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Element coin. Dave Hamric sells element samples under the name Metallium. He's developed a line of coins struck out of various common and uncommon metals: They are quite lovely, and very reasonably priced, considering the difficulty of creating some of them. Here is the back side of this coin (click either picture to see it larger):  Click the Sample Group link below to see many other coins made of various elements, or click the link to his website above if you want to buy one like this. This one is particularly funny: Money made out of anti-mony. Source: Dave Hamric Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 30 September, 2007 Price: $19 Size: 0.75" Purity: >99% Sample Group: Coins |
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Crystal from Oliver Sacks. This is a crystal of antimony I got from Oliver Sacks while on a visit to New York. Source: Oliver Sacks Contributor: Oliver Sacks Acquired: 4 August, 2004 Price: Donated Size: 2.5" Purity: 99.65% |
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Broken crystal. These are a few crystals from a box full I bought from Hall Mark Metals (who also sell on eBay, see source link). I was expecting bulk antimony in small, dull chunks, but it turned out that with a little washing up this material is beautiful just as it comes. The crystals are bright and shiny, similar in some ways to polycrystalline bismuth, though antimony does not form the interesting hopper crystals bismuth does. I chose this sample to represent its element in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of.  Source: eBay seller hallmarkmetals Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 28 February, 2004 Price: $2.60/pound Size: 1.5" Purity: 99.65% |
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Museum-grade sample. In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings). This vial of antimony contains 50+ grams of broken ingots showing the beautiful, almost bismuth-like crystal surfaces. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 24 February, 2004 Price: See Listing Size: 2" Purity: >99% Sample Group: RGB Samples |
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Museum-grade sample. In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings). This vial of antimony contains 50+ grams of broken ingots showing the beautiful, almost bismuth-like crystal surfaces. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 24 February, 2004 Price: See Listing Size: 2" Purity: >99% Sample Group: RGB Samples |
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Link in multi-metal chain. I had been wondering about how hard it would be to make a multi-part graphite mold with which I could cast chain links around each other. That is, given an existing link, cast a new one interlinked with it. This turns out to be quite do-able: Here is the mold I made (using my drill press as a vertical mill and a round-ended router bit):   In case you ever want to try this, I'll give you an important hint: The third link is the real test, not the second one. Using this mold I have cast a chain out of all the metals I can easily cast. Click the Sample Group link below to see all the links together. This chain (counted as one sample) is the 600th sample added to my collection. Source: www.theantimonyman.com Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 9 August, 2003 Price: $1/pound Size: 3" Purity: 99.9% Sample Group: Multi-metal Chain |
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Cast ingot. I made this one-pound (approximately) ingot by casting molten antimony into a graphite mold. When it was cooled to the point I could pick it up with a paper towel, I noticed a must unusual thing: The block was pinging like a bowl of Rice Crispies made out of silver bells. It went on for minutes and was really quite beautiful, much nicer than the tin or indium cries one reads about. I wonder if it's a coincidence that three elements in a row in the periodic table, indium, tin, and antimony, all cry when cooled or bent. I hope to record this antimony sound soon. Source: www.theantimonyman.com Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 8 August, 2003 Price: $4/pound Size: 3.5" Purity: 99.9% |
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Bulk Commercial Grade. This is nice clean bulk grade antimony metal, in the form of broken polycrystalline lumps. I've melted and cast this stuff (see next two samples) and it's really quite an odd metal to cast, probably because it's right on the line between being a metal and not a metal. I think it must have a very strong surface tension, because when pouring it doesn't want to get started, and it sort of goes in fits if you don't keep pouring rapidly. Source: www.theantimonyman.com Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 7 August, 2003 Price: $4/pound Size: 0.25" Purity: 99.9% |
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Shiny crystals. These are very beautiful antimony crystals. The price is a little high compared to the bulk price of the metal, but these crystals are larger and shinier than bulk material. Source: eBay seller ringman001 Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 7 February, 2003 Price: $20/5 ounces Size: 1" Purity: 99.9% |
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Sample from the Everest Set. Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (except gasses) weigh about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Rob Accurso Contributor: Rob Accurso Acquired: 7 February, 2003 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: >99% |
