Some of the more expensive rings we collect will have enamel on them.. A SS and / or SA enamel ring can be very expensive! Some SS patterns called 'Blackies' are Runic rings with a black enamel field filled cartouche. Many rarer than a HR and can be priced very close to the run of the mill paper pusher late type HR in good condition..

SO, there are different kinds of enamel. lets keep this as simple as possible as we know our rings don't have 'tooth enamel' in them..
We are dealing with this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitreous_enamel

Here is a quote from a different article:

"Enamel is made of metal and a powder coating. The process involves fusing the powder coating to the base metal at extremely high temperatures. Enamel is quite temperamental and requires great skill in getting it just right.
 The color of the enamel powder at the start is not always what the finished product will look like, as the heating process can alter the colors and transparency.
The higher the temperature, the more likely the enamel is to be translucent with vibrant colors, whereas lower temperatures may result in opaque enamel with lower color vibrancy and a greater likelihood of getting damaged.
The final look of the enamel depends largely on the intensity of the temperature as well as on the oxide content of the base metal."

The enamel in our rings are complicated, time consuming process from top to bottom. Making the sifted colored glass powders, making the wet pack, packing, firing, slow even curing/drying. Each one a skill. During the 3rd reich era many of the better jewelry manufacturers had their own highly skilled enamellers,,,some had their enameling sent out..

- * SO this will all lead to a good fake SS Blackie that gets a in hand inspection and me testing the enamel and results shown here at the end. -

- This is a beautiful highly desired by us collectors , a Authentic Wilm produced SS Blackie ring. They didn't make them for very long and had a nice big field on the cartouche filled with black enamel. Glassy,glossy and this ring banged around and I'd say with slightly more than normal wear and tear on it. Perfect for us because we can actually see the chipping of the glass around the edges.. -

- Part 2 to come. -

1.JPG (56.67 KB, 272 downloads)
Last edited by Gaspare; 10/22/2020 02:30 PM.