Strange Ring - Copper?

[alienbogey]

Here is a photo of my finds from the dry sand of a Hawaiian beach this morning:

The ring was a whisper signal that became good as I went down, but was too high for gold on my Excal and didn't quite sound like a coin or anything else. It came from hard-packed material 8-10" down.

Ring closeup:

It's more green in person than the photo shows. Seems to be too light for gold content.

I'll clean it up when I get home. Any suggestions as to how to best remove the sand/corrosion?

 

[bob.oz]

Yup...That thing looks pretty bad...sure it wasn't caught up in a lava flow at some time???
Clean it up yet??...Heck,no matter what it is...Your In Hawaii

 

[alienbogey]

It turned out to be sterling silver!

Here it is as dug:

Here it is after vinegar/aluminum foil, then baking soda:

That strange bulge in the ring as-dug turned out to be tape, or a bandage type thing, that had been wrapped around the (factory) split in the band, either to help make a too-big ring fit better, or keep the split place from pinching, or both.

I had wondered if the bulge was a stone, but nope.

Here is the ring in electrolysis:

That's a water, lemon juice and baking soda electrolyte with a DC current passing through it in accordance with this link.

And here is the ring on my thumb, after cleaning but before any polishing:

It is stamped 925 on the inside, and weighs 6.7 grams/.23 ounces. It's my second silver ring. No gold yet, but I'm working on it.

 

[tvr]

Nice! Better than copper!!

Just a guess that the split may have been a resizing where the solder point separated while corroding in the sand and the bandage was to make it tighter to keep from paying for another resizing.

 

[alienbogey]

Here's the ring undergoing electrolysis.