Corroded gold?

[donkarlos]

Well, this ring wasn't much of a looker but I suspected the stone was authentic though is now chipped. I thought the setting looked pretty strong. At least two other stones were missing.
Checking it out later I was surprised to see 18k on the inside but thought it might read 18k gp since I've never found gold with corrosion on it.
Anyway, I don't know if it was the alloy that rusted out or what but when I scraped off some it started to reveal the gold! It isnt totally clean yet but it's beyond wearable anyhow . I'm just glad for the surprise. It's one for the books - for me, anyhow.
HH

 

[mnruxpin]

if you test it, it might come up closer to 10k, just a guess

 

[Jason in Enid]

I could still be gold! I found a ring that looked similar to yours and I was pretty sure it was junk so I took sandpaper to the inside of it. Turns out it was 9K gold that had been in the water for a long time. Clean it and see what you get!

 

[CASPER-2]

if you test it, it might come up closer to 10k, just a guess

mnruxpin is right
would be 10k - not 18k

 

[donkarlos]

I'll have to try that- though I wonder if the test will be off since some of the copper or whatever is corroded out.
I should add that it rang up 12-22 on ctx.

 

[MTJosh]

I found one in similar condition. Cleaned it up and found the 10K mark. brand name on it puts it from 1915-1930 so is old gold.

 

[rons1947]

Several years ago,I found a very corroded band that was almost black,but it felt like it had some weight. I finally took a few moments and scrubbed it with some wet sand,and a little gold color shown through.A little later,at my car,I scraped the inside of the band and saw the 14k stamped inside.I had never seen a gold ring so corroded.Then,later at home,I gave it the stone and acid test,and and discovered that there was rose gold under the yellow gold.Very strange,but still gold.

 

[s1u2r3f4]

I've had a couple of cruddy brown golds come up. They cleaned up nicely. Guess they were down there awhile. Both were 14 k.

 

[donkarlos]

Thanks guys- what a great collection of corroded gold in this thread. stuff we don't see posted as commonly

 

[petersra]

I have read on the net that any gold less than 22k can corrode in salt water if left long enough, depending on the metal mix. I had a 14k ring that was very corroded around an applied raised surface pattern. It seems that many times stone settings and surface patterns are attached with gold solder less than the mark of the ring (10k solder in many cases) and once the solder starts to corrode it can leach to other areas of the ring that are of higher k. Don't know if it is 18k or not but an acid test should tell. Nice find, whether it is 10k or 18k, gold is always nice to find.

 

[donkarlos]

That makes sense- mine is marked 18k but I should report that it acid tested for 10k which seems to be par for the course, based on everyone's feedback. I'm working on it here and there and it is starting to look pretty great. More of a winter project but I'll throw up a finished pic before it gets recycled. Kind of nice to have a project piece to experiment with.