Found a Vintage Sterling Silver Opal Ring with 2 Small Diamonds.

FreeBirdTim

Silver Member
Sep 24, 2013
3,853
6,968
Scituate, RI
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Garrett AT Pro
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Found a really cool ring today. It's Sterling silver with an opal in the middle and a small diamond on each side of the stone. I think the diamonds are real because it seems to be a high quality ring. It's a very large ring, probably a size 10 or 10 1/2. Pretty big for a woman's ring!

The inside of the band is stamped "925" and also has the letter "S" in a circle. I did some research and it appears to be made by the George O. Street & Sons jewelry company. This company was located in New York from 1837 until around 1950, when they went out of business.

Also found $2.39 in clad. Not bad, but it's pretty sad when you dig 47 coins and it only adds up to $2.39! I did find a 1951 wheatie, so that's not a bad day at all.

Here's a few pics:

DSC06438.JPGDSC06443.JPGDSC06447.JPGDSC06445.JPG
 

Upvote 31
Find another silver jewelry maker with the same hallmark and I'll gladly call you an expert. But casting doubt on my find (and my research) was uncalled for. Also, I never claimed it was rare or valuable, so what's your problem?

I absolutely NEVER doubted your find. I have NEVER seen the hallmark in your ring. HOWEVER, I have found over 500 silver rings. I have a lot of experience with them. I have NO problem. Not hear to argue with you. You get a picture of your hallmark and maybe I can tell you exactly where it is from and maybe not.

Casting doubt on your research is NOT an offense on here. I totally believe you are mistaken as to who made it and when. You are welcome to your belief and I am welcome to mine. I am also welcome as far as I know to let you know I think you are mistaken. If not I am sure I will hear from the moderators.

I have NEVER seen a vintage ring marked .925
 

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since you want to get nasty about it - Sears used s in a circle in some of there cheaper silver jewelry which I believe what you got - Street family made mostly gold jewelry - not silver and can find no use of opals in there jewelry
you found it in an area where you got bunch of clad not early silver - the ring has no tarnish on it in pic with your dirty fingers - ive been detecting since 1975 and have well over 1000+ piece of silver jewelry and over 1000 pieces of gold jewelry - Scubadetector has found tons of silver also - read your link again 1907 they had to use either sterling or 925 - 99% of jewelers used sterling in America up until the 70s - Street family did not use 925 in anything ive found on line they used sterling mark
- Silver Jewelry Marks: Learn to Identify and Date Silver Jewelry - My Classic Jewelry Vintage Jewelry Blog
your ring does not look vintage in its design - looks like something from the 80s or more recent - and the stone looks to be synthetic opal - looks like many in Sears opal silver rings ive seen

Sorry, you are wrong and I do have the right company. You are the one who needs to do more research. The 925 mark started in 1907, not in the 1960's.

American Silver Marks on Coin Silver and Sterling
 

Nice ring find Tim :thumbsup:

relax everyone "opinions" ... everyone has one.
though sometimes they should be covered so they are less offensive.
if the op suggests he isn't interested in opinions. time to move on to What is it
 

Find another silver jewelry maker with the same hallmark and I'll gladly call you an expert. But casting doubt on my find (and my research) was uncalled for. Also, I never claimed it was rare or valuable, so what's your problem?

Post a clear picture of your hallmark. I will gladly show you companies that could have used it in silver. I am here to help with facts not speculation. The only fact I have about this situation is I have never seen a vintage ring with the .925 stamp. Never.
 

Very nice looking ring, congratulations!
 

Beautiful ring and the Opal looks to be in great shape. They are fragile stones and can be damaged easily, so you are doubly lucky.
 

Very nice ring Tim:icon_thumright: Jewelry doesn't seem to like me very much.. Can't seem to catch any. Nice hunt
 

Post a clear picture of your hallmark. I will gladly show you companies that could have used it in silver. I am here to help with facts not speculation. The only fact I have about this situation is I have never seen a vintage ring with the .925 stamp. Never.

You are doubting the authenticity of my ring, which should give you yet another vacation from here. You need to tone it down and show some evidence that it isn't a George O. Street ring. Show me a hallmark with the letter "S" in a circle. That's all I asked you to do, but you and your buddy just keep thumping your chests and bragging about how many rings you've found and now you're claiming that it's a Sears ring!

Bottom line, show some proof or keep your opinion to yourself. I gave you proof that 925 markings started in 1907, but you just dismiss it and we're supposed to believe you? Put up or shut up.
 

you found it in an area where you got bunch of clad not early silver - the ring has no tarnish on it in pic with your dirty fingers

Wrong. I found it in an area that has produced six silver coins from the 1930's and 1940's. I found all that clad because I had been ignoring any signal less than a dime in this spot. I was bored, so I dug every signal that day. The ring wasn't deep, but it was on edge. Probably why I missed it the last five times I had detected the spot.
 

You are doubting the authenticity of my ring, which should give you yet another vacation from here. You need to tone it down and show some evidence that it isn't a George O. Street ring. Show me a hallmark with the letter "S" in a circle. That's all I asked you to do, but you and your buddy just keep thumping your chests and bragging about how many rings you've found and now you're claiming that it's a Sears ring!

