Could this be a trade ring?

VThistorybuff

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Found this brass & glass ring in the yard of a 200 year old house in VT. The site has yielded items from as far back as the 1700s (eg, 1751 KGII halfpenny; pewter buttons & spoons) but mostly 1800s. The ring was about 10?-12? down. It?s crudely made. Nothing is symmetrical, not even the facets on the glass jewel. The patina seems quite advanced to me. The only other ring I?ve been able to find online that bears any similarity to mine is one that?s purported to be a 1600s fur trade ring from upstate NY (see pic). So my question is whether mine could also be a fur trade ring, even if from a later period. Thoughts?
 

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Upvote 1

ARC

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Last edited:

ARC

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I think there is some misconception...

Do not mistake confidence for "cockiness".
 

ARC

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Bah... Normally it would be time for more coffee...

But i think i am gonna skip right to Rum.

:P
 

Tpmetal

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? ? ?

Abrasive ? are you joking ? IF not...How so ?

Hmmm... you must be... OR....?


Oh no... arrrg... not you too. heh

lol Not saying you are wrong or anything, just saying you seem to piss a lot of people off with how you choose to address them.
 

Tpmetal

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I think there is some misconception...

Do not mistake confidence for "cockiness".

Personally i think the problem is that so called "confidence" is what makes people disregard what you have to say...even if you are correct...even if you are an expert. Just something to think about.
 

ARC

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lol Not saying you are wrong or anything, just saying you seem to piss a lot of people off with how you choose to address them.

Hmmm... ? Did i piss you off ? ? ?

Or others that i do not know about ? ? ?

When you are a prominent fixture in these types of threads you are bound to piss someone off now and then... especially when "shorthand" responses by me are typical.

How i choose to address someone ?... i dont follow you on this... DO YOU ACTUALLY slow down and read verbatim my posts ?

This is news to me... and did not know i was "choosing" any particular "way".

PErhaps... that is just me.
 

ARC

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PS... this is exactly why TEXTING sucks. heh
 

Tpmetal

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Hmmm... ? Did i piss you off ? ? ?

Or others that i do not know about ? ? ?

When you are a prominent fixture in these types of threads you are bound to piss someone off now and then... especially when "shorthand" responses by me are typical.

How i choose to address someone ?... i dont follow you on this... DO YOU ACTUALLY slow down and read verbatim my posts ?

This is news to me... and did not know i was "choosing" any particular "way".

PErhaps... that is just me.

No didn't piss me off. It may just be just who you are but there is a pattern I noticed, and it seems each time you don't understand why the person is upset. Just wanted to give you some insight from the other side of what I was interpreting. you can take it or leave it, ill still keep reading and learning from your posts either way.
 

Tpmetal

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PS... this is exactly why TEXTING sucks. heh

exactly why i don't use social media and such as well. This is a problem I have as well... not trying to single you out. But from my experience I realize it is hard to notice when I am doing it until someone points it out. something i have been trying to work on. These things are stuff like being short or dismissive of people, or knowing so much about something I jump to the end game and dismiss the persons thoughts or opinions before even hearing the whole thing. stuff like that which I don't always realize it offends people.
 

pepperj

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The only ring I could find online that resembled mine in any substantial way was the one from Worthpoint that claimed to be a 1600s Iroquois trade ring. So I posted here to *ask whether* I'd found something along the same lines. The title of the thread begins with "Could" ffs. If the answer to that is No, I have no prob with it. I just want to know what I found bc the site where I found it has some local importance. In fact, I'd actually prefer it *not* be a trade ring bc I'm hoping it belonged to someone specific who lived at that site. Whether it's a trade ring or not, it's definitely not from an effing gumball machine and the dude who keeps saying so is really just embarrassing himself. I've shown it to curators at major history museums and so far *not one* has placed it later than 1830. It's a legitimately old ring whose origins are still unknown.

Don't get me wrong "I see where/how you got the information/reference and the similarities between the two rings.
What is the creditability of he WP site if they reference a seller site that posts u the seller opinion of the item that is often embellishing an item to sell it for a few more $$$.
Then again we all use it for a reference base to try to get a sense of what we found in the dirt to begin with.

Now where do I get my thought/little knowledge base from and that comes from digging in the dirt for 55yrs probably now. "Knee high to a grasshopper" Well the rubber boots were to the knee when I sunk in the quick sand while out looking for arrowheads and had to be recovered. (scary at the time).
I will say this if I dug your ring the same ?? would come up-and what period did the ring come from.
That being said-because few have not said-Nice recovery-congrats on the ring. I really would of stopped, thought could it be? Would it be? Too cool! All the time I question the possibility of a what a find like this could be, even after 5 decades of recovering things.
 

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VThistorybuff

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exactly why i don't use social media and such as well. This is a problem I have as well... not trying to single you out. But from my experience I realize it is hard to notice when I am doing it until someone points it out. something i have been trying to work on. These things are stuff like being short or dismissive of people, or knowing so much about something I jump to the end game and dismiss the persons thoughts or opinions before even hearing the whole thing. stuff like that which I don't always realize it offends people.

