PLATINUM Ring?

[dahut]

Took my trusty 1236X2 to a local school, right behind the house, for an hour this morning. Found a bunch of clad and playground trash as expected:

....and what appears to be a worn wedding band. I've never seen markings such as those in the band, and like any detectorist, I've seen more than a few:

It is a tad bit heavier than the average band, too, weighing 8.44 grams according to my scale. It ID's at 27-29 on my F70, which is just below nickels, at 30-32. By comparison, my 14K gold wedding band ID's at 44 on the F70.
I'm thinking it's stainless or German silver ("nickle silver"), although the latter would be unlikely, as this isn't seen much these days. Even more unlikely would be platinum, although the "P" marking inside the band might lead one to that conclusion.

What do you guys think? Plain old stainless? German silver? Platinum?

 

[dahut]

I found a website that says one possible marking for platinum is "Pt," when it is 99% pure, ie, .999 fine.
Depending on how you look at it, the marking in this sure, might, maybe, sorta, kinda, could be a "Pt."

Its probably obvious how I'm looking at it!

Im gonna give a call to the school this week, to ask if anyone lost a platinum wedding band.

 

[RickIowa2009]

Plated?

 

[dahut]

Plated?

I thought that, too, but it doesn't appear to be.

 

[paul09]

COOL FIND

 

[JB(MS)]

Platinum is a low conductance metal and if your ring find is platinum it will be low in the disc range on a detector, almost the same as one of the old pull off steel bottlecaps. The ring in the top photo is a platinum class ring I found and returned a few months ago, it had the markings above the photo inside the band, and ID's on a meter right on the old steel pull off bottlecaps. The large platinum ring at right in bottom photo was found a few years ago and is marked Pt, it ID's just above the old steel bottecaps as shown on the ID meter.
[attachment 139919 platinumring.jpg]
[attachment 139920 bigplatinum.jpg]

 

[Neil]

Took my trusty 1236X2 to a local school, right behind the house, for an hour this morning. Found a bunch of clad and playground trash as expected:

....and what appears to be a worn wedding band. I've never seen markings such as those in the band, and like any detectorist, I've seen more than a few:

It is a tad bit heavier than the average band, too, weighing 8.44 grams according to my scale. It ID's at 27-29 on my F70, which is just below nickels, at 30-32. By comparison, my 14K gold wedding band ID's at 44 on the F70.
I'm thinking it's stainless or German silver ("nickle silver"), although the latter would be unlikely, as this isn't seen much these days. Even more unlikely would be platinum, although the "P" marking inside the band might lead one to that conclusion.

What do you guys think? Plain old stainless? German silver? Platinum?

I hope it is Dave, never found a plat ring so I cant say but I know its worth some dollars.
Neil

 

[dahut]

Platinum is a low conductance metal and if your ring find is platinum it will be low in the disc range on a detector, almost the same as one of the old pull off steel bottlecaps.

It ID'd firmly below nickle, in what I associate as the foil range. Take a look at the needle in your picture, and notice what it is pointing at above "BC."
Stainless steel, which has become popular these days, would be lower and German silver, higher. Junk rings would also be higher.
And I cannot say what tungsten titanium or palladium would be, other than they are even less popular than platinum.

With platinum closing at $1335/oz. over the weekend, this ring currently stands at $444 in spot value. Now to see if I can find who lost it.

 

[JB(MS)]

The ring that gives the ID in the photo is huge, bigger than the large boys class ring in the photo with it. The platinum class ring is a girls ring and ID's a little lower on the meter, pretty much dead on the BC indication. The similar size girls class rings I've found were all in the old beaver tail pull tab range. I found the Titanium ring in the photo earlier this year and it's fairly large, the band is almost 3/8 of an inch wide and it's a large size. It ID's as nickel/two hole pulltab and has "<i>I love you bunches</i>" engraved inside the band. My daughter said it's a wedding band.

[attachment 139939 titanium.jpg]

 

[dahut]

The ring that gives the ID in the photo is huge, bigger than the large boys class ring in the photo with it. The platinum class ring is a girls ring and ID's a little lower on the meter, pretty much dead on the BC indication. The similar size girls class rings I've found were all in the old beaver tail pull tab range. I found the Titanium ring in the photo earlier this year and it's fairly large, the band is almost 3/8 of an inch wide and it's a large size. It ID's as nickel/two hole pulltab and has "<i>I love you bunches</i>" engraved inside the band. My daughter said it's a wedding band.

[attachment 139939 titanium.jpg]

I've gotten little substantial response aside from yours, JB, which surprises me. Normally there is an army of people to comment on such matters.
But what I can turn up myself via research pretty firmly indicates platinum, after all.

Most gold class rings I've tested hit in the pull tab range... I've never found a real one.
Although, there was that fake class ring I found last year (what cruel S.O.B. dreamed up the idea of junk class rings?! ). But that one doesn't count.

As an aside, these "alternative metal" rings have become popular, mostly because they hold up better than gold. This is especially so for men who work with their hands, which is one market for them that I have seen.

 

[edjcox]

Here's some scoop


Platinum is a bright, silver-white metal known to be a solid, secure metal for gem settings. It is 20 times rarer than gold. Rhodium, part of the platinum family, is a metal often used to plate silver, white gold and platinum to produce a brighter, harder finish.

The Platinum Group Metals (PGM) includes Platinum, Iridium, Palladium, Ruthenium, Rhodium, and Osmium. Use of the word "Platinum" or any abbreviation must fully disclose any parts of an item that are not 950 parts per thousand of pure Platinum.

Acceptable abbreviations for each of the PGM that may be used for quality marks are: "Plat." or "Pt." for Platinum; "Irid." or "Ir." for Iridium; "Pall." or "Pd." for Palladium; "Ruth." or "Ru." for Ruthenium; "Rhod." or "Rh." for Rhodium; and "Osmi." or "Os." for Osmium.

The word "Platinum" must follow a number indicating the amount in parts per thousand of pure Platinum. The most commonly seen inscriptions are: "950Pt.," "950Plat.," "900Pt.," "900Plat.," "850Pt.," or "850Plat."

So if it's a Pt... it is ......

EJCox

 

[dahut]

Here's some scoop


Platinum is a bright, silver-white metal known to be a solid, secure metal for gem settings. It is 20 times rarer than gold. Rhodium, part of the platinum family, is a metal often used to plate silver, white gold and platinum to produce a brighter, harder finish.

The Platinum Group Metals (PGM) includes Platinum, Iridium, Palladium, Ruthenium, Rhodium, and Osmium. Use of the word "Platinum" or any abbreviation must fully disclose any parts of an item that are not 950 parts per thousand of pure Platinum.

Acceptable abbreviations for each of the PGM that may be used for quality marks are: "Plat." or "Pt." for Platinum; "Irid." or "Ir." for Iridium; "Pall." or "Pd." for Palladium; "Ruth." or "Ru." for Ruthenium; "Rhod." or "Rh." for Rhodium; and "Osmi." or "Os." for Osmium.

The word "Platinum" must follow a number indicating the amount in parts per thousand of pure Platinum. The most commonly seen inscriptions are: "950Pt.," "950Plat.," "900Pt.," "900Plat.," "850Pt.," or "850Plat."

So if it's a Pt... it is ......

EJCox

Thanks for that Ed. I found one website that said "Pt" would indicate .999 platinum. So as you say, if it looks like a duck and qaucks like a duck....