# Silver bolts? (pic added)



## markmopar (Dec 12, 2010)

A friend of mine has a buddy with 40 pounds or so of silver bolts and contacts his father brought home from the Navy yard back in the 70's.
I'm going to get a couple samples and post pics, but in the meantime, does anyone have any idea what kind of silver content these have? 
I never heard of silver bolts before.


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## silversaddle1 (Dec 12, 2010)

Must be some alloy as a silver bolt would strip out too easy.


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## butcher (Dec 12, 2010)

copper bolts are sometimes plated silver, used in electrical equiptment, so much copper, maybe use copper to drop silver from nitrate solutions?


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## Harold_V (Dec 13, 2010)

I'm having more than a little trouble with the idea that anyone has "silver bolts". 

Are you familiar with cadmium? It was used extensively in defense finishing back then (I worked in that industry for years, as a machinist). I expect that's exactly what he has. It has a very similar appearance to silver, offering very much the same bright white color. 

If the bolts in question were silver, or a silver alloy, they, by now, would most certainly be sulfated---turning that very familiar brown to black color typical of silver. I expect the bolts don't look that way. Check them with a magnet. I expect that will be very enlightening.

I have been known to be wrong. Be certain to correct me if I am. 

Harold


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 13, 2010)

I've seen a lot of silver plated bolts over the years. Usually, I think, they were steel. Check with a magnet.


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## markmopar (Dec 13, 2010)

I will definitely take a magnet with me when I go over there. He tells me they cut one in half once and no copper was showing.


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## markmopar (Dec 14, 2010)

Harold_V said:


> Are you familiar with cadmium?
> 
> Harold



Only what I've read here. Is it magnetic?


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## Harold_V (Dec 14, 2010)

markmopar said:


> Harold_V said:
> 
> 
> > Are you familiar with cadmium?
> ...


Cadmium is not magnetic, but it is (was) typically applied to ferrous alloys---so the parts would be magnetic, yes. That's why I suggested you test with a magnet. 

If you have Schwerter's solution, you can test with that, too. It's an instant test. If the parts are not magnetic, and they have a discoloration (from sulfation of the silver, assuming it is), they'll test blood red with Schwerter's solution. 

You can also test with a drop of nitric acid. It will quickly dissolve silver (or cadmium), resulting in a white precipitate if you add a drop of HCl or a few grains of table salt, assuming they're silver. You won't get that reaction if they're cad plated. 

Testing, in this case, is everything. It will define what you should do with the material, if anything. 

Do not get your hopes high. Silver bolts make little sense---although silver plated bolts, as GSP suggested, are common in some installations. 

Harold


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 14, 2010)

I doubt that, throughout history, that any company on the planet has ever made solid silver bolts. Period.


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## qst42know (Dec 14, 2010)

I found several manufactures offering nickle alloy and nickle-silver bolts. White metal clear through but no silver content at all.


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## bullionstoreuk (Dec 17, 2010)

Hi guys u should have a magnate to check out the silver coins there is a lot of way to check out the originality but its the best way . so u can check out it by magnate


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## markmopar (Dec 17, 2010)

I got a pic today and more of the story.
Supposedly they were used to bolt down some large contacts. Large as in a couple inches across.
The square contact on the left of the pic is a little over an inch square.
Nothing in the picture was attracted to a magnet.
The large bolt thing in the right corner has a silver contact on the end and the rest is a light brassy color.


Sorry for the low quality pic, my phone sucks.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Dec 17, 2010)

Aluminum alloy?


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## qst42know (Dec 17, 2010)

They look worth testing. 8) 

"Got nitric"


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## markmopar (Dec 17, 2010)

qst42know said:


> They look worth testing. 8)
> 
> "Got nitric"



No nitric yet!


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## qst42know (Dec 17, 2010)

10k test acid is nitric and easy to find.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Dec 17, 2010)

Have you tried putting one in some HCL?


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## Harold_V (Dec 19, 2010)

The one bolt appears to be broken. The color of the break should be a dead give-away of it's content. If it's brass, which I suspect, it should be a light yellow color. If it's not, and it's a white metal, aluminum has been mentioned. That would be obvious by its lack of weight. 

Did the bolts in question become a part of the circuit? If they did, we may be seeing, for the first time, silver bolts. I still have my doubts. 

Harold


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## markmopar (Dec 19, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Have you tried putting one in some HCL?



I put the bolt outlined in red in muriatic I got at Lowes today. Left it 45 minutes and nothing happened.

