✅ SOLVED Old sterling ring- is it colonial/military?

[Bharpring]

Does anyone know if this sterling ring is colonial or military? Found this on an old home site that goes back to the early 1800s in the Savannah area.

 

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[Icewing]

It may say Sterling but it sure doesn't look like any Sterling silver I've ever seen.
And it looks like it fit a 6 year olds finger.

 

[pistol-pete]

Cracker Jack ring??

 

[Bharpring]

I tested the metal and it is silver. There is an old patina on it.

 

[Tony in SC]

Colonial would not have sterling on it. I would say around 1900. Maybe fraternal, school, club, etc. Sure looks toasted to be silver.

 

[Bharpring]

Is it possible that the sterling stamp was added many years after the ring was made?

 

[tamrock]

I'm thinking a Victorian era signet ring. https://www.rubylane.com/item/1415055-a169/19th-Century-decorative-Victorian-Signet-Ring

 

[Bharpring]

That is very close. I don't know why my ring is so weathered? There is a number 6 or 9 on the top and the design on both sides looks like a guy with and arm to the sky. When I first found it I thought it was a toy ring. But after cleaning it and feeling the weight I questioned my thought and wrote this thread.

 

[Tony in SC]

I like the signet ring idea. Having sterling on it means it was probably made in the USA.

 

[tamrock]

That is very close. I don't know why my ring is so weathered? There is a number 6 or 9 on the top and the design on both sides looks like a guy with and arm to the sky. When I first found it I thought it was a toy ring. But after cleaning it and feeling the weight I questioned my thought and wrote this thread.

Fertilizers and ammonia nitrate is bad on silver I believe. It does look as if it was exposed to some kind of caustic chemicals of some kind, plus if it sat in alkali soils that may have some effect on it ?. Maybe a lawn mower had a wack at also

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

As Tony In SC said, being marked "STERLING" means it is from (much) later than the Colonial Era. I've tried for several years to learn exactly when that marking (STERLING written in plain-block letters) first appers on silver objects. I've emailed several Antique Jewelry experts, but either got no reply to the question or they didn't know the answer. Based on when the STERLING marking (instead of .925 or a hallmark) starts showing up on Military silver insignia, and silver eating utensils, the timing seems to be around the year 1900, perhaps just a bit earlier. It is definitely much later than the civil war. If anybody here has a well-documented date in answer to my question, please post it.

 

[sutphin]

NOT SURE BUT NEET.

 

[Icewing]

As Tony In SC said, being marked "STERLING" means it is from (much) later than the Colonial Era. I've tried for several years to learn exactly when that marking (STERLING written in plain-block letters) first appers on silver objects. I've emailed several Antique Jewelry experts, but either got no reply to the question or they didn't know the answer. Based on when the STERLING marking (instead of .925 or a hallmark) starts showing up on Military silver insignia, and silver eating utensils, the timing is around the year 1900, perhaps just a bit earlier. It is definitely much later than the civil war. If anybody here has a well-documented date in answer to my question, please post it.

This doesn't answer your question about when the STERLING stamp first appeared but the first legal definition of sterling silver appeared in 1275 under King Edward I

 

[Bharpring]

I contacted a specialist about the Sterling stamp and she replied:

The"Sterling" mark began to appear in the US in the 1850's after Tiffanychanged over from using coin silver and adopted the UK's .925 standard. Othermanufacturers soon followed suit as did some individual silversmiths.

The Sterling stamp was not required until the early20th century, when Federal law required formal recognition of coin vs Sterlingsilver.