZigMeister]

Hope they are silver but my guess is tin or some variant.

My vote goes for tin or zinc. Two common metals with low Melt temps. Still cool.

A friend thinks they may be a Tin based Babbitt Metal. I tried the key test and it did not leave a deep mark so don't think its lead.
Will be visiting a local coin shop Thursday where they can test for silver. I'll let you know what they say.

[Mossy]

Ingot wts would be nice.

[AgCollector]

I'll say tin.

[Pennysaved]

So did the guy say where he acquired them? Pretty cool find at a yard sale.

[OtusLotus]

I say it's zinc coated copper... Uncle Sam trying the reverse osmosis trick!

[ZigMeister]

Ingot wts would be nice.

Look at the pic...Weights are shown under each bar.

[ZigMeister]

Yeah they do look like silver, not sure what else they could be, they look like hand poured sand cast bricks, top
one has a mark that shows this. What are the dimensions.

Approx. size is 3 1/2 inches long x 1 3/4 inches wide and 1 inch thick.

[ZigMeister]

So did the guy say where he acquired them?

No he didn't. I kind of bought them as an afterthought as originally he wanted $5 for the pair and I had thought they were lead and didn't want to pay $5. I was already in my car and ready to leave when I figured I would try the $2 offer. I just yelled out from the car if he would take $2 and he said OK...his son then delivered the bars to the car and I paid him the $2. It was only afterward that I looked at them and realized that they didn't look like lead. Hopefully I'll find out what they are...I am glad I bought them though as they are really neat looking.

[knibloe]

Do they sound like silver?

[ZigMeister]

Do they sound like silver?

They're too chunky to have any kind of sound as far as I can tell.

[Pennysaved]

You gotta love yard sales; it is like treasure hunting and you never know what you are going to run into.

Just having to research some possible treasure you found makes it fun.

[brian0918]

Based on your rough dimensions, and the average weight of the two, they are not dense enough to be silver. Silver has a density over 10000 kg/m^3, but this stuff is approximately 6000 kg/m^3 (though it could be a higher because of the depressions in the middle). To get a more accurate density, you need to put them in a measuring cup full of water and see how much volume the water rises by. Based on the color and approximate density it is probably tin.

[Mossy]

Ingot wts would be nice.

Look at the pic...Weights are shown under each bar.

Those photos are blocked on this network and I'm having trouble finding a wireless ISP locally that is accessible using Linux (my personal computers).