recycled pot metal or something...

[DrDucati]

155477
I picked this up for $2 at Goodwill just for curiosity of how it would melt and cast (this one's an identical one off ebay). It was very light and hollow and broke pretty easily so I guess it was pot metal (and not pewter as one seller listed). It had a silver-like plate. When melted on the stove the plate was shed like snake's skin and the underlying melt was like a lead alloy. It poured one lyman ingot exactly. The resulting ingot is shiny, won't take a thumbnail at all (whereas my wheelweights do), takes a stamp as deep as wheelweight ingots, and is scratched easily with brass. did not make any (noticeable) fumes. Lines in casting are sharp.

Lead & tin?

[DrDucati]

Maybe it's just straight zinc though

[Retumbo]

Plated pewter

[lwknight]

You really need a thermometer to help I.D. mystery metals. Between melting point, hardness and specific gravity , you can get a pretty good clue as to what most things are. Add to that any other knowledge of the origin and you get a pretty safe bet.
Mix a little with a little lead to see what happens. If it mixes really well then it is probably pewter like it was supposed to be. When you get a thermometer and see that it melts at around 450 degrees you can place your bet on pewter.

[bangerjim]

Only a density or x-ray analysis will tell you, but is really not worth all the work for a single 1# ingot. Can anyone say paper weight? I sure would not use it for boolits.

I would say Zn-based pot metal which can be just about anything! My crystal ball is cloudy today.

It was worth more as the figure than as a mystery ingot.