Help ID This Ring

[grimlin13]

This ring belongs to my daughter-in-law. Her grandfather left it to her when he passed last summer. Sadly, he never told her about his sevice during WWII. She believes that he was in Europe. Any help identifying this ring would be greatly appreciated.



Thank you in advance,
Grimlin13

[Wagriff]

Well...being marked "Sterling" pretty much rules out Europe of WWII era, as "Sterling" was rarely used during the time. It could well be American, as it is not Hallmarked with British Silver purity hallmarks. The style of the ring looks to be late 40's to into the 50's.
"A.S." could be any endless number of abbreviations-including a person's initials, school, etc. I would suspect that the "S" does, indeed, stand for "School", but no clue as to what the "A" could be for. Pick a State or a City that starts with "A" and hope that it isn't for some obscure or even defunct named school. The Bird looks like a Phoenix rising from the flames and the Book gives the impression of scholarly bearing, so, perhaps, it's from Arizona State-Phoenix? It's a nice ring, in any case!

[guns ltd]

British Air service???? He might have had a friend in the UK give it too him while he was there??
Just guessing...


John

[guns ltd]

You know. The more I look at it the more I see a College ring. Arizona State makes since.

John

[douglas2496]

The fact that the initials are on a book means its all but certain to be a school or college ring. I dont see any reason for thinking its military.

[drmessimer]

It is definitely a school ring. That is the Lamp of Knowledge below the open book, which is a common feature on class rings, both high school and college. Dwight

[big ned]

The ring is related to a U.S fraternity/sorority house or chapter, although the design of this signet ring makes me think definitely a fratenity (male) as opposed to sorority (female) piece. These are found at both universities, colleges and some high schools in the United States there being over 5,500 separate groups in total, so it may be difficult tracking the exact one down.

[grimlin13]

Thank all of you so very much. I will let my daughter-in-law know about her grampa`s ring.

[Andydylew]

I definitely agree it appears to be related to a school ring of some sort but I don't think it has to do with a fraternity. If it was Fraternity related A would stand for alpha and the S could possibly stand for sigma but the Greek letters are rarely shorted to English letters unless being used for slang. I'm a Sigma Tau Gamma and even when shortened we go by sig tau or the actual greek letters. Also my research about alpha sigma didnt show any insignia adorned AS. They were always shown using the greek sigma. If you wanted to run with the idea that the ring did belong to an Alpha Sigma here is a little history about that fraternity:
"The Alpha Sigma Fraternity was founded in October 10, 1962 by 24 university and college scholars of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Alpha Sigma originally stood for 'Advocates of Scholarship' but it was later changed to 'Alay sa Samabayanan' (meaning an Offering to the People) in response to the emerging nationalist movement of the 1960's. This move significantly redefined the fraternity's character and established Alpha Sigma as one of UP's leading nationalist organization.

Throughout the years, the Fraternity has distinguished itself in academic excellence, campus leadership, and more importantly, has consistently taken part in arousing the nation's sense of social consciousness and pioneering in actions towards social transformation. Alpha Sigma has consistently and unwaveringly been true to the highest goal laid by the founding brothers...that of humanitarian service."