Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
 |
| Five Silver and Copper-Alloy Rings With Stones. |
I've been doing some posts on the difficulty of determining the date and source of beach finds and pointing our some commonly accepted generalities that are not perfect indicators. I showed, for example, that the presence or absence of a mark is not a perfect indicator. Some items hundreds of years old have silver marks and some very modern rings are not marked. I also mentioned the many old silver rings found on the wreck beaches and wondered if some of them might be trade goods or from salvage efforts rather than from the Plate Fleet.
A day or two ago I went back and picked up out a sample of rings that I had thrown in a box and didn't pay much attention. I thought I'd just take a look at a few, so I picked the group shown below without looking for anything in particular.
 |
| Small Random Selection of Silver and Copper Rings. |
I started to look through those with my microscope, which I didn't have years ago when I put them away. I was not surprised that some of them looked like those I showed yesterday from the Deagan book. Here they are again.
 |
Sample of Rings From Spanish Colonial Sites As Shown On One Page Of
Deagan's Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean: 1500 - 1800.
|
Notice the bottom row, in particular. They are described as follows.
Late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Copper-alloy stirrup rings with round turquoise and dark blue stones, and stirrup-type rings with paste stones set into bezel. Ring diameters, 2 cm.
Out of my handful, I picked out a five that had small stones similar to the ones in the Deagan illustration. I was shocked to find three silver and turquoise rings in my small sample that were almost exactly alike. Below are two of those.
 |
Two Silver and Turquoise Rings Showing Same Construction
|
As you might recall, silver and turquoise rings were very popular and common in the 1970s. That is what I think those are. I did not find markings on them, but from what I remember of where most of them were probably found, believe them to be from the 1970s. If I cleaned them up better, I might be able to find markings, but weren't able to find marks so far even with good magnification. Some are pretty crusty, so that might be the reason.
The one on the far right (top photo) is the only one in my group of five that is marked sterling. It is an odd sterling mark at that.
The one just to the left of that in the same photo is copper alloy, while the others I am pretty sure are all silver even though I didn't test them again. I undoubtedly did an acid test at one time, but didn't write that down. The copper alloy ring has a stone that is more greenish too.
If you compare the rings in my sample with those late 15 and early 16th century rings shown by Deagan, there are a lot of similarities.
Looking only at the Deagan book, a lot of the early Spanish colonial rings are copper alloy instead of silver or gold. As I've shown before, she also shows a silver ring or two, so there are exceptions, but the bulk of the Spanish colonial rings from archaeological sites seem to be copper alloy. Of course people are more excited about the gold rings from the wrecks, but if you are trying to tell if a silver or copper ring found on the beach might be hundreds of years old rather than modern, it might take some study before you can decide.
Going back and looking at finds you made years or decades ago can be interesting. You will bring more knowledge and maybe even better equipment to the task. You might be able to fill in some blanks or make some corrections. You might be in for some big surprises or big disappointments. It can be like you are making new finds all over again.
---
There were some things in my handful of items that I like and will probably be cleaning up. Here are a couple of them.
 |
| Sterling Silver Mary and Jesus Medallion. |
This medallion is marked sterling even though it really looks like copper with the present patina. I'll probably clean it up. There are a variety of other things in my little sample that I like and will maybe clean up.
Here is another.
 |
| Older Looking Medallion That Needs a Good Cleaning. |
---
The surf remains small, and there are no storms forming.
Stay cool.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
