old gold ring

[markgoldhunter]

interesting history indeed. thanks for all the comments. the more i find out about this ring the more i am intrigued. i am sure the date must be between 1854 & 1858 so that is incredible. also the connection with wagner & woolett in producing brooches on the designs of ludwig becker who a few years later travelled with bourke & wills into history. it just keeps getting better.

 

[Hunter1]

Hello Mark. What an awesome find. I was wondering if you still own this ring and if so, are you able to take a close up of the hallmarked area? I need a close up to compare it to a ring that I have and would like to see if the letters stamped are in the same style script as the one I own. I can't seem to find any photos of hallmarks from Lamborn & Wagner.
Thanks,
Em.

 

[Albundy]

Wow that's the best find I've seen so far in Aus. Congrats. Let me no if it ever comes up for sale.

 

[markgoldhunter]

sorry hunter1 I have been out of internet range for a while and so I missed your post. that is the best photo of the hallmarks I have got but I have some literature that I will go through to see if there is some illustrations there I can post on lamborn. give me a couple of days. thanks albundy, it still gives me goose bumps when I am looking at it or re-reading the story of this truly remarkable piece of Australian goldfields jewellery. very unlikely it will ever come up for sale and is on indefinite loan to the M.A.D.E museum in ballarat.

 

[markgoldhunter]

hi em. these are the only illustrations I have of lamborn and wagner hallmarks I hope you can see them clearly enough and they are of some help to you.

the top photo shows L&W with no marks on either side whereas the second pic shows a lion passant L&W and a crown. lamborn and wagner also used stars on either side or a combination of any of these marks. my William lamborn ring shows a lion passant W.L. and a crown. also if your ring has a Birmingham mark on it, it may be not gold but made of alloy. post or pm me a pic of yours if you want & I will see if I can fill in any more info. cheers.

 

[Hunter1]

Thank-you so much Mark. This definitely has confirmed to me that my ring too is by Lamborn & Wagner. You've made my day! I now have an idea of when it was made which is what I wanted more than anything to know. Could you please tell me which book these marks appeared in?
Many many thanks,
Em.
P.S Here is a pic of my ring and the makers marks.

 

[Hunter1]

Just to add, I think my ring may have been cut off a deceased persons finger hence the cut in the shank.
Thank-you to whoever did that and then donated it to the charity shop I found it in!

 

[Hunter1]

I just re-read your post and thought I should add a bit more info that I found out about my ring too. I was too excited initially on reading your reply and seeing the pictures you'd added that all of your post didn't sink in.
I had the ring tested at a jewellers shop and they confirmed that the ring was indeed 18ct solid gold. I initially thought my ring may have been British (because of the lion passant) and contacted The Goldsmiths Company in the UK to ask them if they were familiar with what I thought were the hallmarks. They did some research for me and came to the conclusion that it was not British as the hallmarks were not complete for a British hallmark and also the sequence of the hallmarks did not match British hallmarks. They told me that they were only makers marks and it could possibly have been made in the US or Canada as they also used marks similar to British hallmarks. I'm so pleased I can finally confirm it's early Australian.

 

[Jaros]

A bit of Mick Taylors work hey?!!

 

[Hunter1]

Who's Mick Taylor?

 

[pete165]

Nice find there congratulations.

 

[Hunter1]

Thanks Pete. Not found with my md but still a find

 

[Dignit]

Ripper detecting find and history.

 

[Heatho]

Nice old ring that one. They pop up occasionally, I found a 9k one made by an Aussie goldrush jeweller too, couldn't believe it when I searched for the makers mark and found out who made it. Wasn't as nice as Marks ring though.

 

[markgoldhunter]

Bloody nice ring Em. and in really good condition, very little wear on the marks and the stone looks to have no chips either. Here is the time line as far as I can establish - W & W = Wagner and Woolett 1853 - 1854. W.L.= William Lamborn 1854 -1855. L & W = Lamborn and Wagner [and sometimes Clark] 1856 - 1884. I have got this info from an article in the 'AUSTRALIANA' magazine by Michel Reymond, and also from the 'BLING' catalogue of exhibits from the 2016 goldfields jewellery exhibition. I can't reproduce pics from this book due to copyright but you are welcome to have a look if you can catch me around the place sometime. I spend a fair bit of time on Yorke Peninsula S.A. , Wedderburn VIC. or Leonora W.A. and it would be great to see your find too. Your posts have made me think of my ring again and that always makes me feel great. cheers mark.

 

[Hunter1]

Thanks Mark, as is your ring. It looks like my ring was made between 1856 and 1884. That's so great to know and thanks for your references too.

My finds from the past have been (best find financially), a fairly modern gold ring in a park a couple of years ago. It was nothing special looking unlike yours but I made a few dollars of it as sold it for scrap. When I was starting out, I used to do some old parks and found many old coins. It was so much fun.

I recently took my first trip into the goldfields here in Victoria. My neighbour was also interested in coming along so we took a detector each and both took off. We had a ball. I liked it out there so much I purchased a small block in Tarnagulla and hopefully one day will be able to put something on it. The peace out there is amazing. We didn't find any gold on our trip but it was just fun to be out there looking and our state is so rich in gold mining history we learnt a lot.

Here is a picture of a penny I found in the same park where I found the gold ring. the penny is dated 1885 and the back has been overstruck with a cartwheel type of shape.

Here is the gold ring I found there too :

And the rest of the things that I found that particular day in the park being a number of old and modern coins and a silver ring too.

Are you able to show me some of your other finds?

Hopefully one day soon, I will be able to show off a piece of alluvial I find and hoping to meet you out there sometime somewhere too.
Kindest regards,
Em.

P.S I feel like I have hijacked your original post so in future will start a new one. Apologies for that.

 

[markgoldhunter]

that's an unusual stamp on that penny I can't think why that would be there. you may not have gone back far enough in this thread to see that my ring is stamped W.L. for William Lamborn and so would have dated from 1884 or 1885 before Lamborn teamed up with Wagner. It is apparently the only one with his stamps. this thread was an old one so I don't mind that you have resurrected it and I will try to post up some other finds. I intend being in Wedderburn around april 2018 may try to chase you up then.

 

[Hunter1]

Your last post just confused me and I think you meant to say your ring was made by William alone between 1854-1855 not 1884 or 1885? That was way before mine was around. You're so lucky to have found that. It's amazing. I'd be wearing that with pride if I were you.

Unfortunately I won't be able to catch up with you in April in Wedderburn. I still work (part-time) and the next adventure out to the goldfields should be in May or June next year when the weather has cooled down some. I don't know how you can detect out there in April in that heat! It was starting to warm up when we went in late September early October and 22 degrees felt really hot to me. I'm a bit of a wuss in that respect. I don't like the thought of crossing a snake either. We saw a dead brown on the road (someone had ran over it) and that also put me off detecting in the warmer weather too. Have you crossed paths with many snakes Mark and do you wear gaiters?

 

[treasureman]

Wow is all i can say.. holy smokes

 

[markgoldhunter]

yeah, your right 1854- 1855, I have seen a few snakes including a western taipan near Laverton a couple of years ago. Thankfully he was more interested in what was under the log he was snooping around than me. I made my own gaiters out of some old canvas doubled up with Velcro straps stitched on. thanks treasureman for the comment I appreciate it.