it weighs 14lbs and has silver inside

[trish]

Hi all! I am so glad i found this websight after months of searching for someone who can give me info on this rock i found.

I found this while medal detecting my father inlaws land one saturday. I was using a Whites MXT, it set off my detector, so i started to dig it up, at first i hit it with my shovel and when i did it sounded like a peice of iron pipe. Actually i had thought i'd hit another peice of old junk metal from the old tractors my husbands grandfather used to use on this land. I was pretty amazed to see when i uncovered it that it was a rock! It was 3 inches in the ground, i got it uncovered, reached down to pick it up, it was so heavy it took both hands to lift it.
I live 50 miles east of Waco texas, if that helps any.
I got it home, cleaned it up, i could see silver specks shining through the black outter layer, even the brownish/gold part has shine to it.
It weighs 14lbs guys, it will fit in both of my hands, if i were to cup them together, its really heavey. Its 7 inches its longest dimension, 5 inches the shortest and is 15 inches around.
I took it to a geologist friend of mine, he chipped it and it is full of silver.
If any of you can help me to identify this rock i would really appreciate it!
A magnet will NOT stick to it. It doesn not have nickle in it. I've tested it myself for all that.
But how it got in the middle of our pasture i'll never know. I would just really love to find out what it is...
Thanks all for taking the time to read my post.

Trish.

www.oregongoldhunters.com/ubr_uploads/rock 5.jpg[/img]

[oregongoldhunters]

if you like, you can use my image uploader i made.

just upload the image(s) and once its uploaded, click Get Code, from there it will give you the proper code for the forums. and of course, use Forum code.

www.oregongoldhunters.com/upload/

[gemlover]

A 14 pound Silver Nugget is pretty impressive. Have you looked nearby for more? Nearby being within several hundred yards, especially uphill/upstream (including ancient stream beds).

You can use the above mentioned photo uploader, or you can also use www.photobucket.com once you have uploaded from your computer, copy the IMG code and paste it here in the text body of your message.

John

[trish]

Thanks for the help guys! Sorry their so big, but at least i got the pictures up.

Yes i have gone back and searched and i didnt find anymore.
I have been trying for 2 months to find out what it is. Do any of you have any ideas?

[oregongoldhunters]

very strange, if you can get a close up of the opening piece there that would be nice, is that outside like a copperish kinda color?

[trish]

I've tried to get a good close up of the shiny peice but my camera just will not give me a good picture, i'll try again.

Yes the outside is a copper color.

Im almost to the point of taking it to my Geologist friend and having him cut it for me. I would really love to see the inside of it. But everytime i do i chicken out. I really didnt wanna cut my rock, but if it will help me figure out what it is, then i will.

[stonesthatrock]

cut it i would love to see inside. ;D

[gemlover]

www.beg.utexas.edu/

Several publications/maps of silver locations/mining in Texas at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Like the pictures. Does your camera have a "Macro" (flower) setting? that lets you take closeup pictures.

I the interior is metallic silver (meaning the metal silver, not a silvery colored stuff); then your "name" is easy -- Silver. Your geologist friend should be able to name your rock. If not, I'd be willing to do it. Just send the small chip off the large rock and I'll ID and return it to you.

John

[dixieeuhedrals]

Hi , that looks like galena to me . If you were to hammer on a chunk of silver , it being malleable and not brittile , it wouldn't likely chip , but would rather flatten out in the area struck .
Galena on the other hand would react as shown in the photo . Galena is mostly lead , although it can contain silver .

[oregongoldhunters]

it almost has a chromite look to it. hard to tell.

[trish]

Dec 14, 2008 12:08:36 GMT -5 gemlover said:

www.beg.utexas.edu/

Several publications/maps of silver locations/mining in Texas at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Like the pictures. Does your camera have a "Macro" (flower) setting? that lets you take closeup pictures.

I the interior is metallic silver (meaning the metal silver, not a silvery colored stuff); then your "name" is easy -- Silver. Your geologist friend should be able to name your rock. If not, I'd be willing to do it. Just send the small chip off the large rock and I'll ID and return it to you.

