High School Ring and Mizar Gold Tester Questions

[cwilk]

I post this here on your Beach forum because it is where I got information before I bought a Mizar gold tester and because you guys find a mess of school rings.

I already emailed the High School and told them I found a Class of 2009 ring and expect I'll have a reply when school opens Wednesday. The ring is white metal and marked Copyright (Capital C in Circle), J in a Diamond and Capital Letters ELT. It is otherwise unmarked. I suspected the J in the Diamond stood for Jostens and the ELT stood for whatever alloy they made this ring out of. It sat on my desk for about 5 hours and everytime I passed it I kept thinking how it sure looked like a nice ring so I busted out the old Mizar Gold Tester and fired it up. I tested it and it indicated 10k. I cleaned it up. Rubbed a different area good with an eraser and tested it again. Same results. 10k. I tested a piece of marked 10k white gold and it indicated 10k. I have tested the ring with three setups of chemicals on 3 different areas (I even put a tiny nick in the band in case it was heavy plate.) of the ring and it always indicates 10k. It rings up where around where a silver ring would on my detector. I read that Jostens has some funky alloy that is mostly Silver with some Platinum. Here are my questions:

1. Who made this ring? J in Diamond mark?
2. What is made of? ELT?
3. Have you ever had any metal test as gold with your Mizar that wasn't gold? What metal?

Your opinion is fine. I know it is very difficult to judge when you can't see the ring.

Thanks.

Chris

 

[Roman44]

I too have a ring that may be white gold, or a junk metal. I went to the class ring web sights and found that they all have rings made of junk metals. Some of the rings are of a combination of good metals. You might find that makers web sight and see what it is.

 

[cwilk]

The ring was made by Jostens. I went there and designed one that looked just like it. I am assuming ELT stands for their Silver alloy "Silver Elite" which is around 75% silver, 10% platinum and 15 percent something else according to their site. If you know for sure I'dreally appreciate a response. Thanks again.

Chris

 

[cwilk]

In most cases you can tell if a piece of jewelry is gold just by looking at it. I found a nice 14 ring this weekend that was not marked. I knew it was gold the second I laid eyes on it. It tested to 14k with my Mizar electronic tester and with an acid test a jeweler friend did. This current ring is an oddball and I'm now about 90 percent sure its silver/platinum alloy. It fooled my electronic tester which said it was gold. I think because of the platinum.

Acid tests are tricky at least to me. I prefer my little electronic Mizar which gives me close enough in most cases (except this one!) A free way to get your gold tested is to bring it to a coin or jewelry shop that buys scrap and tell them you are considering sell this, could you tell me what it is made of?

Chris

 

[John(Tx)]

I have found rings that are the same color as silver but are Paladium (don't know if I spelled this correct) they are not gold....

 

[cwilk]

I thought that too. The Jostens site never mentions Palladium and Palladium will give a false signal. They make this ring in either Gold, Platinum, Silver Elite (76% silver, 10% platinum, and 14% other metal alloy) or Lustrium which is listed as a non precious alloy. My suspicion is that this one is the Silver Elite because of that mark, ELT but it could be Lustrium.

I just found one site that said Lustrium is Nickel and Chromium so I am surer this ring is Silver Elite. Plus it hits on my machine like a quarter.

FYI it weighs 10g so 1g of platinum.

I suppose I'll ask when I find the owner.

Thanks for the reply.

Chris

 

[gold-digger]

n/t

 

[cwilk]

I went on to their site and designed the ring and it was $349.99 before tax and shipping. Ring weighs 10g. Total metal content 7.5g Silver. 10 bucks. 1g Platinum. 45 bucks.

Chris