[Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel

[betdav97 at aol.com]

Larry,
  I know this a long shot but, could it be where
someone poured molten metal into an anthill?
I have seen these for sale under various names,
and the vendor always looks surprised when I ask
if that is what they really are. Although it usually
gives an "inside" with the vendor and leads to good
stories.
dave


-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Rush <larryrush at worldnet.att.net>
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 3:34 pm
Subject: [Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel


OK...this time I DO have a real puzzle.................. 
 
In the 1980's, I used to attend a swap session every summer in New 
Hampshire. For several years there, a gentleman would approach me (he 
did not have a booth), and offer to trade me a Nickel specimen. These 
came out of a smelter somewhere, and were attractive, being kind of 
globular, and kind of dendritic, and shiny metallic. It was maybe 4x8cm 
in size. No label, and I wasn't sophisticated enough to ask for one. 
 
I re-traded one of these (don't remember what happened to the rest) to 
a friend in Arkansas. That owner died and this particular one recently 
showed up on an auction site on the web, and was sold to another 
collector. Since it had my label on it, he contacted me for locality 
information. I know nothing about the specimen or the person who 
originally had it.
 
 
Is there any member who knows anything about this trader? Would anyone 
know where Nickel might have been smelted in the 1980's, and how it 
might have got out into the hands of a mineral trader? I would like to 
be able to add something to the label besides the specimen (and my) 
name. 
 
Thanks.....Larry Rush 
 
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