The image area of this ring is very similar to the historic Superman contest prize ring of 1940. Both rings have text surrounding his image reading "Supermen Of America." However, the prize ring reads "Member" and this ring reads "Action Comics." The Hake Guide reports 21 known of the prize ring and 7 of the "Action Comics" ring but that total is now 8. We believe the "Action Comics" ring dates from late 1939 or early 1940. Like the prize ring, the finish is silvered brass with adjustable bands with the image area accented by red paint around the lettering and a small bit of red accent on the "S" chest logo. However, the ring bases have different designs. On the contest "Member" ring, the base has a planet on one side and two lightning bolts on the other. On the ring offered here, the base is a rarely seen design by the maker Uncas. On each side, a pair of vertical lines form a kite-shaped opening between them. Most silver luster is off this ring base but silver highlights remain on each side's recessed accent lines around the pair of vertical lines. The adjustable band that overlaps the other is just a hair less than perfectly smoothly curved but the tiny kink in the metal is very minor. On all examples, the image of Superman is so tiny that there is not much actual detailing. His hair has a very tiny peak to the viewer's right. There are a pair of tiny indentations for eyes, a tiny raised area for a nose and a tiny recessed area for his mouth. The red paint on this example has darkened with age with just a tiny speck remaining around the lower edges of the "S" on his chest logo. Much more dark red remains around the encircling lettering. Tiny spots are gone to the left and right of the word "Of" and from a tiny dot between the words "Action Comics" but most color around all the other individual letters remains intact although darkened. Most silvering is off the octagonal shaped top of the ring but this retains a nice muted silvery/brass metallic finish. Although the ring has lost most of its silver finish, with this much paint remaining we would grade the piece Fine. On the interior of the band are the words "Made In USA" along with the company's trademark letter "U" with horizontal design of an arrow. First we've been able to offer in over 5 years.