Bottom line, show some proof or keep your opinion to yourself. I gave you proof that 925 markings started in 1907, but you just dismiss it and we're supposed to believe you? Put up or shut up.


Another vacation? I haven't had one. No use to keep this going. as I said earlier, good luck out there and have fun with your finds. We all have one life. Enjoy it

I never said it was a Sears ring. I also never said it isn't what you claim. I haven't seen the hallmark and I won't speculate.

You want another example of an S in a circle. here you go:

http://chicagosilver.com/jmarks15.htm

Also if you read more info on the George Street and Sons the S was in an OVAL not a circle.

http://aju.langantiques.com/?listpage=16&instance=1#participants-list-1

I haven't seen your hallmark though. So NO idea if it is a circle or an oval.

But why keep this going? You made a nice find. I have not tried to take away from that. I just think you have the wrong company and the wrong time frame it was made.
 

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We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Next time, I'll just keep my find to myself. Thought it was cool looking, which is the only reason I posted it here.
 

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Next time, I'll just keep my find to myself. Thought it was cool looking, which is the only reason I posted it here.

There is absolutely NOTHING to disagree on, except age of it possibly. You haven't shown the hallmark. Only YOU know what it really is, nobody else does. I stated in my first post it is a very nice ring. EVERYONE else thinks it is a nice ring also. Glad you posted it. Opals are a beautiful stone.

You wanted me to show you an S in a circle. I did that for you. I also showed you the company you believe the ring is from had an S in an oval. Both the websites I have seen say his makers mark is an S in an oval.
 

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Congrats on the very nice ring.
 

You are doubting the authenticity of my ring, which should give you yet another vacation from here. You need to tone it down and show some evidence that it isn't a George O. Street ring. Show me a hallmark with the letter "S" in a circle. That's all I asked you to do, but you and your buddy just keep thumping your chests and bragging about how many rings you've found and now you're claiming that it's a Sears ring!

Bottom line, show some proof or keep your opinion to yourself. I gave you proof that 925 markings started in 1907, but you just dismiss it and we're supposed to believe you? Put up or shut up.

I did what you asked. I showed you a silver hallmark with an S in a circle. Why don't you show your hallmark? You also said you would gladly call me an expert (which I am not) however if your S is not in an oval it is not a George Street and Sons ring.

But it really doesn't matter. I will stay completely off your threads so you don't feel threatened. You have a nice ring. Your research is probably off and you don't want to admit it. That is fair.
 

Well done FBT. I like that opal!
 

Pretty ring - I love me some Opal - Nevertheless -a lot of info about what it may or may not be :)
 

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I did what you asked. I showed you a silver hallmark with an S in a circle. Why don't you show your hallmark?

I had to wait for a sunny day to take a decent photo of the hallmark. Still not a great photo, but here it is. It was way too bright, so I had to darken it. That's why the silver looks kind of weird. To my 54 year old eyes, it's a match. The top tail of the "S" doesn't show well, but it does curve down the way the George Street hallmark curves.

Draw your own conclusions. At this point, I could care less what anyone thinks. Your obnoxious bullying has taken the fun out of this thread. Hope you're happy.

DSC06480.JPG
 

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image082.jpg Ive ID'ed 100s of items for fellow TH'ers here and on other forums ---I too said nice find WTG - but you don't like your opinion challenged on the maker
Scubadetector and I hunt primarily early 1900s water spots and get a lot - a lot a lot of early sterling jewelry - around 1907 Tiffany and Gorham started putting 925 along with sterling on some of their items
Silver Jewelry Marks: Learn to Identify and Date Silver Jewelry - My Classic Jewelry Vintage Jewelry Blog
(see "American silver jewelry marks")
Vintage Jewelry Marks: Help for Dating Your Vintage Jewelry - My Classic Jewelry Vintage Jewelry Blog
read below the pics of marks
you took both our comments as an attack when we are just trying to be informative - Ive helped 100s of TH'ers in this hobby
Ive written over 30 articles all trying to help others or inspire (I was never paid a dime)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/
I advised you to have it checked by a jeweler - if possible get 2nd and 3rd opinions - I found a vintage platinum ring with a 1 carat diamond
the marking inside was a P inside a diamond - 1st jeweler said it was pure junk - 2nd said he thought it was platinum with a cubic zirconia - took to a gemologist with a degree
he told me that it was an old cut diamond from late 1800s early 1900s and that was why their diamond testers would not identify it as a diamond - it had a silvery sparkle
to it rather than the rainbow you see in most diamonds now a days
then took to a 3rd jeweler and he confirmed it was real "old" cut diamond and metal was platinum
just because a guy says he is a jeweler does not mean he is an expert in metal and stones - he could just be a salesman and got into the business to make the money
if possible - try and find an actual antique jewelry dealer in your area - Hell - I for one hope you have a Street made ring
would rather you went in with an open mind and heard good news than go in high expectations and be brought down
good luck
 

I didn't realize that a George Street ring had any value. Just thought it was a cool ring and the Street hallmark looked like a match. Not looking to sell it and I don't care what it's worth. You two boys need to realize that some people just metal detect for the fun of it and not looking to make a buck off of it.

But to me, it doesn't look like the Somers hallmark you posted...
 

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