Finders Keepers?

[~Alan~]

The only gold ring I've ever found was a customers wedding ring.
She'd dropped it down the bath waste two years previous, and assumed it had gone for ever. I had to remove the trap to look for a blockage, and it was still there.

I put a bit more on her bill

 

[Cfmct]

This hobby is to each their own...

I didn't buy a water machine to go out and find change or pulltabs, I bought it to find gold jewelry... its not my fault people don't think before going into the water with their jewelry on...


If a person places an ad in a local paper or posts on a lost ring site, I will make an attempt at returning my find, but even if a ring has initials on the inside I won't make an attempt to find the owner unless its posted somewhere like I said. Just because a ring has initials in it doesn't mean it was lost by a local resident...

Think about it... Joe Blow visiting from Alaska goes swimming at a beach I am detecting and loses his ring with his initials inside how in Gods name would I know where he lived?



Nope this is my hobby and my hobby is to find gold rings and jewelry.. I have 54 gold rings and 170+ rings so far this year and they are all mine... Finders Keepers

 

[El Diablo]

This hobby is to each their own...

I didn't buy a water machine to go out and find change or pulltabs, I bought it to find gold jewelry... its not my fault people don't think before going into the water with their jewelry on...


If a person places an ad in a local paper or posts on a lost ring site, I will make an attempt at returning my find, but even if a ring has initials on the inside I won't make an attempt to find the owner unless its posted somewhere like I said. Just because a ring has initials in it doesn't mean it was lost by a local resident...

Think about it... Joe Blow visiting from Alaska goes swimming at a beach I am detecting and loses his ring with his initials inside how in Gods name would I know where he lived?



Nope this is my hobby and my hobby is to find gold rings and jewelry.. I have 54 gold rings and 170+ rings so far this year and they are all mine... Finders Keepers 

Good for you. I'm not asking that you do a world search to find the rightfulf owner. Just to use common sense. Those 170+ rings belonged to someone. Sure, finders keepers. However those rings probably have great value to someone. A gift from deceased spouse, mother, father, etc...

Is it about the value of the object you found....or in finding that object that counts the most?

It's impossible and unreasonable to think that you could find the owners of everything you find. I think it's the attitude that bothers me the most. Of course you are Admin, I'm just a newbie and a nobody so you rule.

El Diablo

 

[DJS]

I sort of agree with the moral thing, I guess if I KNEW that it was something of personal value to someone I'd return it or if they asked me to try to find something of personal value for them I probably wouldnt take anything in return... but I think its actually alot easier to say youd return things on a message board than to actually do it out in real world...
I posted before about being in a dealers shop just the other day which was also kind of like a pawn shop as he bought stuff from people that they found MDing, he showed me a gold ring that someone found and brought in to him(only a few days after buying a metal detector from him), and that thing was about the size of my fist, it was HUGE... and had a diamond in it to boot... he said he offer the guy $1000 right on the spot and he took it, which more than paid for his detector... he said that ring probably sold out of the case for around $5000-$6000... I think if I ever found something like that I wouldnt care if the owner was standing 10FT away from me I think that ring would hit my pocket and I'd be slinking out of the area as fast and sly as I could...
I'm a very nice guy but in a situation like that I think it would be "all bets off", I think greed would raise its ugly head and it would just be too hard to let something like that go...

 

[El Diablo]

I posted before about being in a dealers shop just the other day which was also kind of like a pawn shop as he bought stuff from people that they found MDing, he showed me a gold ring that someone found and brought in to him(only a few days after buying a metal detector from him), and that thing was about the size of my fist, it was HUGE... and had a diamond in it to boot... he said he offer the guy $1000 right on the spot and he took it, which more than paid for his detector... he said that ring probably sold out of the case for around $5000-$6000... I think if I ever found something like that I wouldnt care if the owner was standing 10FT away from me I think that ring would hit my pocket and I'd be slinking out of the area as fast and sly as I could...
I'm a very nice guy but in a situation like that I think it would be "all bets off", I think greed would raise its ugly head and it would just be too hard to let something like that go...

Thank you for making my point.

