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honey hole pays off again/possible(confirmed) emerald ring

scoundrel

six feet under(water)
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Messages
1,366
Location
here and there
This is the most encrusted and hardest to clean ring that I have found yet. I'm going to try electrolysis on it overnight. It is not stamped , but the weight is there for it to be silver. Does anybody know if patinum turns black in saltwater? I get the feeling it's been in the water for a very long time. Also, I don't know that it is an emerald, but you can see inclusions in the stone. I'm going to have it checked tomorrow.
 

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Hard to tell if it's silver....could be at the early stage of encrusted "cookie ring". I can't see someone putting emerald on silver, But you never know. That last pic looks to have a split on there....Can't tell you about the plat, Never found one. wtg
 
I can't see someone putting emerald on silver

I thought the same thing when I found a 925 diamond engagement ring. The stone turned out to be CZ, but in my research I found that diamonds set in silver are pretty common.


That last pic looks to have a split on there.

There is a split because the ring is made of three seperate pieces, the ring, and two top rails that are soldered to the ring. I'm positive the ring is silver, and I think the top rails are a low karat gold. They are yellow, but they were encrusted and black when I pulled the ring out of the water, and gold does not do that. It is very peculiar. But the weight is there. The ring chokes my pinkie, yet it weighs over 5.5 grams.
 

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There is a split because the ring is made of three seperate pieces, the ring, and two top rails that are soldered to the ring

That ring SCREAMS "antique"! In fact, dare I suggest 15th century "spanish"?

The 3 pieces may explain something that puzzled me:
First, the emeralds appear to be real.
But they didn't appear to be "set" properly, and I wasn't sure what was holding them in place - often a sign of junk jewelery.

So now I think I know its construction: The base is just a tube section. Two matching flanges were created to slip over that tube section. These flanges have a groove cut into them to accept the edges of the emeralds. Press-fit them all together, gold/silver solder the seams, and voila! You have your ring.

Far from being the cheap construction it first appeared to be, it's now fitting of the artisanship that spanish smiths were known for.

Oops...there's that "spanish" thing again that keeps popping into my mind... :lol:
 
That ring SCREAMS "antique"! In fact, dare I suggest 15th century "spanish"?

The 3 pieces may explain something that puzzled me:
First, the emeralds appear to be real.
But they didn't appear to be "set" properly, and I wasn't sure what was holding them in place - often a sign of junk jewelery.

So now I think I know its construction: The base is just a tube section. Two matching flanges were created to slip over that tube section. These flanges have a groove cut into them to accept the edges of the emeralds. Press-fit them all together, gold/silver solder the seams, and voila! You have your ring.

Far from being the cheap construction it first appeared to be, it's now fitting of the artisanship that spanish smiths were known for.

Oops...there's that "spanish" thing again that keeps popping into my mind... :lol:

Now I know we have had our differences, but are you being sarcastic? Are you effing with me?
 
Now I know we have had our differences, but are you being sarcastic? Are you effing with me?

Nope, not in the least.

I'll grant you that hoping for spanish jewelry may be a bit of a stretch, but its style is mildly suggestive. I honestly suspect that it's at the very least a skillfully handmade antique.

The lack of a mark can swing both ways. Many custom and/or centuries old pieces have no marks of any kind. OTOH, spanish artisans often stamped their personal maker's mark in their pieces.

And yet there is still a chance that there's no mark because it's junk, and the stones are just glass gems glued in place. I've been wrong "big time" in the past, and this could be one of them.

While your pictures aren't great, and the color rendition isn't very good, my gut feeling is that the ring is NOT junk (even if not spanish), and I believe the emeralds are real. You noted inclusions earlier, and I saw that in one of your pix. That's not likely in fake gems.

If you have a loupe, you might want to check to see if those stones are mounted in little grooves as I suspect.
 
Nope, not in the least.

I'll grant you that hoping for spanish jewelry may be a bit of a stretch, but its style is mildly suggestive. I honestly suspect that it's at the very least a skillfully handmade antique.

The lack of a mark can swing both ways. Many custom and/or centuries old pieces have no marks of any kind. OTOH, spanish artisans often stamped their personal maker's mark in their pieces.

And yet there is still a chance that there's no mark because it's junk, and the stones are just glass gems glued in place. I've been wrong "big time" in the past, and this could be one of them.

While your pictures aren't great, and the color rendition isn't very good, my gut feeling is that the ring is NOT junk (even if not spanish), and I believe the emeralds are real. You noted inclusions earlier, and I saw that in one of your pix. That's not likely in fake gems.

If you have a loupe, you might want to check to see if those stones are mounted in little grooves as I suspect.


I'm headed to the jeweler right now. The ring is definitely not junk, even if the stone is not an emerald. For some reason the ring looks 1980's to me. But the craftsmanship is pretty crude. I was thinking either a beginner jewelry maker, or it is much older than the 80's. I have found lots of silver and some of it is very black, but it's usually pretty easy to clean up. This ring took me over 2 hours to clean and it still has some stuff on it. My gut feeling is that it was in the water for a very long time.

BTW- My camera absolutely sucks. I want to slam it into the ground but right now I can't afford a new one.
 
Based on how bad it started out at and how nice it is now, I definitely seems like something good.

The starting pics are almost comical. It looks like it has little rocks and shells stuck to it.

If it was just costume jewelry it probably would have completely disintegrated when you tried to cleaned it.

Let us know what the jeweler says. I thinking 1920s-1940s.
 
I'm headed to the jeweler right now. The ring is definitely not junk, even if the stone is not an emerald

I'll be standing by waiting for an update! Call it ego or pride, but you can bet your bottom dollar I'm hoping it's as good as I think it is, if for no other reason than to just not be "wrong, big time"! Good luck!! :lol:

BTW- My camera absolutely sucks. I want to slam it into the ground but right now I can't afford a new one

Don't do that until you do manage to get a new one!
I like acer peripherals, but years ago I had an acer cd-burner that drove me up a wall burning coaster after coaster. I ended up taking a 5lb mini-sledge to it just to vent my rage on it. Couldn't afford a new one for a few months, but boy - it damned sure felt good smashing that piece of crap into little bitty pieces!! :lol:
 
Just got back from the jeweler. The stone is genuine emerald. The ring is gold and silver. He could not say either way if it is antique or not. I'm going to take it to the Mel Fisher museum in Sebastian on monday, I've been looking for an excuse to go up there anyway.:D
 
Just got back from the jeweler. The stone is genuine emerald. The ring is gold and silver. He could not say either way if it is antique or not. I'm going to take it to the Mel Fisher museum in Sebastian on monday, I've been looking for an excuse to go up there anyway.:D

AHA!!! WTG, Scoundrel!!

But now I have to keep my fingers crossed until monday for you - gonna be hard driving around like that... :lol:

Still, I can't think of a better reason to visit the MFM than that ring! It's lookin' good so far! :yes:

BTW, while you're there, you could ask them about how you might go about cleaning it. They probably have a few world-class restoration experts running around there who specialize in salt-water artifacts! :lol:
 
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