John

Hi John

Yes my camera has the macro setting on it, i'll try it again.
As far as my geologist friend, he was the first person i took my rock to, and hes never seen anything like it before. He's the one that brought up the idea of it being a meteorite, He broke the chip off trying to get an idea of what it may be, and we were both very surprised to see the silver inside. As a matter of fact his exact words when he saw the silver was, "I dont know what the hell this thing is!" lol.. This man has been all over the U.S collecting rocks/minerals to add to his collections and he's never seen anything like it. Dr. Ehlmann at TCU says its not a meteorite. Because its not magnetic, Smithsonian has a peice of it, but i havent heard anything from them, may be a long wait on that. If you can tell me what it is i would be more than happy to send you a peice of it.

[trish]

Dec 14, 2008 12:31:27 GMT -5 @dixieeuhedrals said:

Hi , that looks like galena to me . If you were to hammer on a chunk of silver , it being malleable and not brittile , it wouldn't likely chip , but would rather flatten out in the area struck .
Galena on the other hand would react as shown in the photo . Galena is mostly lead , although it can contain silver .

This rock is very very hard, when we chipped it, we chipped it at a hair line frature it had in it. It had 2 0r 3 hairline fractures.

[gsellis]

I am not sure I would kill the idea of being a meteorite. Most meteorites are not iron/nickel. It shows pock marks like entry burn.

Maybe you can do a specific gravity test on the chunk that is off of it?

Silver does oxydize to black.

[abuelito]

hello,well i have some just like it,,,mangenese,,,,ab

[abuelito]

ill post a photo of a piece and what it polishes out to,,,ab

[abuelito]

this is what it polishes out to,has a nice silve and black shine to it,,if you have a broken piece of it,go to a grinder and use water on grind wheel and cut it and the water will tint you hand black,mangenese ab

[trish]

a very good possibility that it is manganese, but arent manganese usually found by railroad tracks? And are they usually this big? 14 lbs?

[arappaho]

No, I think those are 'Chinese' that are usually found by railroad tracks. ;D

(I'm sorry, Trish. Please forgive me, I couldn't resist.
Y'all can start throwing your rocks at me now.)

[amythestguy]

Ha Ha joe...well if maganese is found near railroad tracks then arrowheads and emeralds are found near you. ;D this is actually a good post. it has some folks stumped. i have no idea but meteorite comes to mind just from looking at the exterior and that would explain it out alone in the middle of a pasture

[trish]

Dec 14, 2008 20:24:14 GMT -5 @amythestguy said:

Ha Ha joe...well if maganese is found near railroad tracks then arrowheads and emeralds are found near you. ;D this is actually a good post. it has some folks stumped. i have no idea but meteorite comes to mind just from looking at the exterior and that would explain it out alone in the middle of a pasture

That sure would be lovely. My luck, its just a peice of junk rock. just wished i knew what the 'junk' was.

[amythestguy]

Well trish, I don't think it's a junk rock as many a rockhound on here would love to have something like that. I know you wish it was silver. That would be awesome if it was. lets see 14 pounds at 10.24 an ounce hmmmm that would be a 2,293.76 dollar rock.

[trish]

Its definately not your ordinary rock, thats for sure.

I have it posted on another websight, its been up for 2 months, I got over 370 comments and my post has been read over 12000 times in 2 months, but still no one seems to know what it is. Itsnt that odd? Someone mentioned that i should find a Rock Hound..so here i am.

Yes silver would be nice. Thats better than manganese and day. lol

I wished i could hear something from the Smithsonian. Even if it turns out to be junk, at least i will be able to look at it and say "oh, so thats what it is." Instead of looking at it everyday wondering what it could be and how it got in the middle of the pasture.

