I periodically check eBay for Aggie rings and it's looks like Henry Spain's '65 ring is for sale. Go to work OB!

https://www.aggienetwork.com/news/150824/silver-taps-notification/

Looks like he passed a few years back. Family might not have sentimental ties to the ring.

Why is there a hole in it?

Thanks for that, I just have a hard time thinking they'd just up and take the diamond out and sell it. From the description it's definitely changed hands.

To add the diamond setting.

AggieP18 said:

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To add the diamond setting.

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Why would they drill all the way thru? Is that a thing?

Not sure, but we are burying the lead here.

I doubt they'd post pictures showing the name if there is anything questionable about how it came into the current owners hands.

Who knows. I did some detective work and ended up finding his son (at least I think it's his son) and sent him an email. We will see what he says.

So how often does this happen? Makes me want to start buying them up.

I check about once a month and their is always 1 or 2 rings there. They rarely ever show the names in the pictures though.

I should probably start trying to contact the sellers as to get the name on the ring.

Do they always go for that price?

Pretty much in the $900-$1500 range. The other ring for sale there now is $1450.

Old Aggie rings are not as thick. I have my Great Grandfathers 1928 ring and it was drilled all the way through to set a diamond.

If I was the association, I'd set up a fund to buy old rings like this and have them recycled into the newly produced rings. The spirit of the Aggie lives on in the gold and is passed down through generations. This would also be a good way to garner donations because I bet there are a lot of Ags like those that commented here that would like to see the rings brought back to the family. That's what I'd do, anyway.

bigevent99 said:

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If I was the association, I'd set up a fund to buy old rings like this and have them recycled into the newly produced rings. The spirit of the Aggie lives on in the gold and is passed down through generations. This would also be a good way to garner donations because I bet there are a lot of Ags like those that commented here that would like to see the rings brought back to the family. That's what I'd do, anyway.

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You think the association has any excess money? Especially after this past year??

bigevent99 said:

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If I was the association, I'd set up a fund to buy old rings like this and have them recycled into the newly produced rings. The spirit of the Aggie lives on in the gold and is passed down through generations. This would also be a good way to garner donations because I bet there are a lot of Ags like those that commented here that would like to see the rings brought back to the family. That's what I'd do, anyway.

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But who would pay for the other half?

AggieP18 said:

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Thanks for that, I just have a hard time thinking they'd just up and take the diamond out and sell it. From the description it's definitely changed hands.

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We have had this conversation lately. When you accumulate a few generations worth of jewelry and don't have any daughters to recycle wedding rings into other wedding rings and don't have any use for diamonds, it seems the value of those items can be used for other things. We have been lucky regarding keeping our jobs but there are lots of families out there who haven't been.
What do you do with a class ring with a big honkin diamond in it?

bigevent99 said:

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If I was the association, I'd set up a fund to buy old rings like this and have them recycled into the newly produced rings. The spirit of the Aggie lives on in the gold and is passed down through generations. This would also be a good way to garner donations because I bet there are a lot of Ags like those that commented here that would like to see the rings brought back to the family. That's what I'd do, anyway.

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The association had a ring donation program similar in the 80s. An old ring could be donated to a certain family member student or to an annonomous student. The new ring had the name and class year of the donor as well as the student getting it. My cousin '88 did this with his dads '57 ring. His dad was one of the Junction Boys and his ring was very worn at the time. I wanted to do the same the next year with my dads '57 ring but the program had been cancelled. My dad was deceased at the time and sadly his ring disappeared from my moms home dresser years later. Would like to find it one day.

in

You guys might be surprised how many former students end up pawning their class rings. When I was in Houston years ago I had several former students pawn their rings, though they would always pick them up. I had another guy that would pawn his SWC championship ring but he also picked it up.

I was touring the central jewelry facility of a major pawn chain once and he had about a dozen different random class rings, including several Aggie rings, headed to scrap. Said it happened every month.

agsalaska said:

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You guys might be surprised how many former students end up pawning their class rings. When I was in Houston years ago I had several former students pawn their rings, though they would always pick them up. I had another guy that would pawn his SWC championship ring but he also picked it up.

I was touring the central jewelry facility of a major pawn chain once and he had about a dozen different random class rings, including several Aggie rings, headed to scrap. Said it happened every month.

