Info on my first ring

[Older The Better]

Found this today in a fairly sterile patch of woods, with the sensitivity maxed and zero discrimination
I’ve only found a few other things in the area. A double sided awl, a thimble for a northwest trade gun and what I suspect is another gun piece.

To my questions
I suspect it is from the early 1800’s and probably a trade piece can anybody confirm this?

The ring rang up 39 on my detector, I’m guessing it’s plated over copper. Would gold plate have that kind of patina before being cleaned or would it be some other metal?

Finally all I did was hit it with water and an old toothbrush what’s the best way to go about cleaning it?

As always any other info you guys might have about it would be much appreciated

 

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[Icewing]

Gold doesn't corrode or oxidize in any way so there is no gold present but that doesn't mean it couldn't have been plated when it was new.
What you have is a brass ring. How old? I do not know. That's anyone's guess.

Congratulations on your first ring.

 

[Older The Better]

I knew gold doesn’t tarnish but for some reason I thought the rules change when it’s plated like on a flat button, I thought I’d seen posts about how to clean them properly to get the gold color back without taking it down to the base metal. What ever is plated on it it’s still mostly there you can see where it’s broken off in the pics. I’ve found flat buttons 100 yds away with similar patina and plating. It very well could be brass but why not just go all brass?

 

[CASPER-2]

button guys will use a certain type of naval jelly - ask the experts though to find out right one
gold will tarnish so to speak it can also turn green - this mostly happens in salt water but can happen in certain types of fresh and in cretain types of soils
pure gold will not discolor and most up to 18k will not either - but 14k on down can - take it from a guy that has been detecting for over 40 yrs and has found
over 1000 gold rings - in a ring that is 10k gold - 24k is pure so 14K (so to speak) is of another metal - sometimes brass, copper or nickle
nickle is used to make white gold usually - if copper or brass is used then they can turn older rings green in spots - silver was used in a lot of older
gold rings and in a 10k or 14k ring - can make them "tarnish" or turn color
examples - class ring is 10k and "blackened" - large signet is 10K and blackened but not corroded - it shines up nice shiny gold with little effort but in a few days
starts to darken again

 

[CASPER-2]

above rings after cleaning

 

[Reanm8er]

Congrats OTB! I think it just a cheap ring probably brass but the small stub in the center of the setting suggests it once had a fake pearl setting. It's kind of puzzling because the band is not adjustable. Not likely a child's toy but perhaps trade goods.

 

[Older The Better]

Just going by the other items I’ve found in the area it’s most likely trade goods from the 1830’s but I can’t say for sure that it wasn’t dropped by someone more recently, but being private farmland in a corner opposite from the houses and barns and lack of modern trash I’d say that it’s unlikely there was enough modern traffic for someone to drop a ring.

I took several scoops from the hole and sifted them I didn’t find any stone or pearl

Trade ring would explain the construction, cheap materials and shiny was probably ideal to trade for native goods

 

[Older The Better]

Update
Touched it briefly with naval jelly, it’s def plated but I’m going to change my answer from gold to silver, because the remaining plated areas are dark almost black

 

[BLK HOLE]

Congrats on your first ring, you certainly found an interesting one

 

[nagant]

electroplating started about 1840 so it could be a later trade goods ring. Post it in the fur trade forum and see what they think.

 

[Older The Better]

I’ve been meaning to do that, 1840’s is just a touch later than my other dates of early mid 1830’s, was your date a fairly general time period or was it a hard line of no plating before 1840. Also I say plated but did they dip rings like they did flat buttons?