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Sample from the RGB Set. The Red Green and Blue company in England sells a very nice element collection in several versions. Max Whitby, the director of the company, very kindly donated a complete set to the periodic table table. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description or the company's website which includes many photographs and pricing details. I have two photographs of each sample from the set: One taken by me and one from the company. You can see photographs of all the samples displayed in a periodic table format: my pictures or their pictures. Or you can see both side-by-side with bigger pictures in numerical order. The picture on the left was taken by me. Here is the company's version (there is some variation between sets, so the pictures sometimes show different variations of the samples):  Source: Max Whitby of RGB Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB Acquired: 25 January, 2003 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: 99.6% |
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Antimony Goblets. I'm not sure about these goblets. They are stamped "E.P. ANTIMONY" and "JAPAN" on the bottom, so the seller was certainly justified in selling them as "Antimony Goblets". Reader Paul Roberts suggests that maybe "E.P." stands for Electro Plated, which seems like a good guess. One of the goblets has a piece broken off its lip, so I scraped the plating off one side and analyzed the base metal by x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, University of Illinois (partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DEFG02-91-ER45439). The result is a complex alloy with the following components: 49% lead 23% antimony 10% tin 17% silver 1% copper The silver part is probably either from incomplete scraping of what is obviously silver plate (based on how it tarnishes), or the machine is seeing some of the back side of the sample: I doubt very much that they would have wasted silver in the base metal. So, there really is a good bit of antimony, but it's not the major component of the alloy. There are a whole lot of different alloys containing various mixtures of tin, antimony, lead, silver, and copper. They have names like "German silver", "Pewter", etc. Why some company decided to name this one after its antimony content I'm not sure: Maybe they just really didn't want to call it lead. I suspect that my other "antimony" objects are made of similar sorts of alloys with varying amounts of antimony depending on what mine was close to the factory that made them. Source: eBay seller cnull Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 16 October, 2002 Price: $1.04 Size: 7" Purity: 23% |
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Hand Painted Miniature Antimony Models. I guess including the element name on the packaging is no stranger than calling old metal toys "tin toys" or "cast iron banks". Somehow it just seems that way in this case. See the antimony goblets below for information about what the alloy is actually likely to be. Source: eBay seller handmedownz Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 9 August, 2002 Price: $5 Size: 4" Purity: >20% |
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Antique Jelly Jar. Yet another item claimed to be made of antimony. I'm using this one for donations to support the apple bowl outside my office. See the antimony goblets below for information about what the alloy is actually likely to be. Source: eBay seller maurineandken Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 25 July, 2002 Price: $30 Size: 4" Purity: >20% |
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Foo Dog incense burner. Another item claimed to be made of antimony. No verification, but no reason to doubt it either. Kind of cute. See the antimony goblets below for information about what the alloy is actually likely to be. I used to have this labeled as a "foo lion" incense burner because that's what the eBay seller described it as. But then reader Wendy Hart kindly pointed out that it's actually a dog, not a lion. Source: eBay seller rmoy Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 25 July, 2002 Price: $5 Size: 3" Purity: >20% |
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Crystals. This is pure crystalline antimony. Source: Mark Rollog Contributor: Mark Rollog Acquired: 20 July, 2002 Price: Donated Size: 0.3" Purity: >99% |
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Antique brooch pin. Antimony is a major component of pewter, which is popular for making this sort of item out of. So it's perhaps not too farfetched that someone would make a pin like this out of plain antimony, though the only evidence for this is the unsubstantiated claim of the eBay seller. But why would he lie? See the antimony goblets below for information about what the alloy is actually likely to be. Source: eBay seller jnqmn Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 18 July, 2002 Price: $5 Size: 3" Purity: >20% |
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Antimony star target. (External Sample) Animony stars, formed when antimony metal cools in a circular pot, were popular with the alchemists. This is a very high-tech variation: It was made (and used) as a sputtering target. I'm not sure why someone would want an antimony sputtering target (used to coat something with antimony in a high vacuum chamber). But of course all you have to do is type "antimony sputtering" into google and you'll find out. Location: Ethan Currens Photographed: 4 September, 2007 Size: 2" Purity: >99% |
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Native antimony. (External Sample) Natural mineral sample. Location: The Harvard Museum of Natural History Photographed: 2 October, 2002 Size: 4" Purity: >90% |
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