OB Wedding Band & Williams Cleaner

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Had a 12,000 step hike morning with a hunting partner on Saturday. We went deep into the park woods trying to locate 2 dots on the old 1800’s maps. Found the first one (no luck luck locating the second dot) after about an hour (follow the pottery shards...). Loads of iron and old shotgun shell head stamps, but very few good targets. Finally got a nice 21/21 target.

Initially thought it was a typical old poor farmers played ring, but as I cleaned it no telltale signs of cracking


or flaking and what looks like an older set of hallmarks.





From what I can research it is an Ostby & Barton ring, 3 crowns is Sweden, 14 is carat and F is the mystery. I’ve seen online similar rings with different last capital letter, E, G, H, T. Maybe size mark or date?? If anyone knows the date that this would have been mfg’d or other info, pls chime in. Also, if anyone knows if this is a “gold shell” variety vs solid.

Also found a Civil War Williams cleaner fired bullet in my local park woods, you never know what will pop out.


Good luck out there!

 

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[Steve in PA]

Can't help on the ring, jewelry is outside my scope of expertise
I have dug my share of Williams Cleaner bullets. But mine all came from CW sites in Virginia.

 

[Red-Coat]

Yes, the ring is by Ostby & Barton, and they were founded in 1879 in Providence, Rhode Island. The three crowns have nothing to do with Sweden beyond the fact that Ostby chose them as his trademark in memory of his Scandinavian heritage (he was Norwegian, but Sweden and Norway were a personal union of two kingdoms until peaceful separation in 1905). Ostby went down with the Titanic in 1912 but the company continued production under that name until the 1950s. Unfortunately there is no reliable way to date O&B rings from their marks and they didn't use date letters as such. The 'F' letter is not a date mark, but is believed to stand for "fill" and, together with the '14' mark, denotes that the ring is gold-fill with a 14K shell. O&B's early plated rings tend not to have that 'F' letter and I would think that puts it after the US Silver & Gold Stamping Act of 1906, as one of a series of legislative changes to tighten up the way precious metals could be marked.

 

[Digger RJ]

Very Nice!!!! Congrats!!!!!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Yes, the ring is by Ostby & Barton, and they were founded in 1879 in Providence, Rhode Island. The three crowns have nothing to do with Sweden beyond the fact that Ostby chose them as his trademark in memory of his Scandinavian heritage (he was Norwegian, but Sweden and Norway were a personal union of two kingdoms until peaceful separation in 1905). Ostby went down with the Titanic in 1912 but the company continued production under that name until the 1950s. Unfortunately there is no reliable way to date O&B rings from their marks and they didn't use date letters as such. The 'F' letter is not a date mark, but is believed to stand for "fill" and, together with the '14' mark, denotes that the ring is gold-fill with a 14K shell. O&B's early plated rings tend not to have that 'F' letter and I would think that puts it after the US Silver & Gold Stamping Act of 1906, as one of a series of legislative changes to tighten up the way precious metals could be marked.

Thank you for your insight!

 

[JerV3]

Nice finds Thad.

Looks like the real deal to me. Looks like the one I pulled a few months back.

Now it's your time. Glad you got something nice for your efforts.

Jer

 

[Bridge End Farm]

Nice finds Congrats

 

[Ia.FurTrade]

Yes, the ring is by Ostby & Barton, and they were founded in 1879 in Providence, Rhode Island. The three crowns have nothing to do with Sweden beyond the fact that Ostby chose them as his trademark in memory of his Scandinavian heritage (he was Norwegian, but Sweden and Norway were a personal union of two kingdoms until peaceful separation in 1905). Ostby went down with the Titanic in 1912 but the company continued production under that name until the 1950s. Unfortunately there is no reliable way to date O&B rings from their marks and they didn't use date letters as such. The 'F' letter is not a date mark, but is believed to stand for "fill" and, together with the '14' mark, denotes that the ring is gold-fill with a 14K shell. O&B's early plated rings tend not to have that 'F' letter and I would think that puts it after the US Silver & Gold Stamping Act of 1906, as one of a series of legislative changes to tighten up the way precious metals could be marked.

Great info, Red-Coat!
Iowa Dale

 

[islamoradamark]

good going