silver???
found a pretty good nugget in my back yard on 2/27/11, its either lead or silver. it has been melted at some point but i cant tell i could use some help. thanks!!
Babbitt lead was a pretty hard lead used for bearings for rotating machinery. In fact, the heavy duty bearing were mostly tin. See http://www.maycoindustries.com/babbitt.htm for more bearing lead info.Plumbers lead was softer. The cast iron pipe joint was packed with creosote soaked hemp called OAKUM. The oakum was put into the bottom of the joint to hold it mechanically secure and to stop the lead from going right on through the joint. It was packed very tightly with what looked like a very dull chisel. The molten lead was then poured into the joint to the top of the bell. The lead was then packed in even tighter with the same chisel looking packing tool. For horizontal joints an asbestos rope with a metal clamp was used to wrap the packed joint forming a dam with the clamp opening at the top where the lead was poured in.I don't know the composition of either lead alloy. If you can scratch it with a finger nail, it is probably pure lead.If your piece was used for cast iron pipe, it would still show the marks of the packing tool. Pure lead was used for this application. It would be soft enough to really pack into the joint well.If it was melted after the fact, you probably cannot tell the difference. A small addition of tin makes it harder.This is probably more than you ever wanted to know but I just couldn't stop my fingers once they got going.
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Silver also has a very distinctive sound when struck against other metals. Lead does not share this property. It would take some familiarity to recognize but it is not too difficult.
The weight of the item might give you the best clue. Aside from that there are test kits available to determine if it's silver. The only other thing I can think of is tarnishing. Silver and lead tarnish to different colors. I've found that silver coming from my ground is still shiny whereas lead is a dull gray color. Hope this gives you some ideas.
thanks for the comments, turns out it was a type of lead. i asked my dad and he said in the old days people used whats called babbing to seal off cast iron pipes for plumbing and he said thats what he figured it was. kinda dissappointed but it was a neat find and an interesting story about plumbing. lol thanks everyone!