My first ring! Possibly a colonial silver wedding band???

DeerHavenDigger

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Jul 20, 2016
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My first ring! Possibly a colonial silver wedding band??? UPDATED PICS

DSC00239.JPG DSC00230.JPG DSC00240.JPG DSC00232.JPG DSC00238.JPG DSC00229.JPG Hi there, I've been trying to work my hayfield before 3rd cutting gets thick, and the last two nights have been good, a large cent yesterday and today a ring! I'm just hoping someone can give me some help I think it's silver? And I think it's old. It seems to have no markings and a clean cut through it at the bottom I would assume. The outside of the cut has been smoothed out but the inside is visible. It.came out with black tarnish over most of it except on the outer edges closest to the skin. Could the ring have been plated silver? Some of the black seems to cling in patches. The edges with the least tarnish also seem the shiniest as though it is plated or has some sort of finish that is missing through the middle of the band. So far I have found 7 flat buttons, 2 large cents, an 1860's pat. Buckle at this property, is it possible this is my first old silver from here? I'd love any info or help on this :) *I hope the updated pics are better than the originals...i'm at the new camera learning stage so sorry if they aren't the best. The square mark at this point cannot be read by me, so i'm not sure if i should keep cleaning till i can identify it, or leave it as is. I was trying to show size of the ring with the quarter, but it sort of made it look bigger than it is lol
 

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redcobra8u

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Seems to me that if it were silver, you'd be able to clean it up and get all of the black off....or at least more than what did come off it. It could very well be plated. I'd try and clean the inside a bit more using electrolosis and baking soda
 

A2coins

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Welcome seems like your doing very well. I agree that if it was silver it should clean up pretty easy What VDI id it ring up as on the AT PRO I know a lot of the old jewelery wasn't marked are there pits in the ring its hard to see from pics
 

toasted

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In my experience, really old silver especially from farm fields usually has a very stubborn black tarnish on it. So it could be old and solid. Better pics would help too
 

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DeerHavenDigger

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Thanks so much, I am trying to clean it more, seems slow going at the moment. With a magnifier I can see a small black square mark of some sort under the black crud. It rang up at 74-75 @ about 5 inches down. I have noticed my copper cents are corroded pretty bad, I think the fertilizer from the corn is taking a toll on the goodies :(
 

Terry Soloman

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Congrats on the find! Take it to your local jeweler and get their opinion. :occasion14:
 

Scrappy

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Don't clean it, post some better pics of what you have, including any bench marks. I repeat don't clean it!
 

CRUSADER

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Thanks so much, I am trying to clean it more, seems slow going at the moment. With a magnifier I can see a small black square mark of some sort under the black crud. It rang up at 74-75 @ about 5 inches down. I have noticed my copper cents are corroded pretty bad, I think the fertilizer from the corn is taking a toll on the goodies :(

Yes fertilizer will do that.

Could be silver gilt, the style is the same as the copper gilt versions of the late 19th C.
 

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DeerHavenDigger

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Well, it might not be a favorite move but I decided to keep at it and after a few more rounds of the foil, baking soda and hot water method I have noticed the black is coming off almost enough to see the square mark in the ring. There is also something round looking, looks like an imperfection of something that could be a mark but I'm not sure yet. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get enough junk of to see the letters in the square completely!
 

Diggin Dude

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Nice ring!!! Congrats and HH
 

Dave N Japan

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Nice pic's Congrats
icon_thumright.gif
 

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It looks old to me, and like silver.

I don't know about "colonial" though. Colonial is specifically a designation for something from the period before the colonies became America. That term gets thrown around a lot for anything old.

Two out of three ain't bad!
 

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DeerHavenDigger

Greenie
Jul 20, 2016
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I'm not sure it would be colonial, but have reason to believe it is possible. If not it might be late 1700's nonetheless. It would likely depend on knowledge I can't attain. I have found early 1800's large cents and late 1700's flat buttons here so who knows :) Could also be 100 years later than that. I'm curious about that mark and whether I can figure out the maker, that would a really make this find awesome.
 

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