silver wedding band update

[Mainedigger]

Am still searching records trying to find out whom this may have belonged to. If you remember this was one of the first finds I made at the old farm site I have been hunting. It is inscribed on the inside "june 30th 84" no initials, also says sterling. The script looks old style and it was heavily tarnished when I first found it, so much so I didn;t even realize it was silver at first.(wasn;t even sure it was a ring). Which leads me to believe the date is 1884, not 1984 (possibly even 1784) I am assuming it is a wedding band and am looking at marriage records for that date..no luck thus far. I have some help from some VERY enthused women at the Historical society who are pouring thru town records, church records etc. While I think it is a wedding band, I haven;t ruled out engagement ring, or possibly birthday ring. Any other ideas? How bout some advice on the age of it? I would like to find out whom it belonged to first for curiosity sake and second to get it returned to any descendent still living. I already checked with the landowner and its not his mother's or grandmothers or any other relative he knows of. It was found near an old road that travelled down thru the farm to the shore, so basically it may be anyone's that may have just been walking thru, but I wanna do my best to know for sure.
I would appreciate any and all input or ideas on this.....Thanks...

 

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[bazinga]

I think that it is YOUR ring now

 

[Postalrevnant]

Congratulations on your new silver ring. It does appear that this is a task probably not to be completed. I do however wish you luck and hope that someone provides some insight, but it does seem like not even a shot in the dark.

Postalrevnant

 

[Salvager]

Good luck!!!

It's GREAT to see you have such good intentions!!!

 

[Bjorn_MD]

Hi, nice ring and cool research.

I think the stamp "sterling" may help you date it better. Perhaps some else can chime in on this.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Don't know how old it is but it's a great find.

Congrats

Badger

 

[The Gemologist]

Well i'm a jeweler in the real world and i'd suggest that the use of the term sterling is a modern event. I'm not sure of the year, but the FTC mandated US manufacturers that they must hallmark the purity of the metal used in the jewelry. I think the year they started doing was in the mid 50's.

Also the style is very modern.

Sorry I vote 1984.

But nice find

 

[Mainedigger]

Gem....thanks for that and don't apologize for stating fact as you know it...not being a jeweler myself the sterling mandate was something I was not aware of. (more prove one is NEVER too old to learn things so long as he is willing to listen... )The only reason I was thinking possibly 1884 was the age of other finds I was making in the area, the age of the area I was hunting, and the style of the script used for engraving (however old script could be used in modern times). Shows how much I know about jewelry as well, I thought the style looked older, but now from you know it is a modern design, go figure...I'm wrong...AGAIN!!! Also I felt the ring had been in the ground for a long time due to the heavy, heavy tarnishing on the ring, however heavy oxidized ground would have a rapid aging effect on silver ( I would guess?). Another fact that supports your suspicions is that I googled the days of the week for 1784, 1884 and 1984...for 1784 and 1884 they were weekdays, June 30,1984 was a Saturday and a more likely day to be married on rather than a weekday. So thanks to your input and some other supporting facts, I have to re-route my search to 1984, and instead of giving the ring to a grand-daughter, I may be able to return it to the actual bride...
Again, thanks for your input, it may prove to be a big factor in finding its owner.
Also thanks to all who have posted, I agree under normal circumstances the ring would rightfully be mine, however, I live on an island with only 300 year round residents and I am either related to or know most everyone here and the ones I am not related to, my wife is. Hence the extra effort to find its owner... Besides, it was a thrill finding it, and I would be thrilled if I can't find out who's it was and end up keeping it, but would be thrilled even more seeing the reaction of someone who thought their wedding band was lost forever...now that is priceless...
MD

 

[Keith IL]

They switched from marking silver from sterling to .925 in the early 1970's.My guess is that it is 1884. Heres a link that might help on hallmarks if any are present.
http://www.925-1000.com/
great find too

 

[The Gemologist]

It's fun to work on finding the owner and i'm glad you liked my feedback

Tom