I have quite a few of these and I know the center pieces are brass but the outer shell is silver colored and non magnetic, it seems to heavy to be aluminum and i doubt it is stainless since its quite soft any ideas on what kind of metal these are?
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I have quite a few of these and I know the center pieces are brass but the outer shell is silver colored and non magnetic, it seems to heavy to be aluminum and i doubt it is stainless since its quite soft any ideas on what kind of metal these are?
Hit it with a grinder.
Silver color, with no sparks = likely aluminum.
Silver color, with sparks = probably stainless.
Could also be plated brass, which is why we always grind/file unknown metals.
I scraped it with my knife and found it to be soft and the metal was shiny silver.
It's what I call pot metal,
Pot metal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
The term "pot metal" came about due to the practice at automobile factories in the early 20th century of gathering up all non-ferrous metal scraps from the manufacturing processes and throwing them into one pot to be melted and then formed into cast products. A small amount of iron made it into the castings, but generally too much iron raised the melting point too much, so it was minimized.
Could be zinc too
Is there a market for pot metal or is it just shred?
EBAY them, they are worth quite a bit, and even more if you have keys for them. Local locksmiths might be interested also. What would be really cool is if you have the boxes also, then you would have a small fortune on your hands.
Safety Deposit Box Locks | eBay
Thanks jghilino unfortunately I have already tore them apart wish I would have asked sooner I had around 30 of them.... lesson learned always look on ebay before tearing apart.
If the boxes were complete with keys you wouldve had about $1500-3000 worth of them depending on condition, size and age. But lesson learned, always check value before you scrap.