Mysterious Ring?

[trudmann85]

Greetings from Ashland Ky,
I had about 5 minutes before the storm hit on Monday and found this ring in the backyard about 3 1/2 inches deep! I need some help identifying exactly what this is. Here are my thoughts so far: Its sure seems like silver although it does seem a bit light. On the front of the ring there is what looks like a sword pointing downward on a shield...which looks to have grapes on it, and a little ribbon on the bottom. Looks like black onyx underneath? It is very worn with absolutely no lettering/numbering or any type of identifying mark on the outside or inside of the ring. I have the following ideas floating around....class ring of some sort, masonic imagery, fraternity ring, family crest. What do you guys think? I would love to hear from you. Thanks guys!.....Tim.

 

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[trudmann85]

UPDATE With your help I have correctly identified the ring as being a 1960 AIRBORNE RING!!! It belonged to the previous owner of this residence who was a fighter pilot!...now deceased sadly to say though. I am now working to return this ring to a surviving family member. Every one of your tips were extremely helpful and awesomely correct. Thanks guys!!!

 

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[ivan salis]

did I not say 1960 airborne? yes I did. (see post # 13 above ) LX is roman number 60--as in 1960 * the symbol screamed AIRBORNE upon seeing it

hope you can return it to the family of the man * that lost it --he most likely was a nam vet later on if he graduated airborne "survival" training in 1960 ---- since 4 year after training "hitchs" were required to recieve "flight training"-- since it cost cost a lot of money to train a pilot so they want to be sure you served the govt for awhile after spending so much money and time training you .

long ago it was common to have american airforce pilots and air crewmen train for --SERE --(SURVIVAL, EVASION , RESITANCE , ESCAPE) by using "airborne" rangers to hunt them while the "pilots" tried to avoid capture and live off the land -- back then the jungle areas of panama were commonly used for this "training"

 

[Breezie]

Nice ID Ivan!

 

[trhunter1]

Thanks for the post, trudmann85!

 

[MilitaryCollector]

thats the same as my fraternity crest . ALPHA TAU OMEGA do google search for ALPHA TAU OMEGA CREST and see pictures.
(can't post pics right now)

 

[trudmann85]

Well I'll be darned....You are exactly right MilitaryCollector!

 

[ipsilateral]

Interesting with the fraternity crest. What surprises me is the low quality of riveting on this ring. I would have thought the military type rings would be more solidly constructed.

 

[ivan salis]

it is close to the frat emblem design but it has small differances * plus the fact that a former air force type lived in the house * TIPS THE SCALES -- ID WIZE -- POST KOREAN WAR - air force piilots and air crew were SERE SCHOOLED (SURVIVE , EVADE, RESIST , ESCAPE) due to the high chance of their being made POWS if their planes got shot down. --- pilots cost a lot of $$$ to traiin and since it takes years to properly train one they are hard to replace in war time ---plus they if captured are often treated very poorly by the people they bomb since the people they drop bombs on seldom get to get "revenge" upon them normally, unlike a ground troop type person.

since the SERE "trianing" was done in PANAMA -- they used airborne rangers to track the "trainees" in the jungle while the trainees tried to live off the land and "evade capture" , and if caught they were trained in methods to try to escape "the enemy" jungle compound they were taken to -- the reason the ring might seem a bit crude in manfacture is --the ring might have been made by a local craftsman type in panama (around us military bases in "foreiogn countries" the locals often make items for the military to buy this is especially true in thrid world type places) so it might have been bought locally in panama by the man when he "graduated" / passed the SERE class - they do a lot of silver work in various south american countries still.

 

[trudmann85]

I have to say that I am extremely impressed with everyone's knowledge and I can't express enough how much you have helped. I find this ring intriguing and it will be tough to let it go when the time comes.....I knew it was strange the minute I turned over the dirt. MilitaryCollector or anyone who knows......am I correct in assuming that this is the crest of a military fraternity? Wikipedia had a fuzzy explanation on it.