Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Surprise First Platinum!(hopefully) And a couple Silvers!!

JackalopeZL1

JackalopeZL1

Elite Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Messages
1,440
Location
50/50. Tennessee and California
Good evening all, So on Monday I took a day off work and decided to go down to a local swim beach and do some wading. I was there for about 4 hrs and found 2 silver rings and one ring I thought was Stainless. It had a inscription and thought why the heck would someone put a inscription on a junk rink and it felt kind of heavy, or heavier than others I have found for it's size? Any ways I finally thought about it tonight and busted out the acid test kits just to double check. It did not have a mark and again that made me think it was a stainless ring.

So anyways tonight I got out a couple known stainless items and tested them with the platinum acid and they melted away to nothing in a matter of 10 seconds. Then I scratched the ring I found on the stone and put the acid on. It held Shiny for a good 5 minutes till I was satisfied it was not going anywhere!!!

I am super stoked if it is, It was kind of like finding a $100 dollar Bill in your coat you found from last winter!! 8.25 grams and over $290 melt value!! Let me know if there is any other metal that holds up to Platinum acid and is very heavy feeling..





Acid pic is at about 3 minutes!!

 
Testing Platinum without acid

First test with a magnet...Platinum, Silver, Gold, Copper will not be attracted by a magnet. I have one attached to my car by the trunk lid. My first test, if I can not read a marking.

Platinum should be marked Pt, Plat, 950, 999.

You can also use Hydrogen Peroxide to test for Platinum.
If you completely submerge Platinum in the Hydrogen Peroxide it will react with many bubbles almost immediately. Silver will take about a minute and produce only a few small bubbles. The hydrogen Peroxide will not corrode the Platinum.
 
Those are all nice finds! Congratulations there!

Regarding Plat...It SHOULD be marked....What does that ring hit up on your AtPro? Not definitive but a good place to start...Plat should hit as if it was a gold of similar size and maybe just a tad lower...for one of that size it should be in the 50's on the TID...

Since you could do a scratch test on the stone, its for sure not Tungsten, which is very heavy and hits in the same parameters as Gold or Plat...is the inscription laser cut or actually inscribed in a bit? For a full diagnosis, just take it to a jeweler or pawn shop that has an XRF anaylizer or similar tool...should tell you for free what exactly you got there...Fingers crossed! Let us know!

FWIW, theres a lot of old unmarked metals and new amalgams out there that can be confusing even to the most experienced...I was going through my 'junk' rings yesterday and tripped across a 'heavy' that is unmarked and might be something good...I'll take it in to the pawn shop...
Mud
 
Hope you got the real deal there. Seems kind of light in weight for the thickness, but you never know and it does have the holding up to the acid test going in your favor.
Be nice if Plat would get back on top as far as metal values go...Been a long time since Plat was king.
DL
 
Dirty Love said:
Hope you got the real deal there. Seems kind of light in weight for the thickness,L
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking too.. And I don't think I've ever seen one not marked...

But, the color, test, and VDI point to good..

I know there are grades of stainless that acid won't touch..

Hopefully it's the real McCoy!

<°)))>{
 
Yeah! You know what else you can do? It might just be 18k white gold! Which the Plat acid wont touch either giving you a false here...Sometimes really old Gold is not marked, and Plat generally is, so thats where we are coming from here Brother...

Its a good looking and heavy ring, and everything you are doing is correct trying to figure out what you got there...It not being easily marked is the mystery for us...

Plat is a lot harder than 18k white gold, so you can take a knife edge, and push it down gently on the ring, and then see if you can see an indentation with your loupe...I've done this a few times myself on really old gold...

Its the weekend, we area all sitting around here pulling for you! So hey..give it a go and report back! Like you said, who would inscribe a modern junker?

Mud
 
Also your scratch test looks like a softer metal, I.e. not stainless... So that's good too...

<°)))>{
 
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