please help id this ring please

[bangorguy]

hello, i found this ring detecting today but i cant id it. all i do know is that it is a ring. i think it is a toy as it is adjustable. i think it is brass or copper cause it is tarnished. it looks like a mailbox on the top, and has some fancy design on the side of the box. then it has a torch with flames on the left side and the right has weights and scale. then it has a thin piece of metal coming through a small hole, it looks like you would pull it back and then release it for some reason lol. then it has a half ring on the bottom. if anybody can figure it out it's here. thanks everone. "god bless"
ben.

 

[beaks]

looks like a toy scoop maybe part of something larger.

the scoop part looks like an old dredge or shovel bucket.

other than that i dont have a clue

 

[AU24K]

Is it possible that it is a ring for workers who have to cut a lot of twine? When I used to work as a printer, sometimes we'd bundle a stack of items and tie them off with twine and we wore rings that had a cutting edge to cut the twine. Just my WAG.
Scott

This is what I was thinkin' of. Maybe the OP's is an older one and the top part is where the twine threaded through....
Wish I knew how to google more efficiently, I'd check "ring twine cutter" for old patents.
Hope this helps, otherwise, I don't know....
Scott

 

[bangorguy]

wow that really does have alot in comon with a twine cutter thanks for posting the pic scott i am going to do some research on that. my wife thinks it is some kind of a scoop too. i tried to get better pics but my cam won't focus in on smaller objects very well. thanks everyone.
ben.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Do you have a macro lens? Look for a flower icon.


What is that on the side in the first pic? It looks like wheat?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Ive been thinking. This is NO toy ring with the scale and torch flame markings. The key to ID is in the markings. I wish I could see them. All things considered, Im going to guess that this is a measuring scoop for gunpowder for reloading. But just a guess.
.

 

[beaks]

Ive been thinking. This is NO toy ring with the scale and torch flame markings. The key to ID is in the markings. I wish I could see them. All things considered, Im going to guess that this is a measuring scoop for gunpowder for reloading. But just a guess.
.

you are right

i should have thought of that.

a gold or powder scoop.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Ive been thinking. This is NO toy ring with the scale and torch flame markings. The key to ID is in the markings. I wish I could see them. All things considered, Im going to guess that this is a measuring scoop for gunpowder for reloading. But just a guess.
.

you are right

i should have thought of that.

a gold or powder scoop.

Yes I to like this idea, the ring part was for steadying the pour, and perhaps the hook is were it hung, it also looks like it might have had some sort of cover, indicated by what looks like a spring hanging down in the picture

SS.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Ive been thinking. This is NO toy ring with the scale and torch flame markings. The key to ID is in the markings. I wish I could see them. All things considered, Im going to guess that this is a measuring scoop for gunpowder for reloading. But just a guess.
.

you are right

i should have thought of that.

a gold or powder scoop.

A gold dust scoop has already been thought of but i doubt it. Im thinking gunpowder by the markings. It could also be a pre measure.

Put it on and scoop up something like sugar and see how it works.

 

[ClonedSIM]

this one really has me stumped lol. i have never seen anything like it before, and i have dug some pretty strang stuff. i know it must go around the finger as it is adjustable, like one of those ring's a kid would get from the gumball machine at the store. maybe it is what "sniffer" said, a scale for weighing gold dust. maybe you would put it on your finger and scoop out gold dust or something, but i am in the northeast "bangor maine" if it is that i wonder how in the world it got here. i am detecting a place called the childrens home in bangor maine it was built in 1835 it was for orphaned children. i am going to go detect it agine today. thanks for everyones help. "god bless"
ben

Greetings, BangorGuy!

I've been through your lovely town before. I was taking a vacation in Maine in January a few years back, and just had to stop by and get a few pictures of Stephen King's house.

Nice find!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Is it possible that it is a ring for workers who have to cut a lot of twine? When I used to work as a printer, sometimes we'd bundle a stack of items and tie them off with twine and we wore rings that had a cutting edge to cut the twine. Just my WAG.
Scott

This is what I was thinkin' of. Maybe the OP's is an older one and the top part is where the twine threaded through....
Wish I knew how to google more efficiently, I'd check "ring twine cutter" for old patents.
Hope this helps, otherwise, I don't know....
Scott

Go to www.google.com or http://www.google.com/ and just type in "ring twine cutter" and click on search.


http://books.google.com/patents?id=...gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

[beaks]

i doubt its a twine cutter (no blade)

 

[bangorguy]

hello all. i tihink you guys just might be onto something here with the measuring scoop idea. it seems to fit, maybe you would put it on the finger then scoop out the powder for reloading or pour it in the shell. i am going to research this idea it sounds like we are very close as to what this thing is. thank you everyone for helping me. and good thinking "bigcypresshunter" and everybody else too. "god bless"
ben.

 

[bangorguy]

hello "af1733" i live about a block away from steven king, he is a very nice guy my mom has most all his books signed. me and the wife have detected behind his house in the woods not on his property but pretty close lol. his house was the first to be built on west broadway in 1846. if you ever get back to bangor look me up on the treasure site here, and we will do a bit of detecting. "god bless"
ben.

 

[bangorguy]

hello, all i took some upclose pics of the ring thingy hope this helps. you can see the torch and waight and scale on the sides now

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Now Im not so sure about the gunpowder idea. The torch looks more like a generic Liberty symbol than any connection with gunpowder. And the other could be a generic balance of justice.

Why does the back piece of the mailbox look orange?

 

[72cheyenne]

Why does the back piece of the mailbox look orange?

Is the orange thing plastic? If so, this may not be as old as I first thought.

 

[scratcher]

how is the piece coming out under the scale attached? It doesn't look like it would be a very comfortable ring if that is what it is. Does the piece I am referring to have any wear on the inside as if it were slid up and down a metal rod instead of a finger?

 

[scratcher]

If that thin piece is attached inside opposite where it exits under the scale, and the apparatus was sliding on a rod of some sort then you could move it back and forth by placing your finger through the bottom ring and pressing the lever with your fingertip which would release lever tension on the rod. This would allow for easy movement but also keep the apparatus in one place when fingertip pressure was released. Of course this can't be if the 'lever' isn't attached inside. Hard to tell without handling it.....

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

If that piece is attached inside, and the apparatus was sliding on a rod of some sort then you could move it back and forth by placing your finger through the bottom ring and pressing the lever with your fingertip which would release tension on the rod. This would allow for easy movement but also keep it in one place when pressure was released. of course this can't be if the 'lever' isn't attached inside. Hard to tell without handling it.....

I like the idea.





If the orange part is plastic, I am thinking light or toy ring.
Maybe there is some connection to surveying like someone said.

 

[ClonedSIM]

hello "af1733" i live about a block away from steven king, he is a very nice guy my mom has most all his books signed. me and the wife have detected behind his house in the woods not on his property but pretty close lol. his house was the first to be built on west broadway in 1846. if you ever get back to bangor look me up on the treasure site here, and we will do a bit of detecting. "god bless"
ben.

If I ever make it back to Maine, I doubt highly I would be able to go back to New Mexico after. It's such a pretty state, with all of the rivers and trees, nothing at all like our little hunk of desert here. Granted, the desert has it's beauty as well, but I've always loved Maine.

And to live a block away from SK?!? That would totally blow my mind, I've been a fan of his for 23 some odd years now.