Hi thank you for writing in with the following hallmark question:
"I have a gold ring that has what appears to be some sort of "beaver family crest" on the face of the ring. It's oval shaped, with some scroll type work around the oval. Inside it looks like 110k or perhaps an "m" and some other marks.
The gold is a funny color. I dropped it into some jewelery cleaner and it did come clean (and didn't disintegrate).
Any ideas on how to find out where this came from, and if it is really gold? "
Ok. Sounds like a family crest heraldic signet type ring. I've never seen 110k before. Rarely you may see something different than the usual gold standards. The odd ones can be easily be calculated using following... 1 karat gold is 1 part in 24 gold.
So for instance 22ct or 22K is 22 parts in 24 of pure gold or 22/24ths or if you multiply 22/24 X 1000 you get 916 (916 parts per 1000) or 91.6% gold. If you see a number, for example 625, divide it by 1000 and multiply by 24, it will give you the carat. 625 / 1000 x 24 = 15ct.
About the "funny" gold color. Gold comes in many colours depending on the other metals used in the alloy. The carat does NOT change because of the colour. The amount of gold is the same. White, Rose and other are just variations in color.
You local jeweler can acid test the ring for you to determine the metal content. You can do it yourself if you have a gold testing kit or digital metal testing equipment.
