Booyah - 18k right out of the “pro” shop lol

[randazzo1]

Unmarked and awesome 18k Byzantine ring. They put it in the case and charged me $10.00! Ten dollars for what they thought was junk - which shows you how overpriced these knuckleheads are. I bought a gold mens Hamilton watch here last month (marked on inside) for $30.00. And it’s a chain of stores lol. Definitely adding them to my routine rounds.

 

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[GibH]

That's a chunk of gold right there. Good eye!

 

[trdking]

sweetness

 

[niffler]

Nice score! What kind of stone is set in it, something pretty valuable?

 

[randazzo1]

Nice score! What kind of stone is set in it, something pretty valuable?

Thanks. It seems to be quartz unfortunately - smoky quartz. I’m getting a 1.55 on the refractometer. I was hoping for topaz or something more valuable. On a positive note, this type of ring seems to sell for a decent premium over scrap. It’s roughly $225 in scrap. I’m going to ask $650 and see what sort of offers I get. They are selling on ebay in the $400 range, but w 14k and smaller smoky quartz (this one is 26.5 carats). I’ll cross list on Etsy too, since I don’t have much luck w higher value jewelry on ebay (online selling is my only option).

 

[Rookster]

Wow, what a buy.Congrats

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice job!

 

[Kray Gelder]

Why no marks on a "gold" ring, showing no wear? Just curious how you determined it is solid gold.

 

[Truth]

Did you test it?

 

[randazzo1]

Why no marks on a "gold" ring, showing no wear? Just curious how you determined it is solid gold.

Good question - more than half the gold and silver I find is unmarked. In this case, the ring is bench jewelry, probably made somewhere between 1960 and 1980. The overwhelming majority of unmarked gold I find is fine benchmade jewelry. Bench jewelry is one-off and made at a “bench” (lol) with hand tools, usually a torch, and a polishing medium. Many bench jewelers also do their own lapidary (almost certainly not the case with this ring). Bench jewelry is often unmarked or poorly marked (simply because it’s difficult to get a good strike on a completed piece and premarked components sometimes become illegible during assembly.)

It takes a while, but if you handle enough gold, eventually you will be able to spot it from a mile away. On this particular piece there were a number of giveaways: 1) color, luster and weight - these are unmistakeable and really just come with experience; 2) signs of malleability - micro dents and scratches, including hard file marks up inside the band; 3)the type and quality of craftsmanship - for example, the rectangular prongs are hand cut with a toothed band saw. Under a 10x loupe, you can see the tooth marks and the slight change overage where the jeweler went too deep. Very unusual to see that amount of time put into a non-precious metal piece.

All that said, I of course tested it. It falls somewhere between 18k and 22k.

 

[Hawks88]

Good eye. Congrats

 

[DFW_THer]

Good question - more than half the gold and silver I find is unmarked. In this case, the ring is bench jewelry, probably made somewhere between 1960 and 1980. The overwhelming majority of unmarked gold I find is fine benchmade jewelry. Bench jewelry is one-off and made at a “bench” (lol) with hand tools, usually a torch, and a polishing medium. Many bench jewelers also do their own lapidary (almost certainly not the case with this ring). Bench jewelry is often unmarked or poorly marked (simply because it’s difficult to get a good strike on a completed piece and premarked components sometimes become illegible during assembly.)

It takes a while, but if you handle enough gold, eventually you will be able to spot it from a mile away. On this particular piece there were a number of giveaways: 1) color, luster and weight - these are unmistakeable and really just come with experience; 2) signs of malleability - micro dents and scratches, including hard file marks up inside the band; 3)the type and quality of craftsmanship - for example, the rectangular prongs are hand cut with a toothed band saw. Under a 10x loupe, you can see the tooth marks and the slight change overage where the jeweler went too deep. Very unusual to see that amount of time put into a non-precious metal piece.

All that said, I of course tested it. It falls somewhere between 18k and 22k.

Good question and fantastic answer. Really covered all the bases. Gold has a unique look, texture, and finish. If you study how fine jewelry is made, then you're really on your way to successfully picking gold and diamonds out of the junque bin.

 

[randazzo1]

Here’s some photos of the details - first is the over cut with the saw marks (forgive my arrow drawing skills). Second is the inside of the band where you can see the little balls were individually sphered with a torch and then welded in place - the dark spot is firescaling that jeweler was unable to polish out because of its location - this comes from the torch. Then the next arrow in this photo is where you can see the shank was cut with a bandsaw and then spread. I cannot capture the file marks in a photo unfortunately but think what file marks look like on steel and then imagine them super small.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

GREAT tips! Thank you for teaching each of us readers just a little bit more savvy many of us need.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Here’s some photos of the details - first is the over cut with the saw marks (forgive my arrow drawing skills). Second is the inside of the band where you can see the little balls were individually sphered with a torch and then welded in place - the dark spot is firescaling that jeweler was unable to polish out because of its location - this comes from the torch. Then the next arrow in this photo is where you can see the shank was cut with a bandsaw and then spread. I cannot capture the file marks in a photo unfortunately but think what file marks look like on steel and then imagine them super small. View attachment 1621578View attachment 1621579

I see it now. This is NOT a mass produced lost wax piece. Thanks for showing that.

 

[RW]

Excellent! My wife is getting really good at snatching up "custom" jewelry for often under $1. I usually focus electronic, furniture and large items and she specializes in jewelry. Gotta say I have been trying to compete with her lately! Way less hassle than lugging an armoire around, fixing it, selling it, space it takes up... Jewelry is out there for the taking, just gotta be careful not to get took! But for a couple bucks it's all a good learning experience. Thanks for the tips!

 

[niffler]

You know your stuff. I spent 7 years in art school learning metalworking and design for jewelry, and can confirm what you say is legit.

 

[A2coins]

Nice nuggett