Just a few relics

Ohio Jerry · Dec 30, 2008

The ring was a cool find but not sure what material it's made of or the significance of the 14 stamped inside. It's definitely not gold or silver. It rings a 69-70 on my dfx? Both toe taps from the same hole :thumbsup:

The ring sure looked like a wedding band while still in the dirt but now i have my doubts.

Could the 14 be the size?

mpostma · Jan 2, 2009

Hey Jerry,
We often get a January thaw. Problem is this year there is just so much snow I doubt we will lose anywhere near enough snow to let us get out there.
Hope you guys get some quality time to play!
Good Luck,
Mark

B|lker · Jan 2, 2009

Nice Digs Jerry. :thumbsup:

I did some some research on an ugly bracelet i found in the front yard of a 125year old house and i could have sworn they used rolled gold back them. It may be called gold filled. I can`t remember but now i want to find the site.

kdismuke1 · Jan 2, 2009

GREAT FINDS. :thumbsup:

silverfreak · Jan 2, 2009

Good stuff O.J. :thumbsup:

You never know what will pop out :thumbsup:

dfx willy · Jan 3, 2009

cool stuff jerry. willy.

BuckleBoy · Jan 3, 2009

Nice relics, Jerry.

As others have said, the stamping on the ring was to indicate it was "gold" (even though the ring was only plated, manufacturers weren't required to correctly represent the content of the ring with the mark inside at that point).

And I'll buy a mid-1800s date for a dollar. Probably the end date for such a ring would be the year of the Gold and Silver Marking Act. :wink:

Since it does say "14" incorrectly. (I have found several brass rings marked "18" too.) Occasionally we find one with a bit of gilding remaining.

Such rings seem to be a little rare in the panorama of "common housesite finds" like suspender clips, flat buttons, and harmonica reed plates. I think we've found ten or so similar rings this year--one of them was from a Civil War campsite that KFB found.

Best Wishes,

Buckles

diamondjim · Jan 5, 2009

ditto...

the ring is an intentional fake, the "14" meant to fool buyers, not a size. god aweful old for sure, back before marking laws enforced. I've got several...not actually "brass" but a yellow variety of "german silver." I've been trying to unravel the actual content of this alloy for a long time now...these rings are SO cool. Not plated, a yellow metal, you can actually polish that ring down to a shinny yellow again. I've got one I can ABSOLUTELY ID as wedding band from 1876, polish the puppy and it turns yellow, wear it and it goes dark again.

There likely was NEVER a gold plating on the ring ever...the metal alloy itself is a convincing yellow, but turns red badly when burried.

And yes, this is very, very likely a wedding band...super old and super cool...I believe based on various lines of evidence, these were sold up into the 1930's as a "poor man's wedding ring." My 1876 is unmarked, but CLEARLY the same metal as the much later ones I've got marked "18K."

It's like, have you ever been approached by the guy on the street corner selling 18K gold chains for 5 bucks? Same deal.

I do love finds like this, not actually "valuable" but deeply interesting...this was someone's prized wedding band at some point in the past...gotta wonder HOW it got were it did...and that's the fun part...

Ohio Jerry · Jan 5, 2009

diamondjim said:
ditto...

the ring is an intentional fake, the "14" meant to fool buyers, not a size. god aweful old for sure, back before marking laws enforced. I've got several...not actually "brass" but a yellow variety of "german silver." I've been trying to unravel the actual content of this alloy for a long time now...these rings are SO cool. Not plated, a yellow metal, you can actually polish that ring down to a shinny yellow again. I've got one I can ABSOLUTELY ID as wedding band from 1876, polish the puppy and it turns yellow, wear it and it goes dark again.

There likely was NEVER a gold plating on the ring ever...the metal alloy itself is a convincing yellow, but turns red badly when burried.

And yes, this is very, very likely a wedding band...super old and super cool...I believe based on various lines of evidence, these were sold up into the 1930's as a "poor man's wedding ring." My 1876 is unmarked, but CLEARLY the same metal as the much later ones I've got marked "18K."

It's like, have you ever been approached by the guy on the street corner selling 18K gold chains for 5 bucks? Same deal.

I do love finds like this, not actually "valuable" but deeply interesting...this was someone's prized wedding band at some point in the past...gotta wonder HOW it got were it did...and that's the fun part...

Thanks for the info diamondjim,after reading this i thought i'd see if the ring would clean up a little better. I didn't polish it smooth but the color came out very easy and i can see where it could be convincing as gold. Here's a pic with it next to my gold band. It has a little different shade to it than either gold or polished brass and it rings out about 10 vdi numbers lower than brass. It was a heartstopper for sure seeing it in the dirt. Even if it's only brass or german silver it still made me wonder about the guy who wore it. He lost some civil war era coins at this site also.I've thanked him several times

diamondjim · Jan 6, 2009

See what I mean now about the strange alloy

I've found tons of plated items...these rings were NEVER plated....just convincingly yellow alloy. "German Silver" contains NO silver, meant to decive buyers, this alloy a similar concotion I suspect.

As the risk of violating "Real of Fake", this ring is an INTENTIONAL fake. BUT it represents a whole OTHER world of shyter salesman, rolling door to door in horse drawn carts, duping poor mountain folk who never saw a REAL gold ring before...this IS a wedding band, someone, sometime geniunely belived in all that the ring supposed to represent...so how exactly did it wind up where you found it? That's the deep mystery of it...

I know I take extreme care of mine...unthinkable to lose it...even if it IS cheap 10K. Just makes you wonder what happened AFTER hubby returns home minus ring, did she beat the snot out of him?

RARE find bro, I've only dug a very few myself in 20+ years...a keeper for the private collection for sure!