The few war nickels I've found have been hit with a lawn mower 2 or 3 or 15 times. Really screwed up stuff. Don't even bother to clean those.
Is it gold? I don't know for sure. But the fact it came out of the ground and cleaned up to deep yellow is a big clue. Gold doesn't tarnish where as most other things do. The part that goes through the ear is almost certainly GP on copper.
Quick test: get hard black flat stone, lightly rub wire, should get yellow streak. Pick another spot on the rock and rub hard, make 1/2" wide band, should get shinny red color as you grind through gold layer to copper...test against old penny, you'll see the same color. If color of wide band is yellow and doesn't match color of penny it's likely 10K or better. If color turns white or silver, it's other metal and deffinately not gold.
If an item like this cleans up nice and has no bubbles or flakes in the GP on the body, I put it box destined for a lot sale on ebay. I usually don't scratch these unless I suspect pure gold. (Or scratch end of wire, back of ear ring) Old coustume jewelry does very well. Be sure to make notes about the item, how old you think it is, the other items found with it.
If GP is starting to peal off or damaged (over time metal underneath begins to react with ground water and blister through.) I just toss it in box as plate scrap and let the refiners figure out what's what. If the wire or the body scratches all yellow, well that's a different box too. I got alotta boxes around here with little bits of this and that in them...
You could do the chemical testing, but such a small item that is likely to be plate, I do quick scratch test...if that looks real then I look at the item closely, maybe think about a chemical test if it's likely to be valuable.
Now the stone itself may be worthwhile too...I know a few jewelry repair people who buy up screwed up costume stuff just for the stones. Even fakes, paste, ceramics, glass. I'm not as experienced about this part, the variety of stuff used as "stones" in jewelry is just bewildering. Point being, keep it, you never know what you've got. Start a collection of jewelry items, I can assure there are plenty of people out there who will buy it all up.
Hope this helps...for all my long windedness on the subject...
