[Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel

[pmodreski at aol.com]

Having read these posts, my guess is that metal from the (Harley or 
similar) plating operation sounds most likely, rather than something 
"directly" from a mining-related nickel smelter.

Pete


-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Sparks <zebulon at isr.umich.edu>
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 3:48 pm
Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel



A fellow rockhound here in Ann Arbor bought a bunch of these things, and
his came from an old nickel plating operation for Harley Davidson.
These things formed on the edge of the plating vats.  They look like
drippy globular clusters with many globules that seem to come from one
point, like bunches of balloons you'd see for sale at the carnivals,
upside down and much smaller.  They are a metallic silver/nickel color.
He bought them to make jewelry pieces but strangely, although
attractive, never did sell well.  Harley Davidson changed their plating
methods and these are supposed to be no longer available, at least five
years ago if not ten or twenty.

No information on the trader, though I can report back with more
specifics once I learn them.

-- Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of John
Junkroski
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 4:43 PM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel

I have a similar specimen which I bought at an auction. It had only "
Nickel No.43 " on the label but the seller said it was from a plating
operation, not a smelter. Since nickel plating was so common during
the early part of the last century and he was dealing mostly in
antiques, I accepted his explanation as reasonable.

But now that I've gone and looked at it closely, the form resembles
molten wax that has dripped from a candle, and it shows a rough,
broken-looking place where it might have been broken away from a
crucible or a casting mold, so apparently it was liquid when it formed.
It's really a visually attractive specimen, and I would like to know
more about it.

John