Not necessarily. There were several lower rings out there in the world. The One Ring had been lost since thousands of years. I don’t remember what Saruman tells the wizards about it exactly, but essentially, it is probably lost for ages, and Gandalf trusted his wisdom at the time.
When Gandalf meets Frodo at the start of LOTR, he tells him he was getting increasingly suspicious about this ring, and started doing researchs on it, until there was no doubt anymore that this was the One Ring. Tossing it into the fire is only an ultimate confirmation.
Not necessarily. There were several lower rings out there in the world. The One Ring had been lost since thousands of years. I don’t remember what Saruman tells the wizards about it exactly, but essentially, it is probably lost for ages, and Gandalf trusted his wisdom at the time.
When Gandalf meets Frodo at the start of LOTR, he tells him he was getting increasingly suspicious about this ring, and started doing researchs on it, until there was no doubt anymore that this was the One Ring. Tossing it into the fire is only an ultimate confirmation.