Brass ring? Mount? Other? 4 hearts

winslow

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Oct 30, 2004
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Oregon, No Cal Border
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Cleaning up the junk from last weeks finds at a gold camp that goes back to 1855. I unfolded this nondescript piece of metal and found that there was symmetry so it deserved closer examination. Pulled out the 000 steel wool and gently started to clean. Surprised to see some gilt and further surprised to see some ornateness including two hearts on each side. "Treasure!" Or at least something interesting. Hey some of my best finds have been in the trash part of my pouch!

Anyway, my wife thinks this was a cheap ring where the woman got mad at her man, broke the ring, folded it up into pieces and tossed it only to have me stumble upon it years later. I think it must have been mounted on something and there was something attached to the center that is long gone. It's pretty thin so I'm thinking it wasn't a ring but I haven't a clue.

Any ideas? 2.2 inches long. You can still see the creases in the picture.
 

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I agree with your wife... it is a girl's cheap-quality "Sweetheart" ring (hence the Valentine-style hearts on it).

As you may already know, these cheap thin-bodied rings had a gap in them which allowed the ring's diameter to be slightly expanded or shrunk, so that it could fit more than one finger-size.

Doing the math... dividing your ring's stretched-out length of 2.2-inches by Pi (3.1416) equals .70-inches in diameter (which is a bit smaller than a US penny's .75-inch diameter). Your ring's diamter is a typical size for a teenage girl's ring-finger -- at least, before the 21st-Century's "Teenage Obesity" epidemic.
 

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I agree with your wife... it is a girl's cheap-quality "Sweetheart" ring (hence the Valentine-style hearts on it).

As you may already know, these cheap thin-bodied rings had a gap in them which allowed the ring's diameter to be slightly expanded or shrunk, so that it could fit more than one finger-size.

Doing the math... dividing your ring's stretched-out length of 2.2-inches by Pi (3.1416) equals .70-inches in diameter (which is a bit smaller than a US penny's .75-inch diameter). Your ring's diamter is a typical size for a teenage girl's ring-finger -- at least, before the 21st-Century's "Teenage Obesity" epidemic.

I appreciate your analytical approach. Thanks!
 

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