Metal Hot Dog?!?!

[Erik in NJ]

Found this at the old homestead yesterday. Heavily worked piece of solid metal that came out of the ground fairly uncorroded and cleaned up very nicely with a brss brush. Not sure what type of metal, but it's quite heavy....it's not lead as far as I can tell. Any idea what it might have been? I've never seen anything quite like it before. Thanks for any info.

 

[Macaco]

Could be a contraband gold bar. Weigh it and see if the weight matches up with the weight of gold coins in a coin book.

I found one similar (but more rectangular) in Central America near an old Spanish Colonial town site a few years back and it was 22k gold.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi Steve, I can weigh it but I don't have a volume on it to compare to a coin - how do I do that?. It's silver in color and looks as though someone put a lot of work into it whatever it is. I don't have a definitive date on the house, but it must date back to the mid 19th century if not older. Not sure if the grounds were used prior to this. Can you post a pic of your gold bar for comparison? Thanks, Erik

 

[Macaco]

Hi Eric,

Below is a picture of the bar I found.

If you weigh your bar you could check a coin book which should list the weight of each coin. Look through the gold coins and see if any of them come close to matching the weight of your bar. Maybe just the big coin catalog books list the weights but I thought even the smaller, value books do too.

Long time ago some people would take raw gold or a beat up coin and hammer it into little bars like that to use for trade. Back in the Spanish Colonial period people did it to avoid having to pay the tax on gold. It was also easy to conceal a little bar like that because it could be inserted into a clothing seam so, if robbed, the bad guys wouldn't find it. Often the contraband bars matched the weight of a common denomination gold coin of the period so it was easy to judge it's value based on weight.

Maybe a local jeweler could put an electronic tester on your bar and tell you if it's gold and what karat it is.

I think it's gold.

Cheer.

 

[Ron Lord]

n/t

 

[Erik in NJ]

With what? I have an abrasive cutoff saw that I'm sure can do the trick. It's not gold as far as I can tell (too bad!) as a rare earth magnet seems to stick to it a little, not the way it would say to steel, but it does attract it. It's a strange item and I wonder how it was worked the way it was.

 

[cavinkeven]

Got an update yet??????? I'm curious, if it's gold it should be pretty soft I'd think.

 

[GoGoGopher]

looks like cold rolled steel to me??? Black Smith anywhere around that area at any time???


HH,

GoGoGopher

 

[dahut]

n/t

 

[jog]

BRONZE ????

 

[Gold Seeker]

I think it is stainless steel, which is slightly magnetic to non-magnetic, when the picture is enlarged you can see "grinding" marks going in different directions from a grinder or file(?), you can also see a blue coloring where the metal got to hot (could be just reflections when taking the picture), that's why I think a grinding wheel was used, maybe someone was trying to make ? out of a scrap piece of stainless.

It is not gold or silver.

If it is stainless, that would explain it not being corroded.


Skip

 

[Ron Lord]

n/t

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi Skip, Sorry for the delayed reply - I haven't checked this forum in a while. I think you're right. I found what I believe to be a "center" from a metal lathe at this site also, so it appears that someone there was working metal. Also a very odd looking bracelet that does not look commercial, but may have been made by a machinist. I was curious as to why this items had so many facets on it where it was ground or filed. Thanks for the info!

 

[Erik in NJ]

See mt reply above, I found a small center from a lathe (I think) and another very odd bracelet that appears to have been made by someone as opposed to being commercial. I'll have to see what I can find out about this place. Thanks, Erik

 

[Erik in NJ]

n/t