Featured manchurian ruby ring identification for a history project

hi, i need some help identifying this ring for a school project. it's been in my family for 5 generations on my dad's side, who is from manchuria.

the ring is made of 24k gold and 2 round cut rubies. there's also some illegible chinese characters etched onto the inside of the ring.

any ideas of its origins, worth, maker? any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome, @icespicefan , that is a stunning ring.
Stylewise it is influenced by Western jewellery, the design is called "toi et moi", French for you and me. It was popular in the very early years of the 20th century, especially for engagement rings.
But the way the ring is made is very East Asian, as is the use of 24 carat gold.
Is the setting of the stones open at the back, can you see the stones on the inside of the ring, or is it closed?

The Chinese characters are likely to be the maker's mark. If they are illegible, you'll probably never find the maker. But even without knowing the maker, the ring has value as it is.
If you are able to photograph the mark anyway, we could give it a shot.

If you have a UV light, shine it on those beautiful rubies. I suspect they are the highly sought after Burmese rubies, and if they are, they will light up very red in UV light. A small UV flashlight will suffice.
China imported jadeite jade and other precious stones from Burma, present day Myanmar, so Burmese rubies make sense.

The combination of the origin, the desirable design, 24 carat, and possibly Burmese rubies mean it could be quite valuable.
We don't do values, but you could google 'antique Chinese gold ring', and you'll get an idea. I realize the ring is Manchurian, but that would be considered Chinese by most sellers.

My husband was part-Manchurian btw, one of his ancestors migrated from Manchuria to Indonesia in search of a better future.

 

thank you so much for the help! i'll be sure to check out the UV light trick

 

also, the back of the ring is open and the gems are visible.

 

I'm intrigued by the school project. Genealogy? Gemmology? Accuracy of info found on the Internet?

Very pretty ring. I'm looking forward to learning what UV light can tell.

 

That is a NICE ring. Definitely made for the Chinese market; Western market rings would have lower-karat gold, and you can bet they wouldn't have sent us the good stones. As Any mentioned, I bet those stones light up like beacons under a blacklight.

 

Great information, very interesting

 

@Any Jewelry @evelyb30 @Bronwen

i got the uv light pictures! the rubies glowed really bright so i think your hypothesis about them being burmese rubies is true.



here's a pic of it side by side with a ruby necklace that has opaque, darker rubies. there's such a big difference!

 

Yay, Burmese rubies. Some other rubies also fluoresce, but they are more orangey red. Yours are perfect for Burma.

Yes, there is, but those also look Burmese to me. The difference is that the rubies in the necklace are opaque, the cloudiness and inclusions dull the fluorescence. The rubies in the ring are more valuable.

 

Before someone reads this thread & gets overly excited by how their rubies look under UV light, it should be noted that lab grown rubies, which are common, also glow hot pink under UV. However, in this case the known provenance & high quality of gold speak for natural stones.

 

Western jewelers used synthetics in the 20s and 30s especially, when they needed colors and shapes that matched exactly. Still do sometimes, but not in a crazy high-karat setting like that ring.