This thread is running off the rails and I'd delete the whole thing if I could figure out how. If anyone does know, tell me how and I'd be happy to. I shouldn't have even responded to AARC. He clearly just likes to fight and I took the bait. My mistake.
 

Tpmetal

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This thread is running off the rails and I'd delete the whole thing if I could figure out how. If anyone does know, tell me how and I'd be happy to. I shouldn't have even responded to AARC. He clearly just likes to fight and I took the bait. My mistake.
Na he means well, and is a valuable resource like many others on this site. and I learned a lot in this thread, be a shame to delete it.
 

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VThistorybuff

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Don't get me wrong "I see where/how you got the information/reference and the similarities between the two rings.
What is the creditability of he WP site if they reference a seller site that posts u the seller opinion of the item that is often embellishing an item to sell it for a few more $$$.
Then again we all use it for a reference base to try to get a sense of what we found in the dirt to begin with.

Now where do I get my thought/little knowledge base from and that comes from digging in the dirt for 55yrs probably now. "Knee high to a grasshopper" Well the rubber boots were to the knee when I sunk in the quick sand while out looking for arrowheads and had to be recovered. (scary at the time).
I will say this if I dug your ring the same ?? would come up-and what period did the ring come from.
That being said-because few have not said-Nice recovery-congrats on the ring. I really would of stopped, thought could it be? Would it be? Too cool! All the time I question the possibility of a what a find like this could be, even after 5 decades of recovering things.

Thanks, man. I'm not sure why folks here seem to think I was absolutely claiming it was a trade ring rather than just asking. Maybe I should've posted it in the ID forum instead but I thought it made sense to post in the forum where people with some specific knowledge about trade rings were more likely to be looking. As for Worthpoint and eBay, they're not proof of anything. Gotta take them with a huge grain of salt. Which is why I posted here to ask bc I didn't want to rely on those sources. So far I've had one guy say it's a trade ring and several say it's not. All good. As I said earlier in the thread, the more I research the ring, the less it seems like a trade item.
 

ARC

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This thread is running off the rails and I'd delete the whole thing if I could figure out how. If anyone does know, tell me how and I'd be happy to. I shouldn't have even responded to AARC. He clearly just likes to fight and I took the bait. My mistake.

Man... you cannot be seriously in that opinion after i did not bail on you and your thread.

I think it may be you looking for confrontation... it least this is now becoming more obvious.

I have no stake in this game here.

In fact... i will add you to my "ignore posts from this user list" if you dont come to this realization... SOON. heh
 

JerV3

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It's a nice ring/find for sure.

It is old no doubt about that one.

I am not able to give any info on the ring sorry.

But man this used to be a good friendly place to come to.

Now anymore it just seems that there are so many bitter individuals out there.

This is a hobby meant to be fun. Meant to get out doors spend time with friends etc.

Yes everyone wants to come home with silver and gold etc.

Posting finds in hopes to learn about them from others who have more knowledge is where it's at.

Seeing people go back and fourth about who's right and who's wrong is for children.

We share our thoughts and ideas to learn more about our finds. Not bash bring down or flex our ignorance.

This is the very reason I stopped posting my finds.

Sucks to I enjoy sharing the things I dig with other like minded people.

We are digging great items just about everyday to.

Hope to see a shift in the forum again some day.

Jeremy
 

DigToChina

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Go back through the thread. I have no problem with anyone who says "not a trade ring." I have a problem with someone who says "It came from a gumball machine."

I read it all. If he made a suggestion it?s from a gum ball machine or a Cracker Jack box, who cares? You have it in your hand and only you can see some of the details. It?s a nice find regardless and I hope when you find someone qualified that can get it into their hands and authenticate it that it turns out to be a trade ring and if not that, that it is still old. And if it?s not, again, who cares? We all dig junk from the ground and sometimes the junk is nice...
 

Muddyhandz

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I'm only speaking from the experience that I have from a certain time frame during the fur trade era. Somewhere around the later 18th to early 19th century. At earlier sites, there's only been Jesuit rings that have no stones.
Those from the Eastern area would have more earlier rings lost from soldiers or colonial settlers but there's little information on trade rings from that period outside of Jesuit rings.

I just moved to a new house and all my site collections are sealed in boxes but still took the time to open one to show a few examples of what you would expect out here to find as trade rings.

nipple.jpg

All of these glass center stones are faceted but typically wear smooth due to the softness of the glass. One shown here is what is known as a "nipple" ring. All of these are attached to just indented circles with no claw attachment whatsoever.

missing stones.jpg

The side stones are just glass chips that are embedded into circles and often fall out. One example, (first picture) was missing the stones and the owner applied red ochre to the slots.

I have no experience with Seneca sites and will not speak for what was used as trade rings there or anywhere that is earlier than the time frame I have experience with.
 

GoDeep

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