My Find of the Year: Gold Civil War Ring (Updated 2 new pictures)

DJ_Quinn

Bronze Member
Apr 25, 2005
1,253
40
Southeastern Ireland
Rusty, like everyone else here, I'm sure, I am waiting to see what that ring's appraised value is???? It must be worth a small fortune, it's so unique and historical, and such a fascinating relic. Not to mention it's finely crafted gold. Any indication on it's value yet???
 

pgill

Bronze Member
Jun 4, 2005
1,258
22
Northampton, UK
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver Sabre II / Garrett Ace 250
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hi Rusty,

What a great find you have there.... That is definately a face that is showing inside the ring.... the funny thing is that it seems to look like it is of the same metal. I wonder if the face was not carved into the ring also.
As for the steamer, it may not be of any steamer we know, but just a picture of a basic steamer.... To carve a real steamer into a ring would be very difficult. I think it may have belonged to either a high-up crew member like a captain, or could of been made by a person who was just fanatical about boats in those days. Or it could of belonged to one of the gamblers who frequented these steamer gambling ships, won lots of money and had the ring made.
Whichever way we look at it, what you have found there is a piece of art which will take us a very long time to equal.....

Well done and God bless
Peter
 

Redfoot

Jr. Member
Jul 12, 2006
96
3
Nashville, MI
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT and Ace 250
If you never find anything again you can't complain about that one. It is awesome. Congrats.
 

d2

Bronze Member
Mar 18, 2005
1,515
981
Arkansas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro/Cibola Garrett ATPro
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Could the picture on the ring be a picture of a "blockade runner"? I saw something a while back that showed a blockade runner and it looked sorta like the picture on the ring....d2
 

dg39

Bronze Member
Mar 30, 2006
1,869
37
Deep in the swamps of Louisiana..
Detector(s) used
Ace 250--White's 6000 DI Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I really believe the steamboat is a stylized boat and not any certain named boat. Shame that no concrete history will ever be discovered about it. It is a wonderful item, and if rings could talk. WOW what a story it would tell!
DG
 

Moonshadow

Silver Member
Sep 25, 2004
3,257
128
Aiken, SC
Detector(s) used
Ace 250
Cabelefunk said:
Snuff Box Ring, it was ungentlemanly like to walk around with a snuff box, so they made these types of rings so the men could have their snuff out in public. Raised in Lower Arkansas.

I was thinking the same thing!

WOW!!!! Just awesome!!

HH,
Moon
 

Eu_citzen

Gold Member
Sep 19, 2006
6,484
2,111
Sweden
Detector(s) used
White's V3, Minelab Explorer II & XP Deus.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Re: My Find of the Year: Gold Civil War Ring

laralucine said:
oh my god - that's gorgeous!!!
;D yes.
 

RonNewbie

Jr. Member
Jan 14, 2007
76
0
Oklahoma City, OK
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, MXT
Gee, I gotta tell ya, if I EVER found anything that nice and that valuable, I would probably hang my detector on the wall and quit detecting altogether....at least after I changed my drawers. Crap, that's an incredible find. WOW... It would be great to know how it came to be lost...was it buried on the finger of the dead man who had owned it? Or, since you found the buttons too, maybe he wasn't buried, maybe he was shot and killed on the spot. Gee, there's no telling what the story is behind it. Congratulations on it guy...that's a heck of a find.
 

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
8,340
177
Bavaria Germany
Detector(s) used
Minelab XT70, Fisher 1280, Garrett Ace 250 and MH5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Very beautiful ring and an amazing find of a life time, congrats! HH, Mike
 

vegasmtl

Full Member
Jan 11, 2006
243
4
South Texas
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Bullseye II
I gotta say, if this doesn't make the W/E mag, then nothing should! What a great find, and a truly interesting story that might be behind it.
Have you tried looking at troop pics from the area, to see if you see anything? Just a thought.

I would say "HH", but I think we all know you have gotten the lion's share of it already!!

vegasmtl
 

R

rammjäger

Guest
Could have been also a snuff/rappee ring :o
 

treasurehawk7411

Tenderfoot
Jan 28, 2007
7
0
Tulsa,OK
:o

Hello to All,
I too, have found what I believe to be a Civil War gold ring!!!! While hunting a Civil War campsite in Arkansas, I was hunting the property where a pond had been dug! Naturally my thinking was such that I realized, "Hey, if this place had Civil War activity on it that long ago, just maybe while they were digging and moving all that soil around, they may just have churned it enough to bring some of the oldest stuff to the top!!" Within about 30 minutes of hunting the outer perimeter of the pond levee, I got a good strong repeatable signal about 3" deep with my Fisher CZ-6a. I stepped my floral shovel down in the soil about halfway up the blade,having cut a good sized plug, I then flipped it over!!! Wow!!!! Much to my surprise, there it was, a gold ring that looked like it was just lost yesterday!!!!! The sad part is, that I did not fare as well as Rusty did with his find! My ring came out of the ground with a broken band and a missing stone! The band itself looks real similar to the one Rusty found. Who knows, maybe by slim chance, the same craftsman created both!! I myself, have never seen a band quiet like this one!! It is hollow in the middle of it!!! I believe a friend of mine called it, Hollow Fill ?????? Sorry for such a lengthy story,but that's how I am!! lol I will try to get a pic. posted of it as soon as possible!!!
Take care all,
Gary
 

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