Mysterious Ring?

[trudmann85]

Greetings from Ashland Ky,
I had about 5 minutes before the storm hit on Monday and found this ring in the backyard about 3 1/2 inches deep! I need some help identifying exactly what this is. Here are my thoughts so far: Its sure seems like silver although it does seem a bit light. On the front of the ring there is what looks like a sword pointing downward on a shield...which looks to have grapes on it, and a little ribbon on the bottom. Looks like black onyx underneath? It is very worn with absolutely no lettering/numbering or any type of identifying mark on the outside or inside of the ring. I have the following ideas floating around....class ring of some sort, masonic imagery, fraternity ring, family crest. What do you guys think? I would love to hear from you. Thanks guys!.....Tim.

 

[Breezie]

Yes, it looks to be silver and onyx, and is probably one of the things you mentioned, but we'll need to see a very close-up of the crest to determine which one.

WELCOME to the forum!

Breezie

 

[trudmann85]

Thanks Breezie! I'll get one posted!

 

[cntrydncr1]

very nice find!! congrats

 

[trudmann85]

Hey guys. I sure appreciate your comments so far! Unfortunately, I can not get a closer shot than this one....its nearly touching the screen. However, I did take this with a 14 megapixel camera.....can you zoom in when you open it? It is completely worn like an old coin.

 

[Felinepeachy]

KGB maybe? Does it look anything like this? It's hard to tell from your pic

 

[trudmann85]

Similar but very different. The ribbon is way down there on mine, and also no star and sword is pretty wide. I am working feverishly to better my pics of this rascal.....promise to have a better one soon. Thank you so much!

 

[trudmann85]

Here you go!! This one shows much more detail I believe.

 

[Felinepeachy]

I wonder if that's a dagger?

 

[trudmann85]

A dagger would make more sense....and that could modify my search for a dagger/sheild instead of sword/shield. Thanks for the insight!

 

[Felinepeachy]

Dagger usually means, "Justice or Military Honor" Well at least on crests, that is

 

[Daedalus]

On the bottom of the Crest it looks like there are some letters , can you do a paper rubbing of this to see if you can make out the letters ? This may help in the ID . From the photo it looks like a letter on the right side , but I just cannot make it out .

And I may not be seeing what I think I am seeing also. So let us know please and I will see if I can blow up the photo and try to get more detail off of it.

 

[trudmann85]

Daedalus....I was not able to get a successful rubbing due to it being so small ( only the size of my pinky nail, and my fingers are little). However, I did blow up the picture 400% and if im looking at the same thing you are...it is the letters LX. These letters appear to me on the ribbon and to the right from the bottom point of the crest or shield. They look etched by hand. Keep in mind this picture is already very blown up. The entire symbol is maybe a 1/2 inch if that.

 

[ivan salis]

LX ---is roman numbers for "60" L is 50 and X is 10 --with the X being to the "right side " of the L it is 50 + 10---if it was XL --it would be 10 - 50 = or 40 * -- might be a 1960 era "airborne ring" or some other military ring .

 

[trudmann85]

Thank you Ivan! That is very interesting....and if this is true then someone had to have done this under a microscope considering how small it is. I suppose modern computer engraving could do that also.

 

[Dano Sverige]

It could also just be a very Generic emblem, which a lot of silver rings carry, and be purely for decoration purposes.

 

[Intodeep]

It looks to me like the sword is also representing a cross.......

 

[NGE]

Wasn't there something about St. Michael's sword? Also, I see a pair of lobster like claws encircling the base of the shield from behind, just my observations.........NGE

 

[DevilDog812]

tried showing as much detail as i could

are those grapes on the sides of the dagger or just a design?

 

[trudmann85]

Hey guys.....just getting back to the posts after a very long work day. I did some searching for St. Michael imagery and it really is the closest thing yet. I have also seen many shields (unrelated to St. Michael) with grapes....so I'm thinking grapes. I am really leaning towards this being a silver St. Michael religious ring. Everybody has been really helpful and I think this treasurenet forum has alot of great people in it! Finding out what you have is every bit as fun as digging it up! Let me know if you guys feel that we solved it. Thank you once again.....have a wonderful day!