Interesting Craigslist find. Any ideas?

Dale · **Posted:** Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:29 pm

http://reno.craigslist.org/wan/1532562911.html

I'm really curious if anyone knows what this might be.

**EDIT** The original post has expired, but I've attached the image of the find. From the story, this person was out exploring near a creek bed "west of Reno" and found this object embedded in some rock sitting in the creek bed.

Nuge · **Posted:** Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:29 pm

Now that's pretty interesting....wonder how much of the story is true. Looks manufactured but how did it get into rock? Product of an old smelter that fell in some concrete? Just a fake gold colored ball?
Good one...

Salt Fox · **Posted:** Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:09 pm

A tennis ball well used and left to fade? :shakefinger:

Nevada Ghosttowner · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:07 pm

Just going to give it a shot. While working at the Nevada State Museum many years ago, I saw a few rocks that looked like this and they had been carved and used by Indians at Pyramid Lake to weight down their fishing nets. Might not be the same but they sure look like it. :who knows:

Dale · **Posted:** Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:36 pm

I've had a few emails going back and forth with the author of this post. And if it's not legit, he's certainly dumped an odd amount of time into communicating with me about it. He took it into several collectors and assayers to have it appraised and see if he could figure out what it was, and always emailed me back to let me know what he found out. He never offered to sell it to me or anything along those lines, so I'm cautiously optimistic that this is a legit find.

I just received a final email, stating "this object has been identified as pure gold ---- and has been sold @ $195.000!!!!!! ----In the UK!!----"

Not "$195,000" but "$195.000". I've fired off a return email just to try and confirm the price. This could be a very interesting story if it turns out to be true!

NevadaBob · **Posted:** Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:54 pm

I believe I know what it is as I have one. I found it in the middle of the desert on a dry lake bed. No idea

how it ended up there but the mystery was solved at the New Pass Mine when an old timer gave us a tour of his gold mine. It is one of the metal balls used in a rotating tumbler like a cement mixer that is used for ore crushing. Hundreds are used depending on the size of the crusher. Looks like some of the gold got smushed until the steel ball got a coating of the gold. The only difference is that the pictured one has grooves on it for some unknown reason.
:Miner:

Intrepid Explorers

Interesting Craigslist find. Any ideas?

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