What to do with 9 and 1/3 pounds of Silver/Mercury Amalgam?

[Plumbata]

I was cleaning out my garage last week and rediscovered a jar of silver/mercury dental amalgam that I had stashed away over 10 years ago. My father had gone to a dentist's estate sale in the late 1990s and brought back a bunch of stuff, including a tin of hardened/used amalgam thrown in with the lot. I put it in a jar, but he later threw it away, insisting that it shouldnt be kept around due to the mercury. At the time I couldn't condone such waste of good silver, so I secretly went back, removed the material I could from the garbage (the jar it was in broke), and placed it into another jar and hid it deep in the garage.

It was rediscovered a decade later, and now I seek advice regarding how to get the most money for it.

I weighed it out and it comes to 4252 grams, or about 9.36 pounds.

The estate was old, probably 1950s and before, so this general formula from wikipedia for the amalgam is most likely:

Half mercury, with the other half composed of:
[ul][*]> 65% silver (Ag)[*]< 29% tin (Sn)[*]< 6% copper (Cu)[*]< 2% zinc (Zn)[*]< 3% mercury (Hg)[/ul]At 32.5% silver by weight, there would be about 1382 grams of silver, or over 44 Troy ounces.

Apparently, after 1970 the formula changed:

Half mercury, with the other half composed of:
[ul][*]> 40% silver (Ag)[*]< 32% tin (Sn)[*]< 30% copper (Cu)[*]< 2% zinc (Zn)[*]< 3% mercury (Hg)[/ul]At 20% silver by weight, there would be about 850 grams of silver, or over 27 Troy ounces.

It is most likely that it is the more valuable mixture, as the can it was originally held in was 1930s vintage and everything else was quite old as well. This is all great, but the problem of mercury toxicity is still an issue. If the silver were separated then 44 ounces would be worth almost 750 bucks (or 460 at 20%), but as is I fear that most places wouldnt bother with refining it.

Any suggestions? eBay it and hope for the best? Know of any good amalgam refineries? I'm leaning towards ebay unless it is restricted, which would be no surprise.

 

[Poison_Us]

They still use a compound like this these days for fillings. The mercury is safely bonded to the other metals so it's not hazardous. Got a plugged hole or 2 in my head with this stuff.

 

[GuntherHess]

try talking to a local metal plating shop in your area. They always deal with reclaiming nasty metal mixtures.

 

[coreya]

I say ebay it and send it ups, There has to be a dentist out there trying to cut costs!!!

 

[Plumbata]

I called a firm called doralcorp and they quoted about 10 bucks per pound of amalgam. Another firm simply won't/can't process it due to their local regulations. A third firm called had no one available to speak with.

eBay might be the best bet unfortunately, unless I can find some metal plating shops around here who know what to do with Ag contaminated with Hg. Assuming it isn't restricted, a listing tailored to appeal to general silver hoarders might get a lot more than 93.60, as 1.38 kilograms of the metal is nothing to be scoffed at, even in its present form.

I also found an old jar of 120 grams of silver powder in a dumpster here at school recently (crazy what gets thrown out). Seems to have been chemically precipitated from a silver salt, but since it is probably over 95% pure I will have to keep it in the collection a bit longer.

 

[49erFrank]

I'm not recommending the following, but when I was younger & dumber I did it & it worked. This is strictly informational. Anyways, I dug up an old arrastra that I found, and under the grinding stones I recovered a couple pounds of gold/mercury amalgm. I didn't want to mess with acid,. so I read in an old book about the goldrush how the miners would cut a potato in two, make a cavity in the center & fill it with amalgm, and then wire the potato back together & put it in their campfire. After the potato was cooked, they'd open it up & remove the button of melted & then cooled gold...the mercury would vaporize & go into the potato. Of course they'd throw away the potato. It worked pretty good for me, but there wasn't as much gold as I'd hoped (dreamed) plus gold then was like $380/oz. Seems like silver would work the same way? In any case, mercury vaporizes at a much lower temp. than gold or silver, and heat would be the easiest way to get rid of the mercury. Mercury fumes however, are extremely toxic, so be aware.

 

[Plumbata]

Great story 49erfrank, do you have any idea why the amalgam would have been left in the ore crushing area (?) Sounds like a sweet score even though it wasn't all pure gold. Did you find any bottles in the area that sweetened the deal even more?

Apparently mercury vaporizes at less than 680 degrees, so it wouldn't be hard to do that with this material, however, a few years ago I read about some fellow who was boiling off the mercury in the basement of his house with 3 others present. They all suffered from severe mercury poisining and died within a few weeks of exposure. I rediscovered the information: http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/00014464.htm

Scary eh?

None of that matters now, since I listed the auction today at 470.00 BIN/BO and it sold for the 470 plus shipping within 30 minutes of listing. Surprised the heck out of me to not see it in my selling list, thinking it may have been removed. Doralcorp can stick their paltry 10 bucks per pound up their big fat arse! [8D]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180488985192

 

[blobbottlebob]

Wow Plumb. That's a pretty good haul. I can count on one hand the things that I've found that sold for over $300. Nice.

(I've found a few more but naturally - kept them).

 

[Plumbata]

ORIGINAL: blobbottlebob
I can count on one hand the things that I've found that sold for over $300.

(I've found a few more but naturally - kept them).

I'd bet that you've found dozens of things worth well more than 300! The difference is between your commendable stability and my lack of a steady job, income, or personal home. Rent is expensive and sadly some treasures must be sold to pay the bills, but in the end it will all be worth it. I hope to have my chemical/element/botanical business going full swing in a year so maybe I can follow your lead and stop selling the things I actually want to keep! Imagine making all the money you need off the internet and being able to dig bottles all day instead of working a 9-5! Hoarding is where it's at man! []

 

[49erFrank]

The arrastra I am talking about was actually....probably pre-gold-rush. Worked by Sonoran miners in the 1840's. The mercury had to come from the New Almaden mine & the whole subject is confused by the pointy-headed intelle-tchew-iles who think they know it all about Cal. history. Fact is, the exact place I am referring to was inhabited by Mexican miners B4 Sutter's millrace started the official goldrush, and someone got to it B4 I did & probably cleaned up pounds of gold @ $35/oz. back in the great depression. That's what the signs are, or were...anyways.

As to mercury vapors, you are correct, they are deadly. The term "Mad as a Hatter" comes from the fact that back in the early 19th century...hat-makers used heated mercury to work beaver hats into felt. The fumes caused them to go slowly nuts....starting with the "Salivations". One of the first signs of mercury poisoning is loss of control over the salivary glands....thus constant drooling. Fortunately, I knew about this when I performed my experimental gold-extraction. I rarely drool, unless it's summertime & the babes are wearing tank-tops.