Help with Gold Plated Part Identification

I've tried to find out what this unique piece is, at a loss to what it is or if it is even for electronics. I tested it with the gold kit and if you look at the bottom left you can see a slight orange round spot where I used 18k. The pin is gold plate and held on by a ceramic washer. The outside I believe is ceramic, slightly rough, not smooth like porcelain. I used a Pentium CPU with heat sink still attached as size ref. I found this while walking in the desert with the dogs. There were a couple of old boards and a Military metal board within the same area. Don't know if they matter to help with ID :) Would love some help figuring out what this is. Thanks.

http://flic.kr/p/dJWBP9
http://flic.kr/p/dJRaJR
http://flic.kr/p/dJWBA9

Unknown
Unknown Back Side
Unknown Size Comp

Pic would be nice, my crystal ball is not working so well,,,;)

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/smf-s...rum-video.html

Thanks I was looking for that post on pics

Do a internet search on that model number it the top left corner in your 1st picture, i bet you will find the info your looking for.

don't wager too much on that bet!

it reveals a circuit breaker standard for aerospace applications

wondering if your desert wanderings happen upon a crash site or dump site

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Originally Posted by volvoscrapper

don't wager too much on that bet!

It reveals a circuit breaker standard for aerospace applications

wondering if your desert wanderings happen upon a crash site or dump site

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doh!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by volvoscrapper

don't wager too much on that bet!

it reveals a circuit breaker standard for aerospace applications

wondering if your desert wanderings happen upon a crash site or dump site

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Thanks for the info on the aerospace application because I couldn't find the number referenced in the usual searches. I think it was more of a dump site because I found 5 mother boards (old) and a metal circuit board with the metal one having numbers that trace back to aerospace applications. The boards were used for target practice so probably not a crash site. It seems like everywhere you go people shoot everything here. The condition of the boards would have me guessing they have been out there for many years. Thanks again for your help.

well that's cool. did you ever match any of the other stuff to specific vehicles? depending on what it is, that sort of item might have more value as a collectible. not likely, but possible. Personally I'd hang on to it until I found out exactly what it was.

you might want to find out if you had any aerospace related companies, avionics companies for example, that were nearby, then find if any retired engineers still around.

Avionics from an F-105 "Thud":
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-1234S-046.jpg

I was an avionics tech in the Marines for 20 years. There was a rumor that one or more of the flight reference gyros contained a substantial amount of gold. Some ot the gyros that we used looked a little like a black metal box shaped like a loaf of bread. Some were a square box frame with a cylinder shaped metal "can" inside the frame. Keep an eye out for any metal boxes like in the photo above. The military used the very best in materials. Mike.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by volvoscrapper

well that's cool. did you ever match any of the other stuff to specific vehicles? depending on what it is, that sort of item might have more value as a collectible. not likely, but possible. Personally I'd hang on to it until I found out exactly what it was.

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I did match one to a specific vehicle. I'm still doing some research on it. Thanks for pointing out some different interesting things to keep an eye out for, there are definitely some unusual things out in the desert.

Thanks Miked. That one ceramic piece is interesting, I'm curious the thickness of the gold plating and if it goes all the way through. Don't want to break it. Sending you a PM question.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pendoreille

Thanks Miked. That one ceramic piece is interesting, I'm curious the thickness of the gold plating and if it goes all the way through. Don't want to break it. Sending you a PM question.

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why not drill a tiny hole through it

My guess is it went to some communication type device.

i looked at the pictures again, could it be a white ceramic cpu/chip? they are rare but are out there, iv had some white ceramic come thru in the past, i know there are gold top white ceramics out there

since it came off a board another possibility is its some kind of a heatsink, it looks like thermal paste/solder on the back of it

winner winner chicken dinner?

https://www.google.com/search?q=whit...w=1920&bih=941

Thanks jghilino, that was helpful in looking at the old ceramic cpu's that are somewhat similar, while checking out that google search I also found I have a rare xbox gpu. I still have questions about my ceramic piece because it has the gold pin down the middle and the cpu's in that search don't, nor a solid plate in the center like mine. I might take Bear's suggestion (when I get the courage) to drill a small hole on the back side and see what it looks like all the way through. I did not find this on a board, I found 6 military grade boards in the same area. This piece was actually partially buried in the dirt and the only reason it caught my eye was just a small glint off that gold section. I'm going to go back out to that area and look around some more in a bigger grid to see if I can find anything else that might be helpful or valuable LOL.