Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is the most important locality in the world for pure native copper. Mining began in 1845 and continued until 1968 and over 5 million tons of refined copper were recovered from Michigan's copper mines. In the early 1900's, it led the world in copper production and "Lake Copper" was the purity standard to which other refined copper was compared.
Long before the mining operations of the past century began in the Keweenaw, prehistoric peoples mined copper from the mineral-rich veins.

Yes, I am the same person although doing very different things now . I have my own business (www.specmin.com) and no longer work for the USGS.

I definitely do remember those nuggets.

We never saw anything like them again, to the best of my recollection.

In subsequent years, I have become a consultant to the mining industry and traveled extensively in South America to different mines and have not seen anything like them there either.

I have sent this out to a few of my copper industry friends and other contacts to see if they have

I will let you know if I get a response

Phoebe Hauff

There is a story behind the pig. When Bermuda was first settled by the English, pigs were the only food on the island. Also the pig is a tribute to the original money issued by the settlers (it had pigs on it as well). The motif on the penny reflects these things. On the page, you also wonder "Is Bermuda even a real country?"
The answer to that is no. Bermuda is is "overseas territory" of the United Kingdom (i.e., a colony).

This auction is for a very unusual, what I think would be called a Salesman Sample, of 5 exotic metal disks. The brown plastic case that measures 2.50 in. by 6 in., was received by my Father when he visited the Kawecki Berylco Industries in the 1970's. The company was bought by Cabot Corp. in the late 70's. The disks measure 1.25 in. dia. by .1in. thick. According to the description in the case the 5 metals are Beryllium, Lockalloy, Beryllium Copper, Columbium [an older name for niobium], Tantalum.

Circa 15th-17th century AD. Medieval bronze bullet die. The die was used to cast bullets for muskets. Beautiful green patina. Length: 23 mm.

This is Half-Persian 4-in-1 weave (which has nothing to do with Persia) made from electrical copper wire. This modern weave is quite popular for jewelry, often used as simple chains.

"Float" copper is found throughout the "Copper Country" of Michigan and many nearby states. Glacial movements thousands of years ago altered the geologic deposits of the native copper by tearing and scouring the land. Copper, along with other rocks, gravel, and sand were constantly tumbled and deposited over large areas of the Upper Midwestern United States.
Exposure to the soils, water, and air has oxidized the copper surface a bright green. These specimens with the natural oxidation color provide a good contrast to the polished copper surface of the cross-sections.

Petrified wood from the Nacimiento Mine
Replacement minerals could include Malachite, Chalcocite, Azurite, Cuprite, Covellite, Digenite, Bornite, Plancheite, Iron Oxide, Pseudomalachite, Pyrite, Cubanite, Brochanite, Antlerite, Elemental Copper, Stromeyerite.

(4) the possession, and transportation upon his person, of any switchblade knife with a blade three inches or less in length by any individual who has only one arm.

Yttrium barium copper oxide was discovered in the late 1980's as being the first known substance to exhibit superconductivity above 77 Kelvin (-321\272F, -195C) outside of a mind-meltingly strong magnetic field. In the grand scheme of things, 77 Kelvin is a completely random value--it has no greater cosmic meaning, it's not an ultimate limit that contradicts some obscure physics theory, nothing like that. Rather, 77 Kelvin is the boiling point of nitrogen. The significance is simply that with the discovery of this material, superconductivity was a phenomenon that suddenly emerged from the realm of "laboratory curiosity" into the wide bright world of "industrially and economically feasible," using liquid nitrogen as a coolant. Previously, liquid hydrogen or liquid helium were necessary to access the temperatures at which superconductivity could be observed (outside of that frog-levitatingly strong magnetic field), both of which are at least an order of magnitude more expensive than liquid nitrogen.

The next breakthrough of the same significance would be the discovery of superconductivity at 194 Kelvin, the temperature of dry ice, which at the time of this writing, is not too far from realization (the current recordholder is 138 Kelvin, using a precise composition of Mercury Thallium Barium Calcium Copper Oxide...nice and toxic too). As a result, it is one of the most popular fields in materials and physics research today, which leads to samples such as this one.

However, the superconductive properties of YBCO depend intimately on the exact composition, which is never stoichiometric (integer values for the elemental subscripts). At the most basic level, special methods of synthesizing and altering this compound are used to add and subtract oxygens, which changes the valence state of copper so that different valence states are scattered through the material. Interestingly, the actual cause and mechanism of superconductivity is extremely complicated, and not known precisely. But researchers in a laboratory would likely take this sample, and use it in either a oxidizing or deoxidizing process to create exactly the composition they desired for whatever phenomena they were investigating.
Gentlemen, start your measurements!

This auction is for a very unusual, what I think would be called a Salesman Sample, of 5 exotic metal disks. The brown plastic case that measures 2.50 in. by 6 in., was received by my Father when he visited the Kawecki Berylco Industries in the 1970's. The company was bought by Cabot Corp. in the late 70's. The disks measure 1.25 in. dia. by .1in. thick. According to the description in the case the 5 metals are Beryllium, Lockalloy, Beryllium Copper, Columbium [an older name for niobium], Tantalum.

As a woodworker and a resident of Michigan's "Copper Country", I find your Wooden Periodic Table most intriguing. Thanks for all your work in developing and posting the website.

Just to add another data point, the native copper specimens you show from the Harvard Natural History Museum almost certainly originated from the Lake Superior copper region and likely from the Calumet & Hecla mines on the Keweenaw Peninsula. They look familiar to me. I see kids selling them on the roadside to tourists all summer long.

Boston money financed the mines up here (Shaw, Quincy, Adams Paine, etc.). Alexander Agassiz, an avid collector and son of Louis (founder of the Museum), was curator there for many years and was appointed President of C&H just after the Civil War (http://www.famousamericans.net/alexanderagassiz/). Mining captains would compete for the best specimens, rewarding miners who could deliver the most spectacular examples from the deeps. Some mines up here go down over 9,000 ft.