Ring without markings = junk necessarily?

[TrpnBils]

So normally when I find rings they are obviously "play" rings and are bent or have some design in them. Today I found one behind the backstop at a local baseball field about 4" down and it looks "real" to my very untrained eye. I have never found an actual adult's ring before but I at least know to look for the markings and have seen them on earrings and stuff before. The ring is silver on the inside and is a dirty copper-ish color on the outside although I have only rinsed it off a little. It is heavier than the play rings I've found and is still perfectly round... Does an absence of markings on the inside necessarily mean it's junk or how else might I be able to ID it?

 

[MarkCZ]

See if a magnet sticks to it?

Mark

 

[TrpnBils]

Hmm....kind of.... I suppose that's not good. It's odd though because that only seems to be attracted to the silver part on the inside of the ring. If I put the (extremely strong rare-earth) magnet up against the outside edge it doesn't so much as budge the ring. Even on the inside though it barely attracts the ring...like I can't pick it up off my palm all the way even with that neodymium magnet.

 

[ken ward]

Take it to a jewelry shop. Most of will be able to test it for you. Some times they might charge a little for the work. I have done that if I get something that is not marked.... KEN

 

[TrpnBils]

Yeah I will probably do that. Unfortunately we are ~45 mins from the closest one so it might be a few days :|

 

[hershey1]

I forget the date but no requirments for markings came until the early 1900s. HH

 

[TrpnBils]

Interesting.....probably not that old though. The field was at an elementary school that I don't think is that old. Not sure what was there before though.

 

[hershey1]

My brother was a jeweler and made many custom one of a kind pieces. He said custom made jewelery did not have to be marked unless requested by the customer. Just a little food for thought. HH

 

[TrpnBils]

Found 4more rings today at another school but am pretty sure all are junkers

 

[Steve Keppel]

Sometimes on gold rings, when there's no marking, the ring may have been "sized" and the Karat value clipped out so that the jeweler can send the scrap pieces to a refiner

 

[bootyhoundpa]

sounds like the silver part of the ring might be some form of stainless steel....... ive found several gold rings over the years and all were marked except one.... it was a class ring type of ring that looked like gold but oddly enough it gave off a somewhat high tone when I found it and it disced out at a higher level than any gold I had ever found.. jeweler tested it and said it was 14k so I didn't argue with the man......

 

[fongu]

Never argue when they say: it's 14K...

 

[Rainyday101]

I have three rings like you describe. From what I can tell they are copper and once were gold or silver plated. Not exactly top quality, so any rocks in them are probably lower quality also.