Anyone had a fake Jostens 10k Class Ring?

[Dalkiel2]

I know some of you have handled a lot of gold scrap, so I figured I'd ask. I bought a "Jostens 10k" 1964 class ring that is testing as no good. Has anyone experienced this? I've had a lot of Jostens rings before without any issues. This looks just like any other Jostens ring. I've tested it with Nitric, but haven't dug into it as to not damage it. Anyone had this experience before? Should I try something different?

Thanks!

 

[5ixb]

No. But I have seen very low karat. Have checked for that?

 

[goldsilverpro]

I once refined a lot (about 50) of 10K class rings, all Josten's and all marked 10K. There were a few others marked QPAL, which were cheaper Josten rings made with 1/4 Pd and the rest Ag, as I recall. I returned the QPAL's to the customer and just ran the 10K ones. They were all underkarated. As I usually do with 10K stuff, I first used hot 50/50 nitric. It readily leached out the Ag and base metals from all the rings, leaving gold powder behind. This indicated they were probably 8K, or so, and the final yield verified this.

Some of the older 10K class rings, the heavy ones with the large rounded faux stones in them, often had some lead added in a cavity underneath the stone.

 

[Dalkiel2]

Great info. Thanks to both of you.

This is one of those massive college rings that's probably got some lead in it.

David

 

[goldsilverpro]

Great info. Thanks to both of you.

This is one of those massive college rings that's probably got some lead in it.

David

Maybe some lead, maybe all karat gold. If you bust out the stone, probe into what was under it and if it is soft, it's probably lead. I might mention that I've never seen a decent stone mounted in a 10K setting, although I guess it is possible. A stone mounted in 14K could go either way. A stone in 18K is usually good. Of course, there can be exceptions in any of these.