Dated ring? Made out of?

["Dr.Tones"]

Found this by a foundation that belonged to a circa 1890's house. Lots of older coins found here the oldest of which was a 1909 VDB wheat. It's very heavy and is about the size of a quarter. The design around the edge was crudely etched. I made a very small scratch on the inner band and it appears to have a copper like shimmer. Any ideas? Thanks! Sorry about the bad pic.

 

[ojm bc]

No idea, nice find.. I have seen a few times where even gold tarnished if near certain material.
I would at the very least do a simple acid test on it, you can buy the little acid testers at most
rock/gem supply store's. They only cost a few dollars for the little bottle.

I once almost chucked out a real gold chain because it sat near another metal and tarnished.

You probably know how the tester works, just rub on a tile and add a drop, if the colour does
not melt away could be gold?

 

["Dr.Tones"]

I might have to try that

 

[Ant]

It looks like a toy or advertisement ring, back in the day car dealers, real-estate brokers, Cracker Jack box toy, banks and the likes gave out things like that. I have several rings similar to yours; some had plastic advertisements glued on the face of the ring, and most were around from the 1940 to early 1970.

 

["Dr.Tones"]

Very interesting. Any idea what it might be made of? Thanks.

 

[Ant]

I would guess an alloy with bronze, brass, copper or a similar metal, those are the metals that are mostly used fro plating junk, toy and costume rings. I

 

[Ant]

I think the ones that I've found that are similar to the one you found in style are in my junk bucket, anyway here are some junk rings made from the same junk metals.

 

[Ant]

When I look at you ring closer it may have been gold plated, scrub it with a toothbrush and a solution of ammonia rinse, then do the same with h2o and dish soap, then rinse with h2o. Most of the rings in my photo have been tumbled.

 

[ojm bc]

n/t

 

["Dr.Tones"]

Here's a better pic.

 

["Dr.Tones"]

I have been thinking about cleaning it but the patina has kinda grown on me. If it is even slightly valuable I'd hate to ruin it.

 

[ojm bc]

n/t

 

[Ant]

If that's as clean as it gets then I would say brass. Old low karat gold like 10k that has been in the ground for 100 years will tend to have some black or dark black green leaching in the crack and crevasse, but the gold will be just as lustrous after a light cleaning with a toothbrush and light scrub. Gold that is purer than 14 k will never tarnish in nature. Silver rings that are plated with gold tend to trun black when they are in the gound for a long time.

 

[hodr]

If that's as clean as it gets then I would say brass. Old low karat gold like 10k that has been in the ground for 100 years will tend to have some black or dark black green leaching in the crack and crevasse, but the gold will be just as lustrous after a light cleaning with a toothbrush and light scrub. Gold that is purer than 14 k will never tarnish in nature. Silver rings that are plated with gold tend to trun black when they are in the gound for a long time.

I found a gold wedding band in a field where migrant laborers lived in the late 1800s to the 1910s. It has little holes eaten into it that appear to have green corrosion. My thoughts at the time were that it's a gold plated copper ring, but if what you mention is true I may have to check it out again.

 

[Ant]

If the gold on your ring looks like it has been eaten away with small holes and green underneath that would point to it being plated.

The watch case in the photo is rolled gold plated and was under the ground for at least 40 to 50 years it came out green and gold and after I cleaned it you can still see the copper base metal, copper looks orange and brass looks yellow.

The ring with the black stone setting was in the ground for more than 50 years. The ring is marked 18 karat and had a dark green/black tarnish coating with deeper a tarnish color in cracks around the setting but when I first saw it I could still tell it was at least 10k, it turned out to be 10k gold when it was tested not 18k like it was marked. 18K gold would not have been tarnished.