Hi I'm new here but have read lots over the last year and know you guys know an awful lot.
I was wondering if anyone could help me identify this odd looking nugget-like find (or perhaps help point me in the direction of some service that could).
The find is about 8mm long and heavy. It has a soft outer brown layer with the density of bread that is easily scratched away and smells a little like sulphur. When looking at the brown layer under a microscope the occasional tiny ruby red crystal can be seen growing in its pores.
Please excuse the poor photos of the find under the microscope but it was the best I could do.
When the find is cut in cross section you can see the brown outer layer. Within the outer layer you can also see white spherical hollows and in those hollows it looks like white crystal hairs have grown towards the centre of each sphere.
Moving inwards you can see the mottled soft metal core. There seem to be at least two soft grey metals mixed together (lead & ?) but also a red/gold metal seems mixed up in it too (sorry the photos don't show that detail).
When I first dug it up from about 20cm down I thought it was perhaps a bullet. When I saw it was mottled I thought it may be a bullet mixed with say carbon from a fire. However the odd outer layer and the red/gold additions have me baffled. It wasnt found too far from Maldon so I thought perhaps it could be Maldonite but again the outer layer seems odd.
Has anyone seen anything like this?
Thanks for any help!
I was wondering if anyone could help me identify this odd looking nugget-like find (or perhaps help point me in the direction of some service that could).
The find is about 8mm long and heavy. It has a soft outer brown layer with the density of bread that is easily scratched away and smells a little like sulphur. When looking at the brown layer under a microscope the occasional tiny ruby red crystal can be seen growing in its pores.
Please excuse the poor photos of the find under the microscope but it was the best I could do.
When the find is cut in cross section you can see the brown outer layer. Within the outer layer you can also see white spherical hollows and in those hollows it looks like white crystal hairs have grown towards the centre of each sphere.
Moving inwards you can see the mottled soft metal core. There seem to be at least two soft grey metals mixed together (lead & ?) but also a red/gold metal seems mixed up in it too (sorry the photos don't show that detail).
When I first dug it up from about 20cm down I thought it was perhaps a bullet. When I saw it was mottled I thought it may be a bullet mixed with say carbon from a fire. However the odd outer layer and the red/gold additions have me baffled. It wasnt found too far from Maldon so I thought perhaps it could be Maldonite but again the outer layer seems odd.
Has anyone seen anything like this?
Thanks for any help!
