Gold ring?

[JMC]

The Vaquero found this yesterday in one of the yards I hunt. Another 1800s era home this time across the street from us. It was completed crusted when I dig it up initially thinking it was a cut of piece of copper pipe. Used my wife's mild jewelry cleaner on it and found this under the buildup. Vintage wise it's got to be fairly old since it was deep and near an old tree under some small roots. The Vaquero really works well in these tight areas and the 5.75 concentric coil has been very effective. The ring is stamped 18K but that could be plated or just a fake.

 

[kansa54]

I have found several of those before and all stamped 18k. They are gold plated. I have heard that years ago they could stamp rings as a certain k even if they were plated. Not worth anything but still an old find. Congratulations.

 

[Mega]

Sorry to have to say that is not a gold ring,plated yes as gold comes out the ground exactly the same as when it was dropped,it does not tarnish,rust,corrode or do anything like that.

Basically is a faux gold ring and should not have been hallmarked liked that.

 

[hatpin]

I have found a couple of those. People could not always afford a gold wedding band . I hope whoever lost it eventually got their gold ring .

 

[Walknstik]

History and electronic prospecting is what really leaned me toward metal detecting...although not gold your find could certainly tell a story if it could only speak and a lot of times that is worth more than gold...just my opinion

 

[walnut]

It might be gold plated silver though? Still a find if so.

 

[Furious T]

If it was a solid 18k ring I would expect it to be in better condition than that...I have found rings of lower gold content which have been in very poor condition when found, but clean up ok...it is not the gold which reacts with the elements, it is the metals alloyed with the gold which can deteriorate when in mineralised ground or salty conditions. Yours looks as if it was very encrusted, and even when cleaned it does not appear to be gold. Still, it is a ring which was once treasured by someone, and probably has some kind of history....and it is a good specimen of what it represents, i.e. a ring sold as a "gold" ring. Your detector should be able to give you a clue as to what metals are in the ring, by adjusting the disc setting until it is nulled out by the detector. This would certainly give you some clues as to what it might be made of. You could cut it, to see if it is "yellow" inside (which it should be if it is true 18k), but if it were mine I wouldn't ruin it by cutting it...Nice find.

 

[kansa54]

It's not gold.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Found several over the years...probably very old as gypsies were know to sell them to unsuspecting foreign workers...

 

[Sataro]

Nice find. Just getting outside & pulling something out of the ground with some history behind it makes it all worthwhile.

 

[kaolinwasher]

probably bought during the depression. but lets hope the marige lasted long than the plating