Native Silver

Silver as a pure metal, often in wiry, branching forms that tarnish black.

Native Silver specimen — Photo: Alchemist-hp (talk) (www.pse-mendelejew.de), CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify native silver

Silvery metal, tarnished gray to black.
Wires, branches or flakes.
Bends and is very heavy.

Often confused with

Native Platinum
Platinum is grayer, harder and doesn't tarnish.
Compare side by side
Galena
Galena is brittle and breaks into cubes.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Kongsberg, Norway
Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan
Batopilas, Mexico
Cobalt, Ontario

Uses

Jewelry, electronics, solar panels and coins.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling.

Did you know?

Norway's Kongsberg mines produced curling 'wire silver' that grew like hair.

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