Melted Silver Found

[HuntRick64]

My son and I detected a home site where the home had burned to the ground. I knew the old lady who lived there collected old quarters. We found nuggets of silver outside the slab and the wall where she kept them. My question is what is the best way to sell this stuff? I found about 5 or 6 oz. so far and there should be about 15 - 20 lbs in the vicinity. The nuggets I found range anywhere from nickle size to over an ounce. Naturally they have dirt and debris melted to the outside, but when you scrape them they are clean on the inside.

 

[Goes4ever]

wow very interesting, not sure about how to sell em though. Got some pics?

 

[christopher-ohio]

Heck, you could call Stow Nut and Bolt to see what they would recommend? I think they may still be around....good luck!

 

[awhitster]

The only way to sell it is to send it to a refiner. They would have to assay it to find out what it is and it's purity. As of now, technically speaking, all you have is blobs of white, shiny metal.

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

I found what I thought to be melted silver. It turned out to be remnants of aluminum cans tossed into bonfires, It rang like silver and looked like silver, but when I had one tested, it came back negative.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Lots of that aluminum nuggets found in the woods from beer cans thrown into bonfires. I just didn't want to burst any bubbles yet.

 

[HuntRick64]

I thought the same thing (aluminum) when I first found them, and it could still be aluminum. Two things point me toward silver: #1, I only find it within 10 -12 feet of the wall where she kept the silver quarters, not anywhere else. #2, It is considerably heavier (for its size) than aluminum. Way too hard to be lead, but also could be babbit (sp?). Don't know a lot about babbit, but when I was a kid my grandpa used it quite a bit in his shop. I remember it being alot harder than lead. I would play with it and act like it was silver. Maybe I am just reliving my childhood. I have a friend who is a jeweler and I am going to have him test it for me.

 

[hole badger]

same thing happened to me in a creek I was detecting,, big blobs of melted aluminum cans someone tossed in a fire. Silver has a higher melting point than aluminum, so I wouldnt thing all of the coins would have melted, after all the fire dept doesnt just usually let fires burn for days.. so I think you should look for some soot covered coins too. !!!! good luck !!! hope you find them..

 

[HuntRick64]

Forgot to mention that I did find a clad dime (1986) that is melted and bubled up. The fire was so hot it spawled the slab. This house is over 50 miles from the nearest fire department and it burned until everything burnt out. It was arson and the goober that started it doused the inside of the house with oil and gas. He gets plenty of time to think obout it now, setting in prison. I have never seen anything like this. You could have put all of the debris from the whole house in a very small dump truck. It just burnt to nothing.

 

[awhitster]

[quote HuntRick64] I have a friend who is a jeweler and I am going to have him test it for me. Forgot to mention that I did find a clad dime (1986) that is melted and bubbled up. [/quote]That's the way to do it. I had a piece I found in Nevada (the silver state) mixed in with the gravel in my daughter's driveway. I was sure was some native silver from the quarry. Turned out to be aluminum. Probably from a native beer can. I have found to burnt / bubbled Mercury dimes at 2 burnt locations. Here is a picture of one of them, front and back.
[attachment 80751 ScreenHunter_01.jpg]
[attachment 80752 ScreenHunter_02.jpg]

 

[Uncle Willy]

They used to make engine bearings from babbit If it's heavy and hard it could be coins or melted silverware.

Bill