sky355
Full Member
- Jul 24, 2012
- 145
- 74
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 600
Fisher F22
Vibra tector 740
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Hi folks, Been a while since I posted. So I want to tell you about this ring I found. I could use some assistance in putting a value on it. I do plan to have it professionally cleaned and appraised at a local jeweler. Want to see what everyone here feels its worth.
So back in April 2017 wife and I spent 10 days in the VI. One day we went to a private property beach where you can pay to park and enjoy the beach. The island we were on some folks frowned upon metal detecting so we got to know the owners a bit then I brought up my hobby and asked if they care of I detected. Not a problem they said. I have one of those Vibra Tector 740 detector I picked on Ebay used. I was excited about putting this thing to work and it was an awesome tool for sifting through the shallows.
after a few hours of detecting in the shallow water I had a hit and sifted it out of the sand. Pulled up this ring that was super tarnished. I showed the wife and we were mildly amused by the ring. To be completely honest we thought it was costume jewelry. It was pretty badly tarnished so I threw in my pouch and had a blast the rest of the day pulling up change and other stuff.
We get home and put the ring in my little bowl where I stick all my finds and there it sat till recently. Wife and I had conversations over the past few months about cleaning the ring up so we could investigate but we always spaced it out. The other night we broke out the ring and she has a silver and gold cleaner we keep in the bathroom. We started cleaning it up to get the tarnish and such off of it. You could tell this thing was in the water for a long time.
Well we where very surprised to see a green stone coming through.... ok not a huge deal but thats cool. Then we cleaned it up more and found it had what looked like an Opal. ok thats pretty cool. When we cleaned it up more we could see gold coming through and it was inlaid on a Silver band. Now I was intrigued but at first thought maybe it was just gold plated and that it had rubbed off in the ocean but no once we got this cleaned off we could tell there was no plating on this ring.
We started to clean the inside of the ring and started to make out an inscription. After about another 5-10 mins we could make out what it said with a good flashlight and a magnifying glass.
Inscription on the inside of the ring was
Larry Taranoff
Sitka 88
ok so we are thinking this must be the owner of the ring and they had their name put into it was a special date. I jump online and start putting in Larry's name and man was I shocked to learn that this was the jeweler who made the ring. After reading many posts about his work I researched more and learned that he had passed away back in 1994.
Larry was one of the first Tlingit Artists to inlay gold over Silver in his rings and bracelets also found that his work is heirloom quality stuff that gets passed down from generation to generation and Larry often put alaskan gold nuggets into his rings and designs.
I tried doing an image search for this particular style ring which is a fish made out of what appears to be a silver spoon handle and he has gold inlaid over the top of it. I could also see small gold nuggets in the fish tail and also his gill was a longer nugget that was flattened down. The eye is an emerald and the Opal is inlaid in a set in the tail part.
I was stoked so I started looking around and found a Jeweler up in Alaska who I sent an email to about the ring and what he could tell me about.
Email Sent: Hi there,
So this Larry Taranoff Ring was found on a beach under about 3 feet of water. We went on vacation in April and I had found the ring then but till recently it has sat in my drawer. WE finally decided to clean it up and on the back we saw the inscription Larry Taranoff Sitka 88 inscribed on the inside of the ring. We thought it was a person till we did a little research and found out he is the actual jeweler who made this piece back in 88. Here are some photos which are not the greatest but hopefully you can tell me more about the ring. Looks like Silver base with a lot of gold overlaid on it. Also has some gold nuggets in the taill and the front of the fish frame for its gills. From what we can tell its an opal and Emerald stones. Appreciate anything info you can provide.
the reply:
Wow-nice find! Larry was a very talented carver-he passed away quite a few years ago. People would bring him a silver spoon and pay him $100 to carve and shape it into a bracelet-obviously he did rings too, and gold overlay would certainly be more expensive. You should get a silver polishing cloth to clean off the rest of that oxidation. I’d estimate that that ring would be worth $1500-2k, but I’m not an expert appraiser.
I about fell out of my chair at this point. And to think I let this ring sit in my finds for 7 months before we started investigating it.
I looked online you can find Larry's work out there but it is super expensive and it appears he did more bracelets then rings. I am guessing based on me not finding any photos of this model that this was a 1 of a kind ring.
My next step is Im going have it professionally appraised and cleaned.
some photos for everyone.
