FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[sundown57]

I was given this by a friend that has since passed away. I tried searching the net best i could and it kind of looks like pyrite, only it is very heavy and was cut on a bandsaw like you would a piece of metal. I was wondering if some one here to tell me for sure what it is? thanks

[sundown57]

here is another picture of it.

[Carles Millan]

Hi sundown57

For your question to be resolved, you should provide more details.

Here you will find a guide: https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=1936

Thanks for your post.

[James Catmur]

Check the streak and hardness to get us started

Hardness: 6 – 6.5, i.e. greater than Glass
Streak: Greenish Black

With no tests, it is hard to say

[sundown57]

Yes it will scratch glass quite easily, the streak test is kind on a brass or gold color. The man I got it from traveled a lot and I have no idea where he got it. I will add that it really does seem like a hard metal. there are even a burs in the corners from the cutting.

[Pete Richards]

I think you used the right word. This is a metal, not a mineral. Not pyrite. It has well-formed crystals, but as part of a solid mass. It almost certainly is man-made, a smelter product of some sort, but why it should show such well-formed crystals on the edges is unclear.

Doing the standard tests we advise is useful, but only to a limited degree, because you are looking for the identity of something we don't study and collectively have limited knowledge of at best. In addition to hardness, specific gravity might be the most useful test, because specific gravity of common metals would be easy to obtain on the web. The combination of hardness and specific gravity might identify it.

If you could find some local way to get a test done to identify the chemistry, I bet it would contain only one element in any significant amount, and that element would be a fairly common metal.

Good luck!

[Joseph DOliveira]

I agree, looks very much like a smelter product. It is not uncommon for crystals to form in some of the metal slags during the smelter process. I have observed this in some of the smelter slags here in Sudbury.

[sundown57]

what kind of a company would i look for to do a test like that?

[Michael Shaw]

Many years ago I purchased an old mineral collection. One of the items in that collection is pictured below. I think you will find that it bears a close resemblance to the item that you posted. The piece pictured was labeled "crystallized titanium rod, synthesized by the van Arkel-de Boer process." You can google this and see other photos of similar items.

[sundown57]

yeah thats exactly like what i have. I take it being man made it has no real value?

[James Catmur]

We do not discuss values on this forum. I used to find similar items at work and always threw them away.

[sundown57]

thank you all for the info, at least i finally know what it is

[Matt_Zukowski]

Michael Shaw pulled out an amazingly similar photo to your piece suggesting that it may well be titanium (good catch Michael!). If i *had* to guess, i would say that that is what it is. But it is still possible it is some other metal (or alloy) that just looks like Michael's picture. To know with more certainty, the best bet would be a commercial lab - any largish town will have some chemical lab that can do a quick test for the metallic composition of the piece.

[SteveB]