While draining the oil I took a sample for Blackstone labs, which has become somewhat commonplace for my cars - especially the ones that are raced.

The shinny dots all over the filter that looks like metal flakes is just a reflection of the camera's flash on the wet oil. The funky stuff at the ends of the filter appears to be the fibers of the filter separating.

WTH is "mothballed oil"? You didn't mean it literally, did you?