OK! Thats great Skippy! Congratulations on a massive beauty! I got no dog in this fight, I was just saying I cannot tell a damn thing by eye anymore!...Its just so tough to tell nowadays..Especially White Gold....So I could see why jkon questioned the pedigree....Its not like a 'big solid yellow' and easy to tell from a picture......Hell..even though I dont know jkon from dick, or you for that matter, I can see why he commented as he did, just from the pics...No hard feelings intended by me or him I'm guessing ....Well done Brother!..
Nobody needs to blow any smoke here about a find, for what? On an anonymous Forum especially..No profit in that? We are all in a learning process, and I think this whole thread was very helpful to the membership!...
Oh, I didn't take it as any kind of fight, just some folks who looked at the photos and called foul. Often if you've got a couple people actually saying it, there's going to be 10-20 other people thinking it. The pictures are actually pretty crappy because I used zoom on my phone's camera (which doesn't have a real optical zoom, just crops the photo for a close-up). I should have taken better pictures and uploaded them later, but I had to get ready for a business trip that evening, and didn't mess with it, other than to post the pics I did have and share the story and testing.
It's totally legit. Having gone through the testing process already, I'm not concerned about re-doing it, though the scratches will be light, as to not damage any of the intricate detail work on the ring (which, btw, is freaking AMAZING). I'll get closeups with my canon SLR, and those will show the details, much better. I'll even scratch test in a few places do the scale and even diamond test all on the same video, so there's no question it's the same ring. Aside from that, it might be very useful for someone else who wants to know how to test their own rings. It's pretty easy to do. When the 14K passes, and the 18K acid wipes the scrape, it'll be pretty obvious it's a real item. Come to think of it, I'll even scratch test another find to show folks with the same bottle, so people don't get the idea that I've just put water in the bottle or something... I've seen people come up with some pretty hilarious arguments of fraud.. Happy to show the whole process in a very legitimate way.
Why would I go to those lengths? Mostly, because I think it's freaking hilarious that jkon got so worked up over it, wanting to be right. I mean seriously, I already said I tested it, and he STILL responded that it was fake (which is dang funny, if you really think about it). But then after I laughed about it, I remembered a few stories of the great lengths that people have gone to in forums to perpetrate fraud of some kind. I'm not that guy, and am more than happy to back this up with evidence. Mostly, though, because it'll show people coming to the thread that you CAN prove jewelry is real with testing.
I'm more than happy to show the whole situation, if it shuts down complaints on the the next guy who posts a picture of an intricate ring with dirt still on it, it's worth it.
For me, there's NO reason to have doubts. In the last two years, I've found 127 and 239 rings respectively, with 13 gold rings in year 1 +1 silver and gold cross, and 19 gold rings in year 2 + 1 gold earring, and 1 gold bracelet (and one platinum for a surprise find in November.) This year, I'm on number 21 so far on ring counts with 2 silvers and 4 golds. Best ratio yet. I doubt it'll hold. My point is, with all those rings found, I have no reason to second guess. I've got test kits.
And frankly, after that many rings (more than 1 a month gold, and 18-20 a month junkers), I've gotten to the point that I'm not calling junk "real" anyway. There's no point. Delusion is not part of the fun of the hobby. I've got plenty of junk rings that look amazing, and they usually are figured out within seconds of pulling them, and plated rings, I've only been fooled by a couple of FRESH heavy gold electroplate drops. Everything else, the plating is obvious with either worn spots or flaking. There's no flaking or worn spots on this ring, it's SOLID... and the weight is right, too. Again though, everything real gets tested anyway. It's something my son and I do to celebrate together after a good find. It's like our little "confirmation of awesome." And stones? They ALWAYS get tested, because we've found enough gold rings with fake diamonds (sapphires, CZ, or others) set in them that we know better.
My son's first "diamond" ring we think is actually just a white sapphire. It definitely failed the diamond tester, but not in the same way that CZ would...which is why we have the tester! It actually makes me smile thinking about getting home and live showing the testing.
The only piece (and you'll see this in the testing) is that while the large stone hits the diamond level in the tester, it doesn't do it nearly as "fast" as I'd expect with a larger stone. Makes me wonder if it's not Moissonite, which CAN have a slight yellow tint... but even then, this is REALLY yellow, and odd. So.. it passes the diamond tester test, is definitely a "real" stone (it has flaws), and is set with a bunch of real diamonds. All that just screams "get it appraised." Which is the next stop, though I'll probably take it to Fred Meyer and have them test the main stone for Moisonnite first. As it stands though, the test still rings it up as "Diamond" and I'm going with that until otherwise shown. But, as I already noted, I'm having it checked.
But the ring? Definitely 14K gold. Lots of small detail work, and it's just a beauty to behold. My wife, though, thinks it's gaudy and ugly as snot. LOL She's very much into plain and simple (I'll run a comparison on the video of her ring's diamonds tested as a comparison, along with some fakes).
Basically, I'm looking forward to doing the vid...
Cheers!
Skippy