It's a 3/16 bolt with a 5/16 head about 1 7/8" long and weighs 11.9g


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## markmopar (Dec 19, 2010)

Harold_V said:


> The one bolt appears to be broken. The color of the break should be a dead give-away of it's content. If it's brass, which I suspect, it should be a light yellow color. If it's not, and it's a white metal, aluminum has been mentioned. That would be obvious by its lack of weight.
> 
> Did the bolts in question become a part of the circuit? If they did, we may be seeing, for the first time, silver bolts. I still have my doubts.
> 
> Harold



If you mean the one outlined in blue, yes, it's the same brass color all the way through. 
The one outlined in red is white metal all the way through. 
I was told that they were indeed part of a circuit somehow.

I'm going by the local coin shop/ripoff artist tomorrow. His son is a pretty cool guy that has treated me well. I think I can get him(the son) to test the one in red(that's the only one I have in my hand right now).


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## Barren Realms 007 (Dec 19, 2010)

Thats very interesting, most of the stuff I have taken out of electrical equipment that I have worked on over the years have seemed to be alluminum. I am interested in knowing what you find.


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## Harold_V (Dec 20, 2010)

markmopar said:


> The one outlined in red is white metal all the way through.


That's the one I was discussing. The fact that it didn't respond to treatment with HCl is very interesting. Did it get cleaner looking? Any change in color of the acid? Much as I don't think so, I'm now wondering if it is, by chance, silver. The small head is rather unusual.



> I was told that they were indeed part of a circuit somehow.


All the more reason to suspect it may be silver. 



> I'm going by the local coin shop/ripoff artist tomorrow. His son is a pretty cool guy that has treated me well. I think I can get him(the son) to test the one in red(that's the only one I have in my hand right now).


Looking forward to hearing the results. I'm wishing you well--but I'm still skeptical. 
Try to identify the method of testing that is applied. 

Harold


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## markmopar (Dec 20, 2010)

OK, folks! Silver it is!

I went to the coin shop I mentioned before. The young guy was in so I handed it to him and asked if he would test it. He said it looked a little white to be silver so he just put a drop of acid on it. Almost as soon as he did, he wiped it off and said "It looks good. Do you mind if I file it and test to be sure it isn't plated?" I said sure, go ahead.
He then took it in the back to the bench so i didn't see exactly what was done.
He came back and said "Yessir, it's silver! Never seen anything like it before. I'd say it's at least 92%, Maybe as much as 99%. Do you have a lot?"

I'm now waiting for a call from my buddy. He's waiting for his buddy to get home from work so he can work on pricing. I understand he had well over 40lb of all this stuff. He sold some on eBay, but still has maybe 26lb left. He'll want to keep some for himself I'm sure(of course, his wife just mentioned the 'd' word, so he may have to liquidate). What's left is a mix of the bolts, contacts already sweated off the copper and some still on the copper.

More to come...


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## Barren Realms 007 (Dec 20, 2010)

Wild, thanks for the info. I wonder how much I have tossed over the years.


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 20, 2010)

I must admit that crow doesn't taste too good.


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## Harold_V (Dec 21, 2010)

goldsilverpro said:


> I must admit that crow doesn't taste too good.


Chuckle!

Yet another example of "never say never", eh, Chris?

I gotta say--- I sure as hell had my doubts, as any fool can plainly see! :lol: 

One thing I try to encourage folks to do is not get their hopes up. It's one hell of a lot easier to find out you have values than it is to find out you don't have. Think the worst, then enjoy the pleasant surprise should it occur. 

This silver bolt story is a good one! 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Dec 21, 2010)

markmopar said:


> He said it looked a little white to be silver


Actually, that's a good sign that it may be. Silver is reputed to be the whitest of all white metals. Think of palladium, platinum, nickel, lead, chromium, --even iron---all distinctly off-white, and not necessarily the same way. Silver stands almost alone. Aluminum is quite white, as is cadmium. 

Harold


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## butcher (Dec 23, 2010)

I need to find a navy yard, maybe they do not want that old silver boat anymore.


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## Shecker (Dec 23, 2010)

Take note -- if any part of them is cadmium be very careful. Cadmium is highly toxic. I use to get a lot of silver/cadmium wire from high power fuses (4,000 amp). And the cases were a silver copper alloy.

Before working with anything that contains cadmium I would do a little research on its chemistry and toxicity, just to cover yourself. Death by cadmium poisoning is not a nice way to die.

Randy in Gunnison


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## markmopar (Dec 24, 2010)

Well, I'm boned.

My buddy contacted his friend with the bolts. First thing out of his mouth was "did you know silver is almost 30 bucks an ounce?"
The way he was talking, by the time we buy the stuff and have it refined, we'll barely make a profit. I'd like to do it anyway but just can't afford to put resources into something with little return right now.


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## old thompson (Jan 26, 2011)

I have seen bolt-like contacts that look just like that in used in three phase motor starters. I didn't salvage them because it would require breaking an asbestos housing, or a whole lot of time with a pair of wrenches. The contacts were bolted through an asbestos block.


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