gtoast99
Sr. Member
I'm usually looking for CW relics, but today I got something a little different. It was fun seeing that shiny yellow metal in the hole! It's been a long time coming.
I've posted a picture of the two hallmarks which indicate 18k but I was hoping some experts might chime in if the style or particular marks might give some idea of age. Thoughts anyone? The spot it was found has 200 years of use, so I don't know.
There are hand etched initials inside as well, and I'll be looking to return it to an owner if it's modern. If it's older it might be more challenging, but I will still try to narrow down who it might have belonged to.
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!
UPDATE - so I have to let you all in on something. I withheld one tiny bit of information so I could get some unbiased opinions on the age of this ring without swaying anyone's opinion. Remember how I said there are hand scratched initials inside? Well, there are two numbers in between them - almost certainly the year they were married. I wish they had used the full year, now I know the year but not the century!! So in any case, the letters are 83. I think this thread has pretty well ruled out 1983. So I'm left with 1883 or 1783. There has been some excellent feedback in this thread, but I'm still not sure which century. I'm leaning towards 1883, but not sure. I have found flat buttons and tombac here before, so who knows.
In any case I'm going to set up a meeting with an expert in antique and estate jewelry here soon. I probably won't be able to until some time in the middle of next week though. The initials are hard to read (lightly hand scratched in fancy cursive) so hopefully the expert can read them better with a loupe. I wish I could get them to photograph, but I had a hard enough time getting a good pic of the stamps! Once the expert hopefully confirms 1883 or 1783, I'll start looking at marriage rolls for that year for the initials inside.
Sometimes when you dig something up, the digging has only just begun! Stay tuned for more updates as I get them!
I've posted a picture of the two hallmarks which indicate 18k but I was hoping some experts might chime in if the style or particular marks might give some idea of age. Thoughts anyone? The spot it was found has 200 years of use, so I don't know.
There are hand etched initials inside as well, and I'll be looking to return it to an owner if it's modern. If it's older it might be more challenging, but I will still try to narrow down who it might have belonged to.
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!
UPDATE - so I have to let you all in on something. I withheld one tiny bit of information so I could get some unbiased opinions on the age of this ring without swaying anyone's opinion. Remember how I said there are hand scratched initials inside? Well, there are two numbers in between them - almost certainly the year they were married. I wish they had used the full year, now I know the year but not the century!! So in any case, the letters are 83. I think this thread has pretty well ruled out 1983. So I'm left with 1883 or 1783. There has been some excellent feedback in this thread, but I'm still not sure which century. I'm leaning towards 1883, but not sure. I have found flat buttons and tombac here before, so who knows.
In any case I'm going to set up a meeting with an expert in antique and estate jewelry here soon. I probably won't be able to until some time in the middle of next week though. The initials are hard to read (lightly hand scratched in fancy cursive) so hopefully the expert can read them better with a loupe. I wish I could get them to photograph, but I had a hard enough time getting a good pic of the stamps! Once the expert hopefully confirms 1883 or 1783, I'll start looking at marriage rolls for that year for the initials inside.
Sometimes when you dig something up, the digging has only just begun! Stay tuned for more updates as I get them!
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