Featured Intresting gold ring

Good evening everyone, this ring was found in New Zealand by a metal detector after a big storm caused a washout. (Key part about this is the area it was found in is downstream of an area that had alot of activity during the 1800s)

The ring has been scratch tested as 22 karat gold, the only marking on it is the 392 on the inside of the ring. We think the stone might be cats eye, would anyone else know anything about this ring or where it could be from?

Cheers

 

the 392 is likely an antique dealers number made with an electric scribe tool.

looks like some bloke lost his ring while doing garden work , or some nautical mishap !

that said.....no markings on a 22k gold ring makes me think it could be from the 1800's...........or earlier....

22k........put the elbow grease to work, and shine her up , mate !

just my early morning thoughts...

 

a cats eye should have a tighter line down the centre .....but it reminds me of a moon stone.....

 

Very interesting!
Welcome on board!

 

Are the apparent "ripples" in the stone (or whatever) actually present, or is it just a moire effect of the photograph?


I'm wondering if it might be some kind of wood, or coal.

 

I think I see a scratched "R" to the right of the number.

 

I am assuming it was a man's ring and was made smaller. That would explain a jewelers mark. What a fun find.

 

It's a bit hard to tell about the stone because it has been sandblasted. In pix it does appear to have a cat's eye effect, but also appears to be more of a green than the tawny gold-brown of tiger eye. If the chatoyancy is really there & the color is grey-green, I would propose cat's eye chrysoberyl, a stone that was popular in the 19th century. Would be curious to know how it looks with a coating of oil; it would give an idea of how it would look polished.

The number inside might also be from a pawnbroker.

 

The pink 'stone' is of course artificial; the stones below are chrysoberyls.

 

I think rather that the rough finish is from being naturally tumbled by movement through water, sand & mud over the course of a few decades. Looking closely at the 3/4 front profile by MOS, the myriad dings an' scratches don't present the uniform surface appearance of media-blasting.

 

I meant its exposure to sand & saltwater over time, not to a man-driven process. I think this was once a highly polished stone.

 

if I gave a jeweller my gold ring to size....and he marked it up like that......
I'd bite him !!!!1

 

The model is pretty generic and timeless, so it could have been anywhere during the last 200 years or so. With generic models, a mark is usually a clue, but we don't have that either.
However, the way the number is written, makes me think of British or culturally British. So it was most likely made locally in NZ, in neighbouring Oz, or in the UK.

Ditto.

 

the way it was sized..or repaired .bothers me !

as if it was a home made job.......

it no longer looks comfortable to wear...........

 

Certainly not professional. Maybe done in a region where there were no goldsmiths, or the owner didn't have enough money to have it resized properly.

 

Good morning everyone! Cheere for the responses as it had me stumped. I would say the stone has a greeny black colour when put up to a light, but also does have a sort of shimmer effect when turning it side to side. It would be quite cool if it was from the 19th century as it's not common to find such things from New Zealand.

I will look to give the gold a shine to see what it can look like.

If it helps I'm a more of a coin collector so this was a stab in the dark for me. I'm looking to get it evaluated so I can have a better idea of what it actually is. I will look to post the finding here once I've done that

Either way it has quite grown on me so I will more then likely be keeping it!

 

Could the piece be taken to a Jeweler and have the stone repolished & the gold polished ? Don't know if that would ruin any antique value.

 

It would add to the value, as long is it isn't overpolished.

 

Good to know. Part of me wants to keep it in the state it was found, while the other part wants to restore it to the state it was lost in

 

Don't rush your decision. If you intend to keep it, take your time to think about it.
The way it is now, is connected to its history, life spent exposed to the elements. That doesn't add any monetary value, but it does add charm. Maybe you can have the resized part sympathetically repaired though.