Found this non-silver ring metal detecting at home built in 1895

[Chad1978]

Found this ring, it is NOT solid silver, tested it (maybe lead or silver plated or something else - but not copper either), but I have no idea how old it is. It seems old, found it at a orange grove plantation home built in 1895. Any suggestions, much appreciated!one side of the ring has some letters etched on it, cant read all of them, looks like a "V" and two more letters then a "C" and "H" at the end?

 

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[nhbenz]

Appears to have a winged liberty head, like on a Mercury dime.

 

[Chad1978]

forgot to add this image of the etched letters on the side...

 

[Chad1978]

that's what i thought too, but doesn't look like they made the dime into a ring. maybe they just used the mercury head face as a blueprint to create the ring? would you say the ring could be early 1900's?

 

[sprailroad]

It would appear to me, that the "head" of a mercury dime had been cut out from the coin itself and in someway applied to the ring. I have found a couple of rings made from quarters and a couple of carved "hobo nickels" before, but that ring out classes those for sure. A really nice find Chad.

 

[nhbenz]

After a bit more coffee it occurred to me that we’ve seen rings like this, often attributed to being WWII trench art, as they’ll have the location of some battle on the side. (And the origin of them is debatable)
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/395741-wwii-trench-art-ring-oran-n-africa.html

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/181900-first-ring-year-world-away-during-ww2.html

 

[Chad1978]

great information, thanks so much! Now I just need to read the words on both sides of the ring to figure out where the person was in battle when it was made

 

[Tony in SC]

Great piece of history, that ring was worn a long time!

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

forgot to add this image of the etched letters on the side...

View attachment 1677078

Looks like it could have been NORTH part of the N is worn away?

 

[invent4hir]

great information, thanks so much! Now I just need to read the words on both sides of the ring to figure out where the person was in battle when it was made

The cross bar on the last letter looks high for an H. Perhaps it is a different letter(?). Please post a photo of the other side so we can help you ID the wodd.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Likely a WWI trench art ring, probably used a European coin as template.
Looks to be made of nickel silver.

"Nickel silver is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver is named due to its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver unless plated. The name "German silver" refers to its development by 19th-century German metalworkers from the Chinese alloy known as paktong. The manufacturer Berndorf named the trademark brand Alpacca, which became widely known in northern Europe for nickel silver. In 1830 the German process of manufacture was introduced into England, while exports of paktong from China gradually stopped. In 1832, a form of German silver was also developed in Birmingham, England. After the modern process for the production of electroplated nickel silver was patented by the Elkington brothers in Sheffield in 1840, the development of electroplating caused nickel silver to become widely used. It formed an ideal, strong and bright substrate for the plating process. It was also used unplated in applications such as cheaper grades of cutlery."

Great find!
Dave

 

[A2coins]

Great ring awesome relic and lots of info for ya gotta love this site

 

[Rookster]

Nice find. Congrats