Silver thimble? *Update #2**

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The tinfoil trick will tell you if its silver..

If you Google aluminum advertising thimbles you'll notice they often have a hole in the tip because the needle went through due to being too soft..

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Thank you for the advice on the aluminum foil and spit. I did try that on the thimble and had no strange odor but then again I did try it on a silver Rosie and still had no strange odor maybe not enough oxidation on the silver. I will try weighing it in water later tonight thanks.
 
Thank you for the advice on the aluminum foil and spit. I did try that on the thimble and had no strange odor but then again I did try it on a silver Rosie and still had no strange odor maybe not enough oxidation on the silver. I will try weighing it in water later tonight thanks.

I've honestly never tried that test, I think I remember someone saying you have to use the shiny or dull side of the foil for it to work... Should smell like rotten eggs..

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I've honestly never tried that test, I think I remember someone saying you have to use the shiny or dull side of the foil for it to work... Should smell like rotten eggs..

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I watched a video on doing this technique he did not mention which side of the aluminum foil he used though it did appear to be the non shiny side. And he also said it works best if the object has been uncleaned and is tarnished. But I do appreciate it thank you.
 
First of all I would like to thank everybody for their interest and their input. I did do the gravity test by weighing it suspended in water as mentioned by AirmetTango unfortunately Everything That Glitters Is Not silver. It would be aluminum but either way it's a nice-looking find.
 
Dang, I didn't wanna be right on this one..

Still a really old, and cool find!

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Ok , I have to throw in my opinion on this one too.......
I've dug a couple silver ones and at least one alum.
I think I see shine to this one so I'm saying silver. My aluminum one is just dull. And I think you would definitely notice the feathery lightness of an aluminum one.
I am surprised it doesn't have a makers mark in it though......
Congrats though. It looks old.
 
Ok , I have to throw in my opinion on this one too.......
I've dug a couple silver ones and at least one alum.
I think I see shine to this one so I'm saying silver. My aluminum one is just dull. And I think you would definitely notice the feathery lightness of an aluminum one.
I am surprised it doesn't have a makers mark in it though......
Congrats though. It looks old.

It depends on the soil. My silver thimble came out looking silver/grey. No shine to it.

That said, I thought this thimble looks more like pewter. Aluminum, even cast aluminum, would be very light. If this feels heavier, but it's not silver, I'm thinking pewter.
 
This is very surprising to me. That looks so much like silver to me and I would assume if it were aluminum it would be so dang light it would be obvious.
 
Easy to test for Silver:

Place it on a sheet of foil, and then spit on it (saliva only). using the foil, rub the spit all around on it, then wrap it tightly. Leave it for 30 seconds, then unwrap and smell it.

If it's heavy on sulfides, you're holding silver. If it doesn't smell any different, it's not.

Easiest "field test" I know... and it works like a charm, everytime. If you're unsure, test it yourself with a silver coin against a clad one, and when you open the silver one, you'll crinkle your nose up, hard core.

Cheers,

Skippy
 
It's a great picture in the original post..

All the micro dings/dents, that almost make it look porous, it what says aluminum to me...

Silver does wear, but it wears even, and doesn't get mushroomed/smashed details like that, because its not soft like aluminum...

Just my metallurgical opinion...

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It's a great picture in the original post..

All the micro dings/dents, that almost make it look porous, it what says aluminum to me...

Silver does wear, but it wears even, and doesn't get mushroomed/smashed details like that, because its not soft like aluminum...

Just my metallurgical opinion...

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I stand corrected sir, I really thought it was silver...
 
I stand corrected sir, I really thought it was silver...

So did everyone else! Some still do...

A few certain conditions silver could look similar.. But many conditions will have aluminum looking like that..

Just like these damn things...

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=261420

I've been fooled for a second on aluminum tokens, especially ones with a reeded edge! :mad:

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I have a silver thimble.

I found it several years ago with my safari about 50 feet from the house. It was smashed in a little but I carefully straightened it up.

I'll get it out of the box tomorrow and post a pic.
 
Not trying to beat a dead horse but the horse has came alive. When I first found this thimbel it obviously look like silver to me. As you can see in the photo of my original post. I tried the spit in the foil and it did not seem to have any effect. I tried finding the specific gravity using a scale.

Both of these tests seem to show that it was not silver but this still had me perplexed. Because I felt the thimble had weight and it looked like silver when it popped out of the ground. So I started to think of what I could have done wrong and realized that I had cleaned any tarnish off the thimble prior to doing the test. So I began to search to find out what would tarnish silver thinking that if the tarnish was there the aluminum foil test would have turned out differently. I found a YouTube thread on how to make silver jewelry look old. If I follow the instructions hard boiling an egg peeling it while it was hot smashing it in a zippy bag and placing the item in the bag and boy it tarnished quick. I rinse the thimbel off with plain water and left it set on the counter for a couple days and rechecked it with the aluminum foil test and spit. It definitely had a real horrible smell to it which led me to believe that it was silver.

So then I looked at the mistakes I could have made while doing the gravity test first of all I did not have a scale that weigh grams to the tenth and I realized that while I was using the old scale it was just barely touching the bottom which gave me a false reading. Since then I have purchased a new gram scale that weighs to the 10th and the test came out positive for silver.

I'm glad I realize the error of my ways and rechecked This truly is my first silver thimble.
 
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