Went on the 1st day with my wife. Attendance was light for a weekday but what was more noticeable was what seemed to be less dealers and the empty booths of some not there yet.
Checked what was in house from a few dealers that I shopped at previous years and saw nothing that urged me to even ask how much.
Stumbled on a small booth where numerous trays were loaded with sterling everything so I started to poke around…
Figured I better locate the wife and see what kind of damage she was doing but she was also
not finding much to get excited about so we both went back to the small booth I found.
Mineral shows make me drool like a baby … always so much to see!
I especially like the millefiore glass pendant and the two rings …gold? ( I see 14k, possible diamond?)
Oh, and I adore bookmarks…yes to the sterling bookmarks!
@Steve What a fun story: 2 hours later, 6 hours later, 5 minutues before getting escorted out by security. This made me LOL! I can spend hours at Gem & Mineral shows myself. Looks like you’ve got a nice trove of jewelry there. Some pieces look NA to me, maybe Hopi. Thanks for sharing your story & photos.
@Steve Bouncing off of @Stracci’s comment, is that one ring (plat or white gold?) inscribed inside the band? What does it read? Is it set with a diamond? Inquiring minds would like to know .
Fun! You got quite a haul. At a quick glance my favorites are the little longhorn steer charm, and the stamped Spanish cross with the stripey stone (I zeroed in on that one right away). Could it be spiny oyster or some kind of shell? I can’t tell. Oooo, I see another similar cross…
the rings center stone flunked the diamond tester bigtime so that dozen eggs I was dreaming about will have to wait
stamped 14K and engraved 1911 is interesting.
14K acid clears the scratch without a problem, BUT when 10K acid hits the scratch nothing happens. I’ve read 10K acid on sterling will turn blue but no blue on the paper towel so this one
is gonna need a date with an XRF gun.
@Steve
18k acid on sterling scratch turns blue.
I keep using this method cause my silver acid went bad long ago …lol
If the ring is 14k, then 10k acid won’t react at all.
Have you tried 18k acid on the ring?
Maybe it’s a bit higher than 14k, like maybe 16k.
Sometimes marks aren’t quite accurate.
It’s a very nice, classic example of an antique ring from that time period. Too bad it’s not a diamond, though the setting still has monetary value. I can easily see the stone being replaced with a diamond, or even a colored gemstone would be beautiful.
will try 18K acid on the scratch stone tonight and see what happens.
I’m thinking/hoping it’s at least slightly under 14K cause then the whole village will eat well
How fun! I probably would have spent a long time there, bent over with my loupe. I have been collecting vintage Sterling charms…I love the puffy hearts and the mechanical charms. Bought a couple bracelets this week. I love that little penguin!
@nanc9354 Ooh, I luv vintage puffy heart charms & have several bracelets. I especially like ones with initials, dates, or a name. I tend to be sentimental about jewelry🙂.
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