Good Afternoon All! Can You Please Help Me with Identifying a stone in this ring

I am hoping you can help me with this stone please. I am thinking black tourmaline because of the way it looks in the back but not sure. As always, thank you for your help.

 

It looks like it may be smokey quartz, but no one can positively ID a stone from a photo. You should take it to a jeweler for testing or find a friend who has a gem tester

 

Toumaline is possible, I suppose, but black onyx is used much more often.

 

Thank you Marie!

 

Give it a good cleaning and shine a light thru the back.

 

I took it to a jeweler and a guy who claims he was a gemologist and couldn't tell what it was. I feel from the back the stripes seems more like toumaline. it is not onyx because the color just seem a bit more brownish.

 

Ok don’t freak out, but I took a Q-tip and water and clean the back and the Qtip on both sides came out red. I hope I am not dealing with some Voodoo freaky thing lol

 

Hematite! I could see that right away, with it's silvery sheen. But the red streak is typical for hematite.

 

Thank you Stracci!

 

The little stones are marcasite, also known as pyrite.
This type of jewelry was a common style in the 1920s, and the marcasites were called "poor man's diamonds".
There was a resurgence of this style in the 1980's but your ring is probably 1920's.
Is there a mark?
I would think that ring is sterling, as well.

 

The streak on unglazed porcelain, but when wiped with a water-dampened swab? Does hematite oxidize?

 

The striations (lined pattern) in the back of the stone, could either be a natural part of the stone, or a result of the process of cutting the stone to size and suit being mounted in jewellery.

Marie Forjan is quite correct in saying it is impossible to accurately identify a stone from a photograph. As many stones can share characteristics, and also a single stone can look vastly different from photo to photo depending on lighting conditions, and reflections etc...

A visual inspection of the stone in person is sometimes possible, though there are more definitive methods for identifying stones. If the stone is not completely opaque then measuring the stones refractive index is a very reliable method of identifying gemstones. Most jewellers would have the means to perform such a test, just check first if they will charge you for that service.

There are other tests which can be done, but some could result in damage to the stone itself, even if only minutely, so you'd have to weigh up the risks for those tests before proceeding with them.

 

ezee, I think the reason why it looked like smoky quartz to Marie, was because the earth tones of the background reflected brown in the stone. Maybe you could photograph stones against a white background next time?

I agree with stracci, genuine 1920s for the age. And a very nice ring.