  Bulk commercial yttrium. 
Description supplied by the source: 
This is the form in which rare earth raw material is often distributed for bulk users--after being distilled into the dendritic form, it is then melted down by computer-controlled non-consumable electrode arc melters in vacuum/argon to main the purity (3N5). The characteristic bottom surface results from being melted only once, thoroughly, without much care towards appearance. For a given lot of rare earth (ingots like these are sold by the bucket or drum), one will be robotically selected at random and have a sample core drilled out of the top in order to provide a certified lot purity- this sample was chosen to display that particular phenomena. Also, it was a lot of fun to dig through a 30-pound pail of yttrium hemispheres. 
Source: Ethan Currens 
Contributor: Ethan Currens 
Acquired: 30 April, 2008 
Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 
Price: Anonymous 
Size: 1" 
Purity: 99.95%
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