Copper Poop?

[ashcraft]

I have a lot more patience than I used to auspex. its wearing very thin now with that question!!! Ok,. just kidding. It looks like copper, how else am iI supposed to know? Doesnt it look like copper to you? Common, what else can it be?

RB

I don't think it is pure copper, but you might be able tell if it is copper ore by putting it in a flame, if the flame is blue, it's probably copper. You might also try scraping it with a knife, see what color the scratch is, and how soft, maybe even a streak test?

Brent Ashcraft

[JohnJ]

I have a lot more patience than I used to auspex. its wearing very thin now with that question!!! Ok,. just kidding. It looks like copper, how else am iI supposed to know? Doesnt it look like copper to you? Common, what else can it be?

RB

RB,

It looks a lot like some of the worn hematite, limonite, or pyrite nodules I see in Central Texas. They show up in colors from metallic gray to copper and gold. I'm not sure if the actual crystal structure of copper is similar to hematite, but it's worth checking. Brent's flame suggestion could tell you more, too.

[RJB]

It may not be copper at all!

It may be a bronzed poo.

Typically I have seen copper in a crystalline form rather than solids like you have. A chunk of copper that size would be rather heavy.

It is very heavy!

RB

[RJB]

I don't think it is pure copper, but you might be able tell if it is copper ore by putting it in a flame, if the flame is blue, it's probably copper. You might also try scraping it with a knife, see what color the scratch is, and how soft, maybe even a streak test?

Brent Ashcraft

When you say "flame", may I ask what kind of flame? Would a lighter be a big enough flame? and what is a "streak" test?

RB

[RJB]

I just scratched it with the tip of a sharp knife. It looks as shiny as a new penny where I scratched it.

RB

[Uncle Siphuncle]

No disrepect RJB, but I gotta have fun with this one.

I'm constantly befuddled and humored by what some people try to pass off as coprolites which are clearly mineral deposits of some sort. Often the surface topography of said paleo scat is much too jagged to have made it through the digestive tract of any critter I can think of on this earth, past or present. I simply can't picture some of these purported hunksa dejecta actually making it out of the body without tearing the critter from the proverbial to the sublime, much less forming inside and animal without becoming impacted. I'd think some of these things, if really turds, would result in a slow and agonizing death. This goes for stuff on eBay more so than the specimen pictured in this thread. Nuff said. Call up coprolite on eBay and go have a good laugh for yourself while you consider trying to pass such an object. As for copper poop, never heard of it, in the meantime, tell me if it tastes like copper, and I'll take your word for it! As the old adage goes, "You can't polish a turd..." and until disproven, I'll assume this goes for the paleo variety as well.

[RJB]

No disrepect RJB, but I gotta have fun with this one.

I'm constantly befuddled and humored by what some people try to pass off as coprolites which are clearly mineral deposits of some sort. Often the surface topography of said paleo scat is much too jagged to have made it through the digestive tract of any critter I can think of on this earth, past or present. I simply can't picture some of these purported hunksa dejecta actually making it out of the body without tearing the critter from the proverbial to the sublime, much less forming inside and animal without becoming impacted. I'd think some of these things, if really turds, would result in a slow and agonizing death. This goes for stuff on eBay more so than the specimen pictured in this thread. Nuff said. Call up coprolite on eBay and go have a good laugh for yourself while you consider trying to pass such an object. As for copper poop, never heard of it, in the meantime, tell me if it tastes like copper, and I'll take your word for it! As the old adage goes, "You can't polish a turd..." and until disproven, I'll assume this goes for the paleo variety as well.

Dont worrie about me Dan. I didnt buy a piece becuase I had never ever heard of copper poop before and wanted to do a bit of homework first. Ive been around the block a couple of times so to speak, and its now very obvious that this is NOT poop, but the dealer who was selling it was passing it off as fossil poop. And I know exactly what you mean about all the other stuff on ebay and elswere. Buyer beware for sure. but like Barnum said, "there is a fool born every second"!! How true.

RB

[ashcraft]

Streak test is done on rough porcelain, and show you the color of the powder, which may be different then the color of the material. Gold pyrite streaks black, while gold streaks gold. I would suspect the pure copper would smear, and be copper colored on a streak test.

A flame test needs to be pretty hot, with a fairly pure flame. Yellow flames are usually the result of sodium, which can mask other colors. A nice propane torch would work, just stick it in for a second or two, and see what color the flame becomes, blue/green would indicate copper.

It sounds to me that if it looks like a new penny when scratched with a knife, and it is fairly heavy, then you have a genuine copper nugget.

My opinion and fifty cents will get you a soda in the teacher's lounge.

Brent Ashcraft

[RJB]

Streak test is done on rough porcelain, and show you the color of the powder, which may be different then the color of the material. Gold pyrite streaks black, while gold streaks gold. I would suspect the pure copper would smear, and be copper colored on a streak test.

A flame test needs to be pretty hot, with a fairly pure flame. Yellow flames are usually the result of sodium, which can mask other colors. A nice propane torch would work, just stick it in for a second or two, and see what color the flame becomes, blue/green would indicate copper.

It sounds to me that if it looks like a new penny when scratched with a knife, and it is fairly heavy, then you have a genuine copper nugget.

My opinion and fifty cents will get you a soda in the teacher's lounge.

Brent Ashcraft

Im going to say its copper then. Very heavy adn very shiny copper color where scratched. Ive got two guys in california who want a specimen. Does anyone here on the forum want a specimen. Im going to see this guy later this week if I can find the time or earyl next week. I think I can get some for a very reasonble price. when I get some, i will post some pics.

RB

[KevinG]

No disrepect RJB, but I gotta have fun with this one....

As the old adage goes, "You can't polish a turd..." and until disproven, I'll assume this goes for the paleo variety as well.

LINKY: The answer is YES! You can polish a turd.

The bumps may be a fossilized type of corn.

I would not flame test it or destroy it in any manner. What you have is just a weird formation of natural copper. When you scratched it and it was bright copper proved it.

Or a dinosaur ate it and killed it when trying to poop it out.

[jeremyh]

Ok, here are two pics of what my wife purchased. This was a small one compaired to most of the others, but there were smaller ones and yet even some were quite smooth of all different sizes. But now that ive givin this a bit of thought, I dont see how this stuff could be a fossil. Still purty cool though, I may buy some just for specimens for copper mineral collectors?

RB

Looks like copper.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

As I understand it, pure gold, copper, silver, etc. deposits are formed from superheated water dissolving the material (lava and water underground allowing great temp. because of great pressure), then as the water cools, the materials "undissolve", leaving veins of the material. I don't know how they could replace a coprolite, without destroying it. Could it be a mineral replacement? There are some iron minerals that are blue that form in an anoxic environment.

Brent Ashcraft

I've seen some low temp hydrothermal stuff, but it was sulfates, and sulfides, of Ba and Pb. so, shouldn't it also form in Au, Ag, and Cu???

[ashcraft]

I've seen some low temp hydrothermal stuff, but it was sulfates, and sulfides, of Ba and Pb. so, shouldn't it also form in Au, Ag, and Cu???

I am far from an expert, but i would say "not necessarily" gold and silver are very unreactive to start with, copper somewhat less so, which is why they are found as pure nuggets.

Brent Ashcraft