# anybody know rings in thailand?



## Dave O'Dottu

The more expensive rings are cast. Cast means the metal is heated to melting point then poured into a mold of the design of the ring. 

Cheaper ones are made of a sheet of metal which is bent round and cut into a ring shape. The designs are sometimes stamped. 

There are many intermediate techniques combining types of working the metal. 

They are sell both .925 silver (92.5 % silver) and 99.9 percent silver. Lately I am told the 99.9 is selling better possibly because it has higher silver content and more resale value. 

There are inumerable stones set into the rings. A lot is glass. There is red coral which I refuse to buy. Many of the stones they claim are topaz, garnet, opal, ruby...

One cheap but ok crystalline stone the thai's call ploy, but I cannot find what its mineral name is. Ploy just means precious stone in thai. 

Stores on Tanon Tranao (Tranao street) in Bangkok sell a lot of cast and sheet silver as well as steel rings. They even have "US Army" signet rings at one store. One store sells a huge ring with an Egyptian pharaoh death mask. There are also a lot of skull rings here. 

stores in the back alleys of the native market in Chiang Mai have gold rings they say are 18 karat selling for 1200 Baht. And they sell their "silver" rings for the same price. 

then find identical rings, that are said to be 10 karat gold at another stall selling for the same price. (Somehow I think I will believe they are 10-karat for 1200 baht rather than 18 karat).

Some "gold" rings have a dull shine others are mirror bright. why I don't know. I thought real gold always retained its shine, so if it has dull luster, it means something other than age is the cause. 

on the street outside the market you can find the brass rings for a few hundred baht. But brass discolors the skin, so I think I will stick to silver or gold. 

comments appreciated on rings and stones.


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