140$ Detector hit the jackpot on its first voyage with me. I am still in shock about this entire ordeal. To find something this nice. I couldn't ever imagine.
Let me know what you guys think.
So back in April 2017 wife and I spent 10 days in the VI. One day we went to a private property beach where you can pay to park and enjoy the beach. The island we were on some folks frowned upon metal detecting so we got to know the owners a bit then I brought up my hobby and asked if they care of I detected. Not a problem they said. I have one of those Vibra Tector 740 detector I picked on Ebay used. I was excited about putting this thing to work and it was an awesome tool for sifting through the shallows.
after a few hours of detecting in the shallow water I had a hit and sifted it out of the sand. Pulled up this ring that was super tarnished. I showed the wife and we were mildly amused by the ring. To be completely honest we thought it was costume jewelry. It was pretty badly tarnished so I threw in my pouch and had a blast the rest of the day pulling up change and other stuff.
We get home and put the ring in my little bowl where I stick all my finds and there it sat till recently. Wife and I had conversations over the past few months about cleaning the ring up so we could investigate but we always spaced it out. The other night we broke out the ring and she has a silver and gold cleaner we keep in the bathroom. We started cleaning it up to get the tarnish and such off of it. You could tell this thing was in the water for a long time.
Well we where very surprised to see a green stone coming through.... ok not a huge deal but thats cool. Then we cleaned it up more and found it had what looked like an Opal. ok thats pretty cool. When we cleaned it up more we could see gold coming through and it was inlaid on a Silver band. Now I was intrigued but at first thought maybe it was just gold plated and that it had rubbed off in the ocean but no once we got this cleaned off we could tell there was no plating on this ring.
We started to clean the inside of the ring and started to make out an inscription. After about another 5-10 mins we could make out what it said with a good flashlight and a magnifying glass.
Inscription on the inside of the ring was
Larry Taranoff
Sitka 88
ok so we are thinking this must be the owner of the ring and they had their name put into it was a special date. I jump online and start putting in Larry's name and man was I shocked to learn that this was the jeweler who made the ring. After reading many posts about his work I researched more and learned that he had passed away back in 1994.
Larry was one of the first Tlingit Artists to inlay gold over Silver in his rings and bracelets also found that his work is heirloom quality stuff that gets passed down from generation to generation and Larry often put alaskan gold nuggets into his rings and designs.
I tried doing an image search for this particular style ring which is a fish made out of what appears to be a silver spoon handle and he has gold inlaid over the top of it. I could also see small gold nuggets in the fish tail and also his gill was a longer nugget that was flattened down. The eye is an emerald and the Opal is inlaid in a set in the tail part.
I was stoked so I started looking around and found a Jeweler up in Alaska who I sent an email to about the ring and what he could tell me about.
Email Sent: Hi there,
So this Larry Taranoff Ring was found on a beach under about 3 feet of water. We went on vacation in April and I had found the ring then but till recently it has sat in my drawer. WE finally decided to clean it up and on the back we saw the inscription Larry Taranoff Sitka 88 inscribed on the inside of the ring. We thought it was a person till we did a little research and found out he is the actual jeweler who made this piece back in 88. Here are some photos which are not the greatest but hopefully you can tell me more about the ring. Looks like Silver base with a lot of gold overlaid on it. Also has some gold nuggets in the taill and the front of the fish frame for its gills. From what we can tell its an opal and Emerald stones. Appreciate anything info you can provide.
the reply:
Wow-nice find! Larry was a very talented carver-he passed away quite a few years ago. People would bring him a silver spoon and pay him $100 to carve and shape it into a bracelet-obviously he did rings too, and gold overlay would certainly be more expensive. You should get a silver polishing cloth to clean off the rest of that oxidation. I’d estimate that that ring would be worth $1500-2k, but I’m not an expert appraiser.
I about fell out of my chair at this point. And to think I let this ring sit in my finds for 7 months before we started investigating it.
I looked online you can find Larry's work out there but it is super expensive and it appears he did more bracelets then rings. I am guessing based on me not finding any photos of this model that this was a 1 of a kind ring.
My next step is Im going have it professionally appraised and cleaned.
some photos for everyone.
140$ Detector hit the jackpot on its first voyage with me. I am still in shock about this entire ordeal. To find something this nice. I couldn't ever imagine.
Let me know what you guys think.
