Dear Richard,
Thankyou for your input.
What you state is perfectly correct and of course concurs with stats.. The
size/shape of the piece does beg questions, but after more thought I think
the date line is looking to be between 1850 and 1910. However, as to where
it came from, well, this is another matter... but I remain sure the piece
was stolen from wherever, and disposed of in haste. My reasoning: it was not
found on or near any normal transport route, therefore someone considered
a discrete route more preferable... follow a river if you know where it
goes... 14 oz. of silver would make it very worthwhile in those days.
As I mentioned before, ICPMS would be very useful in this instance, but,
there is little to no ref. data of proven unadulterated Northern Ag. to cross
ref. the results with; however, there could be element indicators from
such an analysis to bring the riddle that bit closer to it's origin - even
between West and East would be useful. I still think it's origins will be from
the East.
Regards, Bernard
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