Featured Expert of Ancient Gold Ring Please

When I'm away from them my paranoid would take control of me but when I look at them I was like how could I doubt something so precious and pretty!If the beryl one has to be fake, than the faker must be a genuis with absolutely good taste

 

It is my impression that fakers often can't help giving themselves away because they carry current taste & fashion into their frauds. In this case, a modern artificer would likely choose a greener raw emerald or a light blue aquamarine, not this in between color. They might also have resisted this shape of cut for something more cushiony.

 

Agree! And it’s rather interesting to note the very obvious imperfection on the top of that pyramid-tho not clearly shown in the photo- where four facets does not meet on a single ridge but a tiny facet that could be polished off if aiming for perfection. Wonder what stopped the stone cutter there, but a modern crafter should choose to fix it instead

 

I think it is a natural crystal with minimal cutting & polishing.

 

I wonder if cutting was already done when the European imported the stones, i.e. in India? I have seen before that on antique Chinese jewelry you can sometimes find faceted stones which were very unusual, so they were assumed to be cut in India and then sold to China

 

They have looked at much more insignificant stuff, believe me.

From what I've seen so far, Medieval/Renaissance repros/fakes are generally recognizable as such. But things in the fakers world change all the time.

Thai workshops have moved on to Georgian as well. I don't know about Medieval/Renaissance.
And I don't know what the Bulgarian fakers are doing at the moment, they're a pretty active and creative bunch, and they have more of a feel for European jewellery because it is part of their esthetic. The Bulgarians fake mostly silver rings, which are worth less than your rings.

Having said all that, I think yours are the real deal, I just want to have more certainty so you won't feel insecure about them. If you still feel insecure, I would be happy to take them off your hands so you won't have to worry anymore.

 

Ditto.

Devious, not genius. Good taste, absolutely.

Or just resort to glass, which was also used at the time.

I think they were meant to copy the natural shape of (halved) diamonds, which were hugely popular among the Medieval wealthy.

Yes, precious stones often came from India. And although stones like garnets were already found in Europe, quite a lot of garnets were traded from India.

Some Medieval sapphires have been traced back to Indonesia, which has been a trading nation(s) for thousands of years. I would think those came to Europe through Persian/Armenian traders, who were everywhere. Persian/Armenian traders had trading rights in some Dutch cities, which only goes to show how established they were in the West (just like in China and Indonesia).
Persians also brought turquoise with them of course.

 

First of all, I would say that most fakes are simply ugly that you won't bother your time and money. As you mentioned Georgian fakes, which speaks well because they're just very poorly designed, not to mention the problems in material and making. I have to say some of the Thai Roman rings are not that bad if you ignore the strange color and ridiculous price and description, but well, tactics for low cost and fast sale.

Secondly, you are right that we should always be cautious as there's no absolute 0 in the world of fake. Actually, the blue ring is bought from a Bulgarian seller and that's why it's the first to be presented to the ancient fake forum. However, experts there believed mine is fine as there's no sign of fakd aging and wearing, and the style is correct for post-medieval. The said seller has some suspicious gold rings for sale at that time too, but they're all roman, viking, byzantine, etc, and at significant lower price which is strange since they're always so popular and desirable. Anyway, it's never a good idea to by from seller with bad reputation. They do mix real things with fake to make their stuff more convincing, but the real ones could be probmatic as their origin is unclear and might be illegal.

It is very true that fakers are getting better in this, but as I discussed before, personally, I feel like faking my rings will give minimum profit. At etsy, a 18k gold ring with simple medieval style will just sell for almost 2000 pounds and it's selling faster than the real one- so why bother faking if one can make more profit by making honest reproduction, giving that one has skill and taste? Also, as I said, why not faking stirrup ring which is much easier and economic to do and won't likely go wrong in details, compare to more complicated designs?

If, after all, one still decide to fake, then I'm speachless.

 

there's still many cheaper stones to choose, i.e. garnet, amethyst, turquoise, if they want to minimize the cost for faking. or as Bronwen said, a greener emerald to make it more desirable.

 

this is very logical and really makes sense in historical context It's always a delight when you share your insights on these shining little treasures

 

Oh and it's just interesting to share that when I bought the emerald ring, seller told(yes, just told-no document tho-but he cannot foresee the find in 2023) me it was found in york in late 20th century. The green cabochon ring I show you is also found in york. Wonder what would be say for this? Coming from the same goldsmith in york?

 

There would have been many goldsmiths in York, even in those days.
It was also an important trading centre. I know York had a (Dutch) Frisian traders community in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, which only goes to show they had trade connections across the North Sea.