Antique odd ring, odd mark
I'm having a hard time finding any information about the mark is this very strange ring. It seems to be quite old, with an outer plating of maybe white gold that is mostly gone, with a core of 18k rose gold and a middle (exposed) layer of an unknown metal. I'm curious about not only the strange mark, but also as to why the core would be gold, but surrounded by a different metal? Any insight or advice is really appreciated!
 
7 comments
silverstatetreasureboxes
·3 years ago@jkmnauburn
That is not the karat but the size in MM. The bee stamp is probably a China company as bees are referred to as good luck.
jkmnauburn
OP3 years agoInteresting, I had no idea about the bee! Thank you for the information 🙂
silverstatetreasureboxes
·3 years ago@jkmnauburn
Here I also found this too
 
idealgems1
·3 years agoI'm guessing it was an 18 karat gold "shell"; and it does appear to be something from the UK.
A solid 18 karat gold ring would have an assay office hallmark plus a maker mark and a coded year stamp. It also would likely have a mark something like "18 ct.". Note UK usually use carat with a "c". Those extra hallmarks are conspicuously missing.
Bottom line is that is very likely costume jewelry.
jkmnauburn
OP3 years agoAhhh, it's all coming together. Thank you for your help!
doodledog8
·3 years agoHave you tested it for 18k ? I ask as most rose gold is usually a lower k. I am saying this as items I have bought from the UK are usually around 9. When I first saw the mark, I am thinking European, not UK. It doesn't have any assay marks to be British. But that being said Many pieces in Scotland during Victorian times were made with NO maker's mark at all, in an effort to avoid the tax stamps that went with it. I do hate to say but it's rather hard to tell from your photo about what metal would be wearing off. You might try silversollection.it to check for marks, although they are not the end all of resources. You might try a DuckDuckGo search for european goldsmith marks, that is after you have tested it to make sure of the content. I wish you very good luck.
I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.
jkmnauburn
OP3 years agoThank you for this info! I have not tested part that is stamped as it is the inner core and I don't know how to do that without causing any damage. I'm so baffled as to why the core would be gold surrounded by a metal that is not. Strange! I will definitely try the searches you recommend, fingers crossed 🙂