College ring

Al Vise · Apr 12, 2014

Hello Gentlemen!
(I'm sorry but I can not help but call you that way. I feel myself still a rookie.)

First of all, thank you for the amount of possible answers/solutions to this mystery. You're so kind. I'm also pleased that my post has provoked a lively debate.

So you think it's probably more from a high school than from a college? Interesting is that it may not even exist anymore! To me, it just adds charm to my ring. But if this were true, the plot about its origins thickens!

Edward said:
[...]

I do love the deco styling of the ring in the OP; if that was an option, I'd definitely go for it. Irrespective of whether it's a High School or a College ring, it's a stunningly crafted piece of jewellery.

Thank you Mr. Edward. I do appreciate it.

Best regards

- Al Vise -

Al Vise · Apr 12, 2014

Tomasso said:
Here are two schools to which you might direct your inquiries.

http://www.albany.edu/~milne/index.shtml

https://www.alumniclass.com/edwardmilne/lost-rings

Mr. Tomasso,
I've already wrote to Edward Milne High some times ago, but no reply for now.
For what concerne Milne High in Albany, NY, the insignia (you can barely see at the top of the web window) seems different form my ring one.

Tomasso · Apr 12, 2014

Al Vise said:
Mr. Tomasso,
I've already wrote to Edward Milne High some times ago, but no reply for now.
For what concerne Milne High in Albany, NY, the insignia (you can barely see at the top of the web window) seems different form my ring one.

Yeah, these things aren't easy, Al.

Also, remember to ask all who you contact if they know of any other Milne high schools.

Foxer55 · Apr 14, 2014

Edward,

http://www.evalondon.com/qub/graduat.../signet-2.html

with my degree and year, in 9ct gold, for daywear, and one of these:

What a stunningly beautiful ring.

Foxer55 · Apr 14, 2014

I have always admired the ideas of class rings. Most of my friends when I was young got class rings on university graduation and it was a sign of accomplishment. It seems to be a dying tradition as many young people today don't have or want them. Is it that accomplishment is no longer something to be considered worthy?

Many, many, oh so many years ago when I first came to Washington, DC, all the military officers and senior retired military officer consultants had class rings. An interesting phenomenon is they were often colloquially called Ringknockers. This grew out of their habit of being in a meeting where they would become bored or frustrated and would unconsciously begin tapping there fingers on the table and the class ring would make a slight knocking sound, hence the term Ringknocker. It wasn't intentional (usually) they were just bored. Nevertheless, when someone told you a particular guy was a Ringknocker, it gave you some insight into who or what he was.

Foxer55 · Apr 14, 2014

I can relate another interesting class ring story. When I was in the service overseas, we were getting ready for a barracks inspection one weekend. Everyone was busy all over the barracks cleaning and scrubbing and wiping. One of the guys who I recall was from Minnesota I think climbed on top of a metal wall locker, a tall cabinet, and was cleaning a light fixture. An officer walked into the room and something was said and this fellow jumped down from the top of his locker. The top of the metal of the locker was made such that it was rolled or molded over to make a seam or joint with the top of the wall locker. This fellow was wearing his high school class ring and the bottom of it caught on the seam at the top of the locker. This plus the force of the weight of his body pulling on his finger jammed and separated his finger from his hand right at the ring joint. He was thereafter known as Fourfingers. No, that was a long time ago and they couldn't do attachment surgery the way they do now. True story, maybe he's on FL.

Tomasso · Apr 14, 2014

Foxer55 said:
Washington, DC, all the military officers and senior retired military officer consultants had class rings.

Yeah, the Pentagon is and always has been an old boy's club with an academy ring being the entrée. My father's sister married into an old line Naval Academy family with four generations having matriculated at Annapolis. The last three generations were all procurement officers at the Pentagon, who upon retirement became executives with military contractors, where they sat across the table (in civvies but still wearing their class ring) from their former protégés whom in many cases they had groomed to succeed them. It is astonishing how lucrative that carrier path can be, in the context of a military carrer.

Fed in a Fedora · Apr 14, 2014

If you look at the Milne High School of Albany, you will see that their songs and slogans deal heavily with the theme of truth...

http://www.albany.edu/~milne/songs.shtml

Interesting that this is the one word on the face of the ring.

The site also lists a point of contact for that year...

http://www.albany.edu/~milne/ClassContacts.shtml

Were there initials inside of the ring?

With some luck, you might actually learn quite a bit about the ring through these sources.

Fed

John Galt · Apr 14, 2014

I suggest contacting one or more of the companies that makes class rings now. If they did not make it, they certainly must have databases of information regarding high schools, universities, etc., and the corresponding symbology going back many years.

"Faint hat never won fair lady"

Al Vise · Apr 14, 2014

Fed in a Fedora said:
If you look at the Milne High School of Albany, you will see that their songs and slogans deal heavily with the theme of truth...

http://www.albany.edu/~milne/songs.shtml

Interesting that this is the one word on the face of the ring.

