Silver, Gold and Copper at The Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas
Precious Metals at The Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas In May of 2025, my family and I visited The Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas. The museum has everything under the sun to do about Nevada including geology, animals, anthropology, vegetation and even Vegas entertainment stars. Our main interest there was in its collections of silver, gold and copper.
Here are some excerpts from the museum about these precious metals:
Silver
NEVADA IS KNOWN AS THE "SILVER STATE." Silver is less valuable per ounce than gold, but is more abundant.
The reactions of silver to light made it of primary use in photographs before the digital age.
One of silver's more interesting properties is that it kills microbes; it is increasingly used in medicine and decontamination efforts. Silver is most familiar, however, as ornamental. Silver jewelry and utensils, serving trays and vases have been made almost as long as silver has been mined.
 | Silver ore. The dark gray bands show what silver looks like in the ground, in the form of silver sulfide. This large block was mined in the Tem Piute district, Lincoln County. | |
 | A rare sheet of silver found in its metallic form | |
 | Nevada pin and earrings. Set in the center of the Nevada shaped pin is a silver dollar created at the U.S. mint in Carson City in 1891. This jewelry is from the Vail Pittman estate. |
Gold
THAT WORD BROUGHT MINERS THOUSANDS OF MILES TO NEVADA WITH DREAMS OF FORTUNES TO BE MADE. Nevada is still one of the top gold producers in the world, ranking with the countries of South Africa and Australia. Early gold mining found wealth in nuggets or veins, but gold mined today is usually in microscopic deposits. Gold, copper, and silver are the three noble metals— bright, ductile (draws into wire), malleable (can be shaped easily) and all conduct electricity. Gold does not react easily with other elements and is not poisonous so it can be used for dental work and even eaten. Gold can be easily worked into jewelry and other expensive ornaments. But most of all, gold is beautiful.
 | Fine flaky electrum (gold with silver) nugget was mined at the Round Mountain Gold Mine, 1992. |
 | Gold Ore from the Ophir Mine, Virginia City. Producing even more silver than gold, the Ophir was one of the richest of the Comstock Lode mines. Tiny gold particles sit near the top of this rock. |
 | Banded Gold in Chert from the Sleeper Mine, Hum-bolt County, NV. Thin gold veins run across this rock. This unusual necklace, bracelet and earrings are made of gold nuggets from Manhattan, NV. |
 | Gold Leaf and frame. Pounded whisper thin, gold leaf is used to highlight frames, sculptures and architecture. |
Copper
RICH COPPER DEPOSITS ARE PART OF NEVADA'S MINING HERITAGE, PARTICULARLY IN WHITE PINE COUNTY. Copper conducts our electronic world; circuit boards and wires depend on copper. It is easy to bend so copper is used for plumbing.
Copper forms alloys with tin, creating bronze, and with lead, creating brass. Turquoise is a mineral containing copper; that is where its blue green color comes from. Copper ores are primarily blue-green or black.
 | Natural metallic copper. Empire Mine, Yerington Because copper forms compounds easily, finding uncombined metallic copper in a mine is very rare. |
 | Melted copper. This copper has been smelted out of an ore to make relatively pure copper.. |
General Photos of the rest of the museum:
There is plenty to explore within inside and on the outside premises of The Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas. Take the extra time to read all the beautifully written museum cards that explain everything.
Conclusion: If you are visiting Las Vegas, Nevada then The Nevada State Museum is a must see stop for if you have a family or are a collector of precious metals. It's definitely a very well curated experience.
Please Sell Your Museum Quality Silver to The Silver Museum
We want to purchase all your antique sterling silver especially any pieces that have elaborate decorative work or that have any unusual themes. We are especially strong buyers of Tiffany & Co., Georg Jensen, Buccellati and Gorham and often are scouting out pieces and are willing to pay more to acquire these museum grade items to be able to add them into our own permanent collection. We can buy just single items, place settings, boxed sets, hollowware pieces and entire estate collections. We especially love buying from museums that are downsizing or from life long collectors who are looking to pass the torch and find a good home for their treasured collections.
We also buy all common grade flatware and hollowware items even if it is just worth scrap. We want flatware, hollowware, jewelry, bars, ingots and basically anything else that is made with silver or other precious metals.
Always fair and competitive quotes given.
We also buy common grade and scrap quality silver as well.
If you have items that you'd like to sell,
or even just want to get an idea on valuation
please click the email us button for a quote.
Please send us photos, measurements and item descriptions.If it's a hollowware piece please include the item's weight as well.
Thanks,
Greg Arbutine
Silver Museum Owner
The Silver Museum buys all sterling flatware and hollowware regardless if it is rare or not.
We want it all!
Please sell your Sterling Silver Pieces to The Silver Museum!
Please get our offer no matter what else you eventually do.
We are always looking for great pieces for our Museum.
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