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Any way to buy from those facilities for spot price? There is only about $650 in gold in the ring above.

As much as I hate to see it, at the end of the day, to 99.999% of the population, it's just a college ring with a lot of gold in it.

While some may pay the $$$ and pretend it's their ring, I doubt it happens often, and I'm pretty sure that no one is going to pretend to be the 77-year-old original owner of that ring.

And as mentioned above, if the name is visible, it's a pretty good indication that it is NOT stolen.

My family is pretty gung-ho Aggies, and we have the 4th generation headed there this fall. We probably would feel one way about the Aggie Rings in our family, but consider the family that took a different path and the kids went to other schools. After 2 generations or so, it would mean no more to them than a t.u. or TTech ring.

And even if it did mean something to the family, you end up with the problem of what to do with it. Have four Aggie grandkids? Which one gets the ring? If there's a fight, sometimes selling it, and splitting the money is the easy way out.

I disagree with Old Ags buying the Ring, or the AFS doing so. Often people want that to happen to recover stolen rings. It's counterproductive. All you're doing is running up the price of stolen rings, and making it more likely that Aggie Rings get stolen.

Unless you are part of the family, or collect Aggie Rings, I say, let it go.

SweaterVest said:

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agsalaska said:

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You guys might be surprised how many former students end up pawning their class rings. When I was in Houston years ago I had several former students pawn their rings, though they would always pick them up. I had another guy that would pawn his SWC championship ring but he also picked it up.

I was touring the central jewelry facility of a major pawn chain once and he had about a dozen different random class rings, including several Aggie rings, headed to scrap. Said it happened every month.

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Any way to buy from those facilities for spot price? There is only about $650 in gold in the ring above.

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Generally no because of the names inside. Same reason shops were not allowed to put them out in their cases.

AggieP18 said:

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Not sure, but we are burying the lead here.

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It's "lede" and there isn't really one here. Estate sales happen every day. I'm sure the family kept the things that were sentimental for them, but the college ring didn't make the cut.

bigevent99 said:

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If I was the association, I'd set up a fund to buy old rings like this and have them recycled into the newly produced rings. The spirit of the Aggie lives on in the gold and is passed down through generations. This would also be a good way to garner donations because I bet there are a lot of Ags like those that commented here that would like to see the rings brought back to the family. That's what I'd do, anyway.

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would be great on a scholarship basis

First, I was trying not to let the conversation get side tracked by talking about how you mount diamonds in gold rings.

Secondly, how do you know it was sold in an estate sale? Maybe it was stolen years ago and it finally made its way to EBay. I'd like to give someone the opportunity to have it back if in fact it was stolen.

I think it's a great idea, they would just need to somehow be discreet about buying them so sellers didn't drive the price up. It's something a lot of people could actually support the association doing.

AggieP18 said:

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First, I was trying not to let the conversation get side tracked by talking about how you mount diamonds in gold rings.

Secondly, how do you know it was sold in an estate sale? Maybe it was stolen years ago and it finally made its way to EBay. I'd like to give someone the opportunity to have it back if in fact it was stolen.

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I'd echo CanyonAg77's sentiment here. I think your heart is in the right place but It is probably just as likely (if not more likely) that it was sold in an estate sale than it was stolen. I found the ring on ebay and the seller has over 200 gold and silver items for sale on ebay and they are located in the same vicinity as the now deceased owner's home town. Seems pretty likely the seller deals in estate sales based on the stuff they are selling. Remember, outside our little bubble of the world, the rings we wear are hunks of gold and not worth any more than the gold they are made out of. I wouldn't bug this fella's family about it a little more than a month from the two year anniversary of his passing.

You're white knighting without precedent. Maybe just mind your own business.

AggieP18 said:

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Who knows. I did some detective work and ended up finding his son (at least I think it's his son) and sent him an email. We will see what he says.

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They out of Llano? Neighboring property to us on our lease is owned by the Spain's and Aggies. May still have their number.

Update:

The family did in fact sell the ring (after much consternation, and completely understandable) but after seeing it on eBay they decided to purchase it back and keep it (the family was told it would be melted down when they sold it). They were very appreciative of being notified it was for sale and are happy to have it back. They seemed like great people.