El Diablo

 

[oldybuygoody]

If it has identifing marks on it, (laser etching, name on a class ring) then yes, by all means try and reunite the owner with it. Initials don't really count as identifing marking because there could be 1000's of folks with the same initials. And as far as looking in the paper's lost and found, how would I know if the ring was just lost or if it had been there for months or years. I'm not going to spend hours researching old newspaper fiche just to return something someone else was too careless about. If you have an attachment to a piece of jewelery then don't loose it!

 

[WThesing]

My outlook is that as long as I could look at myself in the mirror, and have a clear conscience, that is priceless. I will handle each situation the best way. I am a firm believer in "what goes around comes around". If I could return something with "reasonable" effort, so be it. If I find the Hope Diamond in a pendant with NO I.D., well, I'll just have to cry all the way to the bank.

 

[Cfmct]

Thx Oldy for making the point


It's impossible and unreasonable to think that you could find the owners of everything you find. I think it's the attitude that bothers me the most. Of course you are Admin, I'm just a newbie and a nobody so you rule.

El Diablo

Being an admin has nothing to do with my hobby out in the field or water.. I will tell you this, I do feel bad when I find certain pieces that have initials in them.. Case in point, I found a ring dated 6/24/23 and it was 18+ plus inches down, I wondered how long it could have been there and I knew by the size it belonged to a woman.. So I researched the maker of the ring and found out he died on the Titanic bringing back supplies for his business O&B goldsmiths.

OSTBY & BARTON. The ring was made by Ostby & Barton, one of the most well-known jewelry manufacturers of the period. The firm was founded in 1879 and seems to have disappeared about 1950. One of the principals, Engelhart Ostby, perished in 1912 aboard the Titanic, while his adult daughter survived. This is one factor that makes O&B jewelry highly collectible!

Like Oldy said even if there are initials in the ring, unless its a school ring or has been posted somewhere, its pretty much impossible to find the owner.

Every one of my jewelry finds I still have, I don't sell them this is a hobby... do I feel bad people lost this stuff? Sure I do but they took the chance of losing it by wearing it into the water.

I have found items for people and refused to take a reward on a few occasions, the happy smiles were enough of a reward for me... this little girl came up to me after finding her parents keys and said thank you so much we have been here for hours looking for them and you found them in 5 minutes, thats my reward.

I just found a high school ring but its dated 1913 it was very deep telling me its been there a long time, if the person was still alive they would be well over a 100 years old, I don't even know what school, what state its from, just initials inside the ring of the school and the owner.

 

[eagle77]

A difficult topic to say the least. My viewpoint is that once lost, it is considered the finders property. If there is a name or identifiable info attached to it I would make a "reasonable" effort to find the owner. I am not going to consume my time in trying to track someone down. I do feel that a finders fee is reasonable.

A neighbor lost her wedding ring this spring. I was asked to help her find it, she asked how much it would cost. I told her a cup of coffee and permission to exclusively hunt her property (which is over 160 years old). She agreed and within a week her ring was found and I have a place to hunt.

 

[flbandit]

You know a point was brought up I didn't consider. If I found something valuable and was offered cash while I was checking it out, what would I do. $1000.00 or better staring me in the face would be hard to turn down.

 

[DirtDigger]

I have to agree with Cfmct-PI  and not because he's an "administrator", only because I think he is right.
I think it is fair to say we all are in this hobby for the same reason and that is to find lost items and add them to our collection.
I'd much rather spend my extra time in the field hunting then tracking down owners or people that say their owners.
Like I said in an earlier post I would may an effort to return a class ring or a wallet but I wouldn't exhaust myself at that either.

DirtDigger

 

[El Diablo]

Thx Oldy for making the point


It's impossible and unreasonable to think that you could find the owners of everything you find. I think it's the attitude that bothers me the most. Of course you are Admin, I'm just a newbie and a nobody so you rule.

El Diablo

Being an admin has nothing to do with my hobby out in the field or water.. I will tell you this, I do feel bad when I find certain pieces that have initials in them.. Case in point, I found a ring dated 6/24/23 and it was 18+ plus inches down, I wondered how long it could have been there and I knew by the size it belonged to a woman.. So I researched the maker of the ring and found out he died on the Titanic bringing back supplies for his business O&B goldsmiths.

OSTBY & BARTON. The ring was made by Ostby & Barton, one of the most well-known jewelry manufacturers of the period. The firm was founded in 1879 and seems to have disappeared about 1950. One of the principals, Engelhart Ostby, perished in 1912 aboard the Titanic, while his adult daughter survived. This is one factor that makes O&B jewelry highly collectible!

