18K antique wedding band 1876

[harpp]

found in "hunted out" local park 6" down. i also dug quite a few pull tabs! finally the gold popped out!! WOO HOO

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

I really don't think it is from 1876. That looks like a modern design, must be another reason for the date. Also in 1906 the National gold and silver marking act was formed. That ring has an 18k mark, so you know it was made after 1906. I think the smooth edges on the ring is a modern design, I'm guessing it was made and lost in the 90's. Maybe I'm wrong about the edges and the 1876 date is the pattern that ring was designed from.

Regardless its a very nice find!

Keep @ It and HH!!

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

Great find, most likely the ring was made after 1906, they did not start using the 14k, 18k, 24k system for measurement of gold content until 1906.

 

[halfdime]

Could it be that the ring isn't from 1876, but was given on an anniversary? Perhaps the happy couple couldn't afford a ring like that when they got married. 1906 would have been their 30th, for example.

 

[Dirt Dobber]

Well aleast it's gold. WTG on finding it. D.D.

 

[Detectingfreak]

congratulations on the 18k 1876 gold ring!

 

[sellig]

Superb find,

"Hunted out" is an useless term in metal detecting !!!

 

[time4me]

The only thing better than a gold wedding band? A 19th century gold wedding band!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

I don't know when rings Began to be stamped, but I'd be willing to bet that it was before 1906.  From what I can tell, after that they were not required to be stamped, but if they were stamped, they had to be within a certain margin of error of the fineness stated.  (This law was amended in the 1970's and 80's, and the fineness tolerances were made more stringent. 

I have found Brass rings that were stamped "18" and "18K" before--even though they weren't...and I feel that they were likely pre-1900 rings, since no other items newer than 1880ish were found at either site.



So I'm just going to play Devil's Advocate here, and say that the ring was made around the time the date suggests


Regards,



Buckleboy

 

[Calworks]

BEAUTIFUL ring, someday my pull tabs will run out

 

[ModernMiner]

I don't know when rings Began to be stamped, but I'd be willing to bet that it was before 1906. From what I can tell, after that they were not required to be stamped, but if they were stamped, they had to be within a certain margin of error of the fineness stated. (This law was amended in the 1970's and 80's, and the fineness tolerances were made more stringent.

I have found Brass rings that were stamped "18" and "18K" before--even though they weren't...and I feel that they were likely pre-1900 rings, since no other items newer than 1880ish were found at either site.

So I'm just going to play Devil's Advocate here, and say that the ring was made around the time the date suggests

Regards,
Buckleboy

I'm going to have to agree with Buckles on this. I too have found 2- 18k stamped rings at CW spots. Here's one of them.
Also, here's a piece of an article that B|ker posted on one of my ring finds. Interesting info:
"Doug i think that your 18K may be real based on a 125 year old bracelet i found in Smithfield. I have the original web site link if you would like it."

The 1840s also saw the development of two techniques that would prove vitally important to the manufacture of inexpensive jewelry, which was beginning on a large scale in the U.S. and was already well under way in Birmingham, England. The first technique was electroplating, developed and patented in 1840 by the Elkingtons of Birmingham. The deposition of precious metal onto base metal using a direct electrical current was cheaper and much less dangerous than the age-old process of mercury gilding, though not as durable.

The second important process was rolled goldplating, brought to the U.S. from Great Britain in 1848. It was a big hit with New England jewelry manufacturers. Unlike electroplating, which is applied to a finished base metal article, rolled gold is a mechanical process for sheet and wire that is then used to manufacture a finished piece. The technique was derived from Sheffield plate, developed more than a century earlier, which is copper clad with silver and rolled to the desired thickness. Rolled gold is copper or brass clad with gold, also known as “gold-filled” in the United States. The metal “sandwich” was treated exactly the same as karat gold – stamped, engraved and fashioned into pieces that were identical in appearance to their solid gold counterparts. The French began to use the technique in the 1820s, calling it doublé d’or.

Hopefully your ring find is a legit 1876 -18K.
-MM-

 

[mastereagle22]

so you going to find the owner and return it?

 

[kimsdad]

That's one of the things that makes this a fun hobby. I wonder what those people were like, how long they lived, and how you may have even come into contact with their descendants without knowing it.

Interesting world!

Great find!!!!!

 

[CowboyKolo]

Well, with such an exact date on it, it wouldn't be hard to find who the people were...then it would just be a matter of going and looking for their obits to find their survivors and so on till ya found a relative if ya wanted to go that far back. If it were me, I'd probably at least find out who the people were that owned it...then find some excuse to go where they lived. If they lost that ring, lord only knows what else they dropped at home

 

[NGE]

I was thinking that for the engraving to look so good, that it would have to be newer manufacture. Because 18K is alot softer than 14k and I have worn my 14k band for 30 years and it is just starting to wear off. However, someone could have gotten caught cheating back then and the ring was pitched ......NGE

 

[topdog]

Congrats on a super find.

 

[Nana40]

WoW! This has got to be one of the best finds I've seen on here! LOVE the fact that it has the dates on it!

Many congrats to you on that find!!

Nana

 

[BuckleBoy]

Here is a photo of a ring we just found today. The site it is from was on a map from 1880, yet gone on the 1906 map--yes, the date of the later map is the same date as the Gold and Silver Marking Act. So the ring predates it.

The marking is identical to the ring posted above, yet it is brass. We find a lot of the brass rings--and some of them are marked (the marked ones always seem to be heavy brass ones...perhaps meant to fool the purchasers?). We think they were probably discarded after the gilding wore off them, since none of them seem to be damaged in any way.



Here is another one from a previous post of mine. It is merely marked "18," yet it comes from a site that was gone by the 1906 map as well. Most of the gilding remains on this ring.







Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Hello again,

Sigh, Pre 1906 lots of jewelry was fake and had fake markings on them... So in 1906 they created the Act. I looked at your new pictures post and I can see it close. Your ring looks to be a Solid 18k Gold and not plate. Like the brass ring pictured here most likely were.

Beautiful find!
Keep @ it and HH!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Hello again,

Sigh, Pre 1906 lots of jewelry was fake and had fake markings on them... So in 1906 they created the Act. I looked at your new pictures post and I can see it close. Your ring looks to be a Solid 18k Gold and not plate. Like the brass ring pictured here most likely were.

Beautiful find!
Keep @ it and HH!!

MUD,

I don't think the issue was ever whether or not it was real gold, but whether it could be marked "18K" and date from the 1870s...


-Buckles

 

[Marc(NB)]

unique find!! initials plus its dated makes it awesome