Field and stream, several hunts: old class ring and lots more!

[Digger_O'Dell]

Hi all,
Went out for several hunts in the past week that got mixed results. Last night I finally got out to a bean field that was finally picked. I managed a really nice 1919 Buffalo, a buckle cover and another partial bull ring.

Last week I went down to Illinois for 2 days of water hunting. The first day didn't produce a whole lot probably since I was still trying to figure out the best way to hunt open screen in the trash, and figure out where everything was. But between both days I did find a very old silver class ring from Morgan Park Military Academy which only ran under that name from 1877 to 1889. Also found a very good condition 1925 Buffalo, a gold filled ring, swim buckles, a couple pendants, junker cuff link, cracker jack toy horse with rider, light fixture pieces, and lots of lead.

One oddity I found was a huge lead or pewter token with an elephant on one side and some kind of grid/writing on the other. Arabic maybe? If anyone has any info on it I would greatly appreciate the help.

Another odd find was a brass disc that looks like it was probably a token. Looks smooth front and back, but it does have ridged edges like a coin.

One good keeper is another first, a token from Burnham Gum Machine Works that dates from 1917 to 1928.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/4dd3b533245b9aae68f9eac81318c722.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/7eb38a6dfe41befb4da3317d68c540b3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/d7238b9c901d23adf6961e77c4b3672a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/c9441d12c141f80a1bddefd7a2d91ebf.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/2eed18a95c6c6a1f60dbe9d4d7f0b9dd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/0a28a2cddd0d844fdf4897e0dbaadaad.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/691aec252e042a77ede573181a462fa8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/f6f9b00c199d0e1239a919623a2158fe.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/df61a6c5512af52aaa84a6812bdf60e0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/667f3bfb0f12fbf625437050f485103c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/f2e7487f35ad7c0eb83737ace18d6c77.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/5a5204de3a8acad016836df783ee1b93.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/d6c4099bb56c190eff9c4800405153a6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/13dc0784e69fac02b45bac86e07bdc94.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/c61fdf8b60b61a235beeeeba0386619c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/16b7c431c2645c167a371b5d2dab09d2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/30307ac26a96cfbeaebce8d27ad5a164.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/b132a6a02cea7c4e6d1a0a90a1c08f47.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/075f1e5270755d99c7b1ed63e7869946.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/ed6cca0a7e8e1582db5453ae5e3367a0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/aa5708f6e95880dd6c238c671471a343.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/996b41539abc4b09de671528dec12146.jpg

[Ill Digger]

Chris take a closer lol at that "junker" ring. It looks like a 10k river gem! The solder points usually turn black like that and the rest of the band will clean right up usually. Plus junk rings usually won t have any stamps on the inside of the band.;)
It think you scored gold and silver!:thumbsup02:
Congrats! :grin:
Lots of cool finds.
The odd elephant token is probably a modern day middle eastern gift to the gods. That's my guess anyways:lol:

[Digger Don]

Thats a nice collection of river finds. Congrats

[Digger_O'Dell]

Chris take a closer lol at that "junker" ring. It looks like a 10k river gem! The solder points usually turn black like that and the rest of the band will clean right up usually. Plus junk rings usually won t have any stamps on the inside of the band.;)
It think you scored gold and silver!:thumbsup02:
Congrats! :grin:
Lots of cool finds.
The odd elephant token is probably a modern day middle eastern gift to the gods. That's my guess anyways:lol:

The ring tested 14K, but gold fill or plate will do that. It does clean up really nice too. But, the ends of the prongs that held the stone are flaking at the tips. It corroded enough to lose the stone when I cleaned it up. And yes, there are lots of plated/filled rings with stamps. I've found more than my share. The only thing I could think of is if the band was gold and had plated prongs? It would save maybe half the gold used to cut cost. I'll post a pic tonight.

[wisconsin digger]

Nice finds Chris, I think I found the same slug on Sunday. Nice looking Buffs. Looks like you need to take up fishing. WD

[Ill Digger]

The ring tested 14K, but gold fill or plate will do that. It does clean up really nice too. But, the ends of the prongs that held the stone are flaking at the tips. It corroded enough to lose the stone when I cleaned it up. And yes, there are lots of plated/filled rings with stamps. I've found more than my share. The only thing I could think of is if the band was gold and had plated prongs? It would save maybe half the gold used to cut cost. I'll post a pic tonight.
It's not stamped GF or GEP it just has a makers mark. I know what you mean, I've found my fair share of them too. :thumbsdown: I've also found bonafide gold rings with no marks in them at all too. I've found a couple with stamps just like yours but with a different symbol between the arrows.

I'll trade ya a pack of AAs for it. :)

[Digger_O'Dell]

Here's the photos as promised. As you can see, inside the prongs the plate is peeling. But even after some heavy polishing on the band there is no indication of being plated. So I have no idea...:dontknow:
It did clean up nice though.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171108/a1c00bfb6e829f911700f17ac715df4e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171108/e76e320a201ef89a971a02bce1208749.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171108/59d607e973d3394119a306d4eb014b87.jpg

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

[Digger_O'Dell]

Ok, 99% sure the stamp is from Ostby & Barton which makes it a 14K gold shell ring.

[Cooper]

Some cool find

[Cheap Thrills]

Awesome hunting !!

[aloldstuff]

great group of keepers, would make my day....:thumbsup02:

[Fire Fighter 43]

Congrats on the nice digs Chris. Great to see the ring turned out to be gold, WTG.

[Digger_O'Dell]

Congrats on the nice digs Chris. Great to see the ring turned out to be gold, WTG.

Sorry Jeff, the ring is probably just gold filled, unless it's a 2 piece with gold band and plated setting section.

[BTV Digger]

Nice set of finds. Boy, the Buffs do come out of the river quite polished don't they? The elephant token thing is of Indian (the country) descent and the language is either Hindu or Sanskrit. Looks more modern but there are older examples. See http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=20365.0

John