[abuelito]

sweet lady i have some larger,,,have you done what i told you or are you afraid to,,,if you have a grinder or anykind of polisher,,,take that piece of material you have and grind it,with water,,,need the water,and you will see it will color the water black,,also your hand from the water ,,but will wash off,also the new breed of hippies out west love that material,it polishes out very fine a silver and black,,,also if you google mangenese jewelery you will find some verynice pieces of it,,,,am you know better its not a meteriot,,,,yes its heavy,and where you know off a corner it is bright silver,,,,ab

[dixieeuhedrals]

you can do a scratch test on it . Take a pocket knife ( one with hardened steel ) and see if you can scratch or cut it . The main thing you can do is break the chip that is shown in the photo graph . If you hammer the piece and it just begins to flatten out , then it is said to be malleable & it might be silver . If it shatters with a hackly fracture , it is said to be brittle & it probably isnt silver but some other type of metal . If it shatters and the peices have flat sides , this is indicating cleavage , and it may be galena .
If you do saw a piece of it , you can etch the sawn peice with acid , and if it reveals a crystalline pattern it might be a meteorite . It is most likely not a meteorite based on its appearance . I have seen meteorites that looked like it , but usually there is some melting and pock marks evident with the majority of meteorites .

[amythestguy]

tell me what you think of this..looks pretty darn close..Go back and compare both pics..this one and the original

FERROCHROMANGANESE: This is one of the most commonly misidentified 'meteorites' in Oregon. Ferrochromanaganese is an artificial alloy made in the making of steel. If you look closely, you can see shiny edges where the oxidized coating has been removed by abrasion. The interior is shiny, silver, and has a granular texture that has been described as "sugary". Another diagnostic feature of this material is the presence of tiny holes or vesicles. Such vesicles are almost never found in meteorites. This would be very hard to identify as it's not well known. If it is somehow it went from the steel mill to your pasture. Compare both pics and it looks dead on, I mean identical maybe thats why nobody could identify it. Alright who wants to wager on this one...Joe...John Rasmussen..scott? ;D My only catch is I don't think there are any steel mills anywhere near central texas. hmm

[xtldggr]

Just thinking way outside of the box here, but is it at all possible that it is debris from the space shuttle columbia disater?

[amythestguy]

Thats not a bad guess xtldggr. definetly an unorthodox guess. the external tanks had a lot of manganese and titanium in them. Some of the pieces of the landing gear looked like that. NASA even went so far as to call some of the debris "slag". I don't know if titanium attract magnets though

[trish]

yep it looks just like manganese. Probably what it is. No i didnt cut it, dont have anything to cut it with. I shoulda came here along time ago. You guys are very helpful! There is a steel mill 35 miles from here, Nucor Steel.
The question of the space shuttle has been brought up a few times, not by me, but others. Guess i can always make manganese jewlry out of it. lol....gonna go look that up, i am curious to see what the jewlry looks like. only difference in that picture, the crystals (or what ever you call it) is sugary, the crystals in mine are larger. I guess that doesnt mean anything. But i would definately say its probably ferrochromemanganese...what a word huh?!

[amythestguy]

Bam 12,000 views on other sites and the amguy nails it. ;DWhere you at now gemlover and arrapho ;D...huh..where you at now.... ;Dyou guys got me on the FROM ITALY post with the piece from Mt. vesuvius.... ;Dha ha revenge is sweet ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D I hope it's right or you guys will have a field day chewin' on me

[trish]

lol...actually the other post i had, Manganese was brought up, BUT everyone else wanted to argue against him, saying "that just doenst look like manganese!" then they brought up the idea of the space shuttle. There were so many different answers it was hard to figure out which one it could be.

A friend of mine works at a lab, he put a sample of my rock under a SEM EX machine,to see what minerals were in my rock, and what he got from the test was Titanium, Iron, but not enough to attract a magent, Silicon, Manganese, and Carbon. We typed in "what mineral has all of these in it?" and what we got was this:

Manganese carbonate, sometimes containing some iron, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and cobalt. Combinations of all these elements do not exist; only particular combinations can exist. Nevertheless, the variable elements are all listed together in the "Variable Formula" field to avoid confusion.

And we also found that those same minerals in my rock were found in very rare meteorites. So see how confusing this is? take a look at this: books.google.com/books?id=M8oKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=What+mineral+has+Titanium,+Iron,+Carbon,+Manganese,+and+Silicon+in+it%3F&source=web&ots=x7CFYdbJvI&sig=efIm_CS-RgfLrZhJXcX-mkfKT_c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result