The site also lists a point of contact for that year...

http://www.albany.edu/~milne/ClassContacts.shtml

Were there initials inside of the ring?

With some luck, you might actually learn quite a bit about the ring through these sources.

Fed

The initals inside are M.A.P.

It could be a female ring (I've got very little fingers!

), because the size is just 7 (17 mm)

I remember I looked for men and women at Albany High, graduated in 1945, which initials were M.A.P. but I have found anything. I will check better.

Thanks to everybody!!

dlvh · Apr 15, 2014

I cannot find the yearbook from 1945 for Milne High School, but here is a link to the 1944 yearbook at Classmates.com. If you join www.classmates.com you may find out something from the pictures that are in this 1944 yearbook:

http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Milne-High-School/84751?page=1

Here is the front cover of the 1944 yearbook. At least now you know what school that ring is from, for sure...according to this yearbook cover and with the help of others on this wonderful forum...It looks a little bit different from '44, but very little:

Tomasso · Apr 15, 2014

Kudos to you, dlvh!:eusa_clap

Foxer55 · Apr 16, 2014

If you can find a copy of the yearbook, you could probably use the names in the book to trace the initials in the ring.

Wikipedia page for the school and you might contact them to see if they have the yearbook in archives for 1945.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Milne_School

Al Vise · Apr 16, 2014

dlvh said:
I cannot find the yearbook from 1945 for Milne High School, but here is a link to the 1944 yearbook at Classmates.com. If you join www.classmates.com you may find out something from the pictures that are in this 1944 yearbook:

http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Milne-High-School/84751?page=1

Here is the front cover of the 1944 yearbook. At least now you know what school that ring is from, for sure...according to this yearbook cover and with the help of others on this wonderful forum...It looks a little bit different from '44, but very little:

View attachment 12632 View attachment 12633 View attachment 12634

You're terrific!!
THANKS A LOT!! (sorry for the caps)

So... case closed! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Al Vise · Apr 16, 2014

Foxer55 said:
If you can find a copy of the yearbook, you could probably use the names in the book to trace the initials in the ring.

Wikipedia page for the school and you might contact them to see if they have the yearbook in archives for 1945.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Milne_School

That's a great idea!!
My ring could be a female ring, 'cause I've very little fingers

The size is 7 (17 mm). The initials inside are M.A.P.

Let's start this new adventure!

Foxer55 · Apr 16, 2014

Al Vise,

That's a great idea!!
My ring could be a female ring, 'cause I've very little fingers
The size is 7 (17 mm). The initials inside are M.A.P.

Let's start this new adventure!

If you could find out who the owner was and trace their life to where you got the ring it would greatly increase its desirability by having the provenance of the item.

dlvh · Apr 17, 2014

Glad I could help, Alvise!

I think if you joined www.classmates.com (I think it's free) and paged through that 1944 yearbook, you may see that this person listed, she (or he) should be a Junior in that yearbook, and you could very well find her (or his) name in that yearbook.

I just this week, purchased a beautiful man's class ring from the early 60's, but the school is so generic that I doubt I'll ever be able to trace down who the original owner is/was. At least here, we found the exact school...now to find the name of the original owner.

Continue the search Mr. Venza

dlvh

Al Vise · Apr 17, 2014

dlvh said:
Glad I could help, Alvise!

I think if you joined www.classmates.com (I think it's free) and paged through that 1944 yearbook, you may see that this person listed, she (or he) should be a Junior in that yearbook, and you could very well find her (or his) name in that yearbook.

[...]

Continue the search Mr. Venza

dlvh

I think classmates.com is reserved for people who graduated in USA schools. When I try to register, they ask me info 'bout my school, my year of graduation, etc. I'll take a look on facebook group, maybe it's easier. You can bet that I will continue the search!

Al Vise · Apr 17, 2014

OK, just wrote to them on facebook. Let's see

dlvh · Apr 18, 2014

Alvise,

I joined classmates.com and took a pretty close look at that 1944 yearbook, but found no one that matched those initials in there. There is a Marilyn P. that graduated in '42 however.

The list of graduates from Milne can be found here by the way:

http://www.albany.edu/~milne/MilneClassList.shtml

I wrote to two people that graduated in 1946, and asked them if they might know of the person who's ring you own, and am waiting a reply, but those people are in their mid 80's now, so who knows. Those were the war years, and it was fairly common for girls to leave school to take care of the homefront, or go to work, so it would surprise me, if this young woman left school to do that, and thus the reason that I cannot find a matching name in the graduates list from 1945, or a couple of years earlier. There could be a number of reasons why her name doesn't show up, we may never know what happened to this young woman.

Hope this can be of some use to you.

Have a Blessed Easter all!

dlvh

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