Gold bracelet!!??!! I hope!

[MackDigger]

Ok so I went to my favorite 100 year old dump site today where I have found old silver coins, junk jewelry, civil war relics and just about everything else you can imagine but never any gold. That is "I hope" until today. I got a nice hit on my AT pro dug down 4-6 inches and pulled out this beautiful bracelet! The bracelet itself was clearly platted since it is the greenish off color of corroded metal but what has me excited is the circle monogrammed piece in the middle. It has that unmistakable gleam of gold from the second I pulled it from the earth. I have a testing kit and will be testing it soon but what do you guys think? Also some other goodies including a headless soldier and some weird tool.

 

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[MackDigger]

It's similar owk but not identical the links in the bracket in myn are all the same and the bezel is a little different. I'm sure they were common back in the day and that they made both real and gold filled ones. Again I have tested myn and the middle is at least 14k. Not trying to be difficult but I trust my acid lol

 

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[Erik in NJ]

The pics are all pre cleaning. I haven't tried to clean it at all yet.

I assumed the pics were after cleaning. Based on that I'd say there's a fairly good chance the center insert is solid gold. I don't know whether it's a coin or not because as I said typically love tokens made into jewelry would have the heads-side of the coin exposed in some way, not buried, but it could be. Please don't scratch it any more! Put aluminum jelly on the bracelet and see how much plating is left, the jelly works really well on plated items. If you decide it might be a coin and are going to get it extracted from the bezel get a very reputable jeweler -- I remember seeing a gold coin ruined by a jeweler here several years back when extracted from a ring or piece of jewelry.

 

[OWK]

It's similar owk but not identical the links in the bracket in myn are all the same and the bezel is a little different. I'm sure they were common back in the day and that they made both real and gold filled ones. Again I have tested myn and the middle is at least 14k. Not trying to be difficult but I trust my acid lol

I don't feel you're being difficult at all.

I wouldn't give up on it.

Note that even in the picture I posted, the center landing (the circle bit) appears to be a different metal than the rest of the bracelet.

Could very well be that ALL of them were made with a solid gold center.

You wouldn't want people engraving a lightly plated surface.

 

[Erik in NJ]

View attachment 1203290

An Image from the link AARC provided, shows what is likely an identical piece, with a similar engraving style.

It is described as a gold-filled piece.

Wow that's a VERY close match! Nice ID!

 

[MackDigger]

That's true OWK and like I said I tested it and it's at least 14k gold. It does kinda suck that it's likely not a coin though I really had my hopes up.

 

[testing123]

Interesting piece! Hard to tell from the pics if it's solid. Not sure of the best way to know for certain either. One thing to keep in mind if that a rolled gold piece will flake off gold when doing a scratch acid test. If gold comes off, that will test as gold. Can't tell for certain what's a millimeter under that surface. Would be a sweet find if it's solid!

 

[OWK]

If you follow AARC's link even further, you will see that your piece is/was marked CARMEN D.F.B. Co. Made in USA

If you have all of the links, you will find this on the inside of the band.

1940's vintage.

 

[Erik in NJ]

That's true OWK and like I said I tested it and it's at least 14k gold. It does kinda suck that it's likely not a coin though I really had my hopes up.

Well you can think of it this way: the numismatic value of the coin is gone once a coin is made into a love token--it's just a non-tangible cool factor that it WAS a coin. If that center disc is a high carat solid gold it's likely as good as any gold love token. The engraving is beautiful.

 

[OWK]

CARMEN is the name of the pattern.

They made several different styles of center (locket, engraving landing, star of David, Etc.)

 

[OWK]

I give up. heh

Give up?

You got the ball rolling!

 

[OWK]

I don't know why, but I really love internet research.

(AARC, you are quite good at it).

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Congrats awesome find! Gold of any kind is great!

The weird tool maybe a specialized foot for a sewing machine, also the piece in the bottom left in the pic looks like a reg sewing machine foot.