Help with antique black dice and rhinestone ring please

[marb1eman]

About 5 years ago I was given this ring in a box of old and antique jewelry. My friend who gave me the box was an elderly man who had no one to leave his mother’s and grandmother’s jewelry to. Yes, it was an amazing and humbling gift.

I am keeping a few pieces of jewelry and am slowing selling the rest, including this ring.

It is an odd ring to me, which I why I have not listed it yet – I have no clue what it is. I looked up wrapped wire, wire work, black plastic dice, black plastic dice with rhinestones, etc., and have found nothing like it. Only after selling a ton of vintage “plastic” bracelets did I learn about Bakelite (which makes me want to kick myself now), so I now test all the old plastic pieces to make sure they are not Bakelite, and this does not test positive as Bakelite. I thought maybe it was black onyx, but I am pretty sure it is some type of vintage plastic. . .???

No marks on this ring. The dice has holes drilled from top to bottom and the wire is thread through those holes to make the band.

Since this ring could be dated anywhere from the late 1980s to the late 1800s, I am looking for help in dating and finding out anything about this ring.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give!

Mrs. Marbleman

[oldasdirt2012]

Hi,put the black piece against your check or chin, if its ice cold its Onyx. If its cool and warms up its glass if nether one then its plastic.You can also rap the black part against your teeth to see if it is glass or stone. looks like copper wire,hand made and the black piece may have been an earring in another life.  I use my body parts to test jewelry, LOL.

[volemus]

Elsewhere I saw a "Vintage 1940s Black Bakelite Rhinestone Dice" pin and earrings set that was roughly similar, even the pin was made with a similar but higher (or is that lower?) gauge square gold plated wire. Unfortunately they didn't seem sure about what kind of plastic it was either, although I have read somewhere that some black bakelite does get false negative test results. It's very possible also that, as stated above, the die could've been repurposed.

[marb1eman]

Thanks for the great ways to help figure out if something is stone, glass or plastic.  This is definitely plastic, but I still tried all the testing you suggested.

Thank you again for your help!

[marb1eman]

I've looked at the wire quite a bit wondering what the metal compostion is.  I thought it might be gold plated, but that is probably wishful thinking. 

Simichrome test comes up negative.  Maybe I'll give it a squirt of 409 and see what that says.  Hot water and rubbing has never worked for me -- my sense of smell is poor.

Thank you for helping in my quest to find out what this is!

[volemus]

As I view the photos, I think I detect some places where the outer coating has rubbed away in some of the pics. And normally in the places one might expect. That is what makes me think this is either gold plated, or gold filled. 

If you didn't have luck with Simichrome, my guess is you also wouldn't with 409. I don't envy anyone with black Bakelite/other vintage plastics, honestly. Seems like there's almost always some uncertainty & worry. But I think the piece is kinda cool in its own way, whatever the case.

[oldasdirt2012]

There were some real battles around here fighting on the different boards over plastics verses bakelite 97-2002 when it was more sought after then gold or silver. Blew my mind the prices being paid for red and marbled or carved bracelets. Philly clampor bracelets were going for 7-12 thousand. There were some lawsuits because there was a lot of new faux bakelite out there.