Age of Silver Ring found Detecting at a Cellar Hole

[dacatzass]

Hello everyone. Sorry... I think I previously posted this in the wrong forum. New here.

I am hoping that there is a silver expert here who will be able to give an approximate age to a small silver ring I found while metal detecting at a colonial cellar hole here in Massachusetts. Determining the age will enable me to research back and hopefully identify the previous owner who lost the ring so long ago.

About the area where it was found- The cellar hole was (and still is) quite isolated. It was obvious from the items that we were finding that the occupants did not have much money. That would mean that the ring, although humble, must have meant a great deal to the person who lost it.

The cellar hole was standing from the early 1700's until appox. the early 1880's. My friend found a 1739 King George Copper (a british Half Penny) there and we found other items ranging in dates from the early 1700's to the early 1800's.

About the ring- It was quite bent/almost crushed from year after year of freeze/thaw cycles. From the time it had been lost, it had sunk over 6 inches in the soil and was quite tarnished when I pulled it out of the hole.

I could tell right away that it was silver and (because of their meager existance) probably meant a great deal to the previous owner who lost it so many years before.

I had to leave on a business trip the next day, but because I am interested in preservation and because I put so much thought into what the person who lost it might have felt (and how they must have lived), I decided to take it to a jeweler to see if they could straighten it out and preserve it.

When I returned from my trip, I already had a call saying that the ring was fixed and ready to pick up. All I can say was that I was speachless when I saw it... the guy did a really good job and took great care to make sure he did not harm it in any way.

Description- The ring is apparently made of coin silver as evident by the "coin" stamp on the inside of the band. It has two hearts overlaying each other and has design work on either side.

I understand that it might be difficult to give an exact date due to the absence of a makers mark, but I am interested to see if I can put a name to the previous owner. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

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[dacatzass]

OK, I understand that because it doesn't have a makers mark, it might be difficult to age. Does anyone know when coin silver was just stamped "coin" or can anyone take a wild guess as to the style of ring?

Thanks.
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