Tried to fool me but a beauty of a silver ring in disguise!

[REVIER]

Found a little out of the way mud puddle pond in a huge park I usually hunt and I am always looking for out of the way places there could still be some silver coins hiding in this place dedicated in 1964.
It looked like nobody had been here in decades but somebody hung out here in the past because I found some older sta-tabs, beaver tails and several fishing weights in a few areas around it.
Under that tree on the left in the pic high up the bank I dug some lead and a few feet over from those I got a high tone midway between a dime and a quarter signal.
Out came this ring but it was black so I figured one of those kids cheap play rings because I had dug those before.
That high tone was odd, though, and it did have some weight to it and looking closer I could see it was way better made than those junker kid's rings.
Still the black color was weird and I saw nothing on the inside band so I took it to the water and rubbed and rubbed and saw the faint hint of a makers mark and some very worn numbers...925.
This was silver and the most tarnished piece of silver jewelry I have ever found.
I assume the moistness in the soil around this tiny pond made it tarnish this badly, this beautiful little thing might have been sitting in that wet soil for up to 50 years or maybe more but I will never know.

It is size 6.5, 3.7 grams and has a whole lot of stones of some kind around half of the ring.

Pic 1 is the place I found it, pic 2 is the way it looked when I dug it, pic 3 is what showed up after wrapping it in foil and dunking it in a hot baking soda and salt bubble bath for a few seconds.
One of the nicer silver rings I have found and I have found more than my share in my lucky career.
Somebody pretty artistic put a lot of effort into making this thing and mounting those tiny stones.


I have not shown it to my wife or mother-in-law yet.
If it fits one of them I have a feeling it won't be mine very much longer so I will just hold it and stare at it while I can.

 

[doc holiday]

Very nice--can only wonder who and how it was lost.

 

[ken ward]

I like that ring. I have a question. Explain to me how you cleaned it with foil. I never heard of that before. It looks like it cleaned up real nice. Thank you... KEN

 

[metalfun]

I told you the Bling was coming.WTG

 

[REVIER]

I like that ring. I have a question. Explain to me how you cleaned it with foil. I never heard of that before. It looks like it cleaned up real nice. Thank you... KEN

Science...a chemical reaction.
Here is a video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsKLcc13WBo

Silver tarnishes due to mixing with hydrogen sulfide in the air or I guess in our case the ground.
Whatever, it is sulfur that does it.
A combination of hot water and baking soda will cause the tarnish, (which I think at this point is called sulfur dioxide), to move from the object to the foil and I assume then into the liquid because the foil doesn't get black or dark.

In my case I usually just take a small pot, mix in some baking soda, boil it and put a small piece of foil on the bottom and put the silver jewelry piece on that for a few seconds.
This time it was not working real fast on the hard to get to areas like inside the area where the stones are and the rims so I wrapped the ring in the foil and just threw it in the boiling water for a few seconds.
That did the trick.
I do like to polish silver using some solid silver cleaner by rubbing a wet paper towel on the cleaner to get it loaded up and then polishing the object.
Something about seeing those dark black marks on the towel and that nice bright shine come out on the piece is very satisfying.
In cases with small areas or nooks and crannies you can never get into this chemical process works better.

 

[JimmyCT]

Some of the best finds come from the most unexpected places. Congrats on the silver ring!

 

[tnkayaker]

Nice ring Revier! I like how you think about sites and are willing to get off the beaten path to hunt. I learn something from you folks on here everyday! Hope my knowledge can help others too

 

[mudpuppy]

Thats a beauty alright! Good thinking there on that little puddle and what the targets were telling you..
Mud

 

[ken ward]

Thanks REVIER for that information on cleaning silver. I never seen that before. I will try it with some of my wifes silver ... KEN

 

[REVIER]

Nice ring Revier! I like how you think about sites and are willing to get off the beaten path to hunt. I learn something from you folks on here everyday! Hope my knowledge can help others too

This park is near me and 1600 acres large.
Much of that is woods and a large lake, but plenty of popular and open places to hunt here, too.
I do get bored hunting the same spots over and over, however doing that I have found great things like gold 5 times but usually not on my first try.
I was checking out different areas of the park using Historic Aerials, saw this little pond was there in 1959, still there in 1966 just after it became a public park and switching to Bing maps and doing a flyover using Birds Eye View I noticed it was still there today.
Water attracts people, no matter how big or small, so I trekked up to it to check it out.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained".

I found a few early memorial cents around this thing, some older cans and some more modern clad along with a good amount of lead and several beaver tail tabs so people have been visiting here for years.
This was just a quick run through and it is not huge so I did cover it pretty well but no way did I hit every square inch so I will return and see what else I can find soon.

 

[REVIER]

BTW...found out the stones are marcasite...very popular stone used in jewelry going all the way back to the Greeks.
Starts out pale yellow or white, tarnishes to a dark yellow or brown with age.