Big Boys Hobbies

Need help with dating a ring

Cherry Picker

Cherry Picker

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Joined
Jan 12, 2006
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Location
Dodge City KS
While cleaning some of my, junk? rings, one of them has me puzzled. It came from a very old location and had what looked to be a rusty color. Not the usual look of a good ring. After cleaning it I thought it a bit odd that rather than a brass ring as I expected, it looked to be silver. In the back of my mind I thought it must be some type of steel. Today a remark was made about the ring and it being silver, so I responded that I didn't believe it was silver but possibly steel because of the rust color, that was tough to remove.

The remark I got was "Being a jewlers daughter - they don't make that many rings out of steel. My guess is sterling." which I would have agreed if not for having dug so many silver rings and never had one come out of the ground like this one. I got thinking an easy test for steel would be a magnet. Well it failed the magnet test so it's not steel but more than likely silver. This brought new interest to this ring because I had the feeling when I recovered it that it was pretty old.

My question is to those who may know how to tell a possible age of a ring based on design and techniques. Here is a picture of it after it came out of the ground(rust colored) and after cleaning so you can maybe recognize design or technique hints to its age.

antring2.jpg


antring.jpg
 
No markings...think it could have been made by some DIY jeweller? My parents participated in a jewelry making course some years ago...they did couple silver rings with stones set in. Does it have any irregularities that'd suggest it's hand made by a skilled amateur?

Voriax
 
Unfortunately I'm not sure what to look for to tell if it was hand made. I was hoping maybe someone here could point out what to look for.
 
Any soldering clearly visible? It has lot of small decorations..anything irregular in them? It is most certainly hand made, question is whether by a professional jeweller or an enthusiast.
I think it has a sort of 20'ish style...but what do I know?

Voriax
 
.......If it was a one off ring there could be obvious clues such as maybe being asymmetrical, unbalanced etc. This one I found appears to me to be a home made project. I just cannot imagine this being made by a professional jeweler!
Hope you can find out. Maybe take it in to your area's renowned jeweler?
Good luck.......... Jan
 

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Janster said:
.......If it was a one off ring there could be obvious clues such as maybe being asymmetrical, unbalanced etc. This one I found appears to me to be a home made project. I just cannot imagine this being made by a professional jeweler!
Hope you can find out. Maybe take it in to your area's renowned jeweler?
Good luck.......... Jan
Click to expand...

Just googled "HLJ ring" and got lucky - take a l:shock::shock:k!

http://www.ctr4less.com/product/C07812

emdees
 
............hey, Thanks. I emailed that company to find out the significance of those letters. "Spanish Bow Ring "is what they list? I'll post it IF I find out!..........HH........... Jan
 
This is what CRT4Less sent me back re: the ring

Jan,

I have forwarded your email to our distributor. They are looking in to it. Here is the reply I received from them:

"Ha! Whoa! That ring is quite original from what I’ve seen. The shield on this ring doesn’t look like it would be approved by the church and Ringmasters has to have all language rings approved before we can get them made. They are very picky on the font, shape, and size. That one looks a bit…. Crooked? J I will check with my boss to be sure. Maybe he’s seen it before. He won’t be in the office until next week though."

I'll let you know when I receive more word.

Have a great day!

Joni Patton

....Weird part is ,I did NOT send in a picture with my questions about the ring? Go figure!!!
 
Big Brother is WATCHING!!!!!!!

....No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn!!!!!!!:D:D:D

This is there latest reply AFTER I sent in the picture. Beats me!!!

I didn't see the picture, either, until she replied. She followed the referring link at the bottom of the request and it came up with that picture.

Joni

JSS wrote:
I did not even send a picture with my question? I am lost now. BUT......Here what I found.
 
Detector: I may be way off base here, but if I were you, I'd see if I could "open" up that ring. While it may just be part of the setting, I see two little half moon shaped "seams", one on each side of the ring, and it looks like quite the gap between the setting and the ring. It may have a compartment under the stone. Just a thought.
 
Hi, as an antique jewelry dealer/collector the best advice I can give you is not to rely on hallmarks. The U.S. did not require hallmarking on fine jewelry until about 1900, so some of the finest pieces are not even signed. There are several possibilities here though, it's possible that the hallmark wore off over time. Another thing to consider is if there was a presence of rust, it might mean it was mixed with some sort of other alloy. Possibly silver/nickel plate? Did you try sticking a magnet to it? Another thing you can do is take it to a local jeweler/pawn shop and they will test it for you for free. Most jewelers carry nitric acid, so we can test the item for gold/silver content. You can also buy the testing acid yourself on ebay for about $10, but be careful with it around little ones. Sterling also generally has a smooth look to its finish. I'm not sure but by the pics it looks art deco to me. I'd have to see it in person though. Hope the info helps.

Oh, and please don't open the ring. If you don't have the proper tools to remove the stone properly it will damage the piece and completely compromise its value/ quality.

Oh, and again, anyone who finds antique jewelry. DO NOT RELY ON HALLMARKS. And if you don't care about non-hallmarked jewelry, you can always just give/sell it to me ha ha.


Good luck =)
 
Thanks for the info shawn&stacey.

Huck Mucus, on closer inspection it doesn't look as if the setting opens. The gap in the pictures must just be a shadow because the setting is close and tight to the ring. It does look as if it has been resized because I can see what looks like a solder spot inside in the middle back.
 
shawn&stacey said:
Oh, and please don't open the ring. If you don't have the proper tools to remove the stone properly it will damage the piece and completely compromise its value/ quality.
Click to expand...

What I was suggesting was not removal of the stone from the setting. Rather, flipping open something that was intended to be opened (if indeed that is possible on this ring).

What I have never seen before on a ring is those half-moon crescent, hair-line seams that go down into the finger band portion of the ring on each side of, and below the stone setting. The outside of the half-circle faces down, toward the band, and the inside of the half-circle faces up, toward the setting. There is one on each side.

It just looked a little strange to me. I have seen rings with compartments under the stone for storing something small. I thought maybe this had one of those. Combinded with the shadow under the setting on all the post-cleaning photos, it just looks like it might have a secret compartment.

Oh well, I'm no expert.
 
Hope I don't rain on somebody's show

Since there are no visible markings of artist or "sterling", I feel that it is somebodies hand made ring using plain silver. The stone shape seems to be one popular with other Silver and Turquoise handycraft.
The other factor in being less artsy and newer in mfg. is the fact that the side art seems to be a continuation of back and forth movement by perhaps an automatic dremel tool. You will notice that the spacing is irregular so it wasn't one of those types of mountings that have symmetric scallops or points that would be made by mass mfg.. It is the crafters attempt to marry or match the stone mounting to the ring base. Perhaps there was even soft silver solder between the two at one time.
This is just my opinion and it may be wrong, as my wife often tells me, but it is meant to further the dialog and not be the final conclusion.

Steve
 
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