Like Oldy said even if there are initials in the ring, unless its a school ring or has been posted somewhere, its pretty much impossible to find the owner.

Every one of my jewelry finds I still have, I don't sell them this is a hobby... do I feel bad people lost this stuff? Sure I do but they took the chance of losing it by wearing it into the water.

I have found items for people and refused to take a reward on a few occasions, the happy smiles were enough of a reward for me... this little girl came up to me after finding her parents keys and said thank you so much we have been here for hours looking for them and you found them in 5 minutes, thats my reward.

I just found a high school ring but its dated 1913 it was very deep telling me its been there a long time, if the person was still alive they would be well over a 100 years old, I don't even know what school, what state its from, just initials inside the ring of the school and the owner.

Cool stories! You guys should start your own online magazine based on stories like these! If anyone is interested let me know. I publish www.todayscacher.com

Now back on topic. Finding a ring that has been missing 50 years or even a year isn't what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about finding a ring that you know hasn't been there very long and then making a reasonable effort to find the owner.

If I were to find a ring on the beach or any place else just below the surface I would look at the local paper to see if anyone had put an ad in the lost and found. I'm not suggesting that you research old papers or do any indepth searching of any kind. Just use common sense as to wether a person might be actively looking for that item.

I also got into this hobby to find interesting and valuable things. I'm not condemming anyone for doing the same. It's hard to explain what I mean here, but I hope you get the jest of it all.

El Diablo

 

[Cfmct]

El Diablo

You made me burst out laughing with that publishing stuff...


As to how long a ring has been in the wet sand water you really can't know because wet sand and waterhunting moves so much sand around a ring that is barely below the surface can be a foot or more down after a storm or change of tides.

I mainly hunt beaches that are old and were used much more heavily in the past hence my old ring finds.

 

[Firewhiz]

This whole thing is turning into a galactic battle between good and evil here...lol My post of before was harsh yes, but I have to side purely and simply with just about everybody else here. I didn't buy a rig to play 100 percent "find your stuff" for nothing. Ring or gold eagle, whats the difference? All in the perspectives, two of them to be exact. The one who lost it and the one who found it. Maybe other experienced members/MD'ers can help me out here, what percentage of gold found has marks that would identify it without a doubt to a person/place? I mean high school class ring/laser engraved diamond/name or initials in the band? If you had initials, even without an ad in the paper, it's lost. There are vigilant activities that we MD'ers can take to find the owner, yes. There are also even more vigilant things that can be done by the OWNER of the lost stuff to increase the chances of a timely return. Ads in the paper, websites, buying their own MD, hiring a pro, going down to a local shop to see if there's someone who would do it for practice or even a case of the frosty pilsner beverage of their choice. Yet the papers are NOT flooded with "HELP I lost my stuff" ads, but we continue to find things every day. Now either we don't care, or they don't care. The ONLY way to streamline the efforts is to start a website where the MD'er and the person who lost their stuff can get together. I feel sorry for that guy in Texas, he's screaming for help, but yet there aint ONE person here within 50 miles of his range?? I can't reasonably believe that. Out of the thousands of people on here, it hasn't been found yet. Just like in firefighting, there's only SO MUCH you can do. I will do all I can, BUT if the person who lost such a thing makes no effort, such as public inquiry/item engraving/seeking a professional/seeking a MD, then that tells me one very important thing. They don't want it back bad enough. Period plain and simple. Once again, I will make my best efforts to find the owner, BUT I bought a metal detector, not a person seeking stuff detector. Best advice? Have insurance for such a thing. Back to those two perspectives, the MD'er and the owner, they BOTH want it to be returned, or it won't be.
My .02, plus the other .02, almost a buck worth by now. I'm not trying to fuel the fire, maybe point out some different colors of the flames.

Bri-

 

[El Diablo]

El Diablo

You made me burst out laughing with that publishing stuff...

What's so funny about the publishing thing?

El Diablo

 

[Cfmct]

It just struck me as funny but then again I'm a bit twisted..

 

[El Diablo]

It just struck me as funny but then again I'm a bit twisted..

From what I've seeen so far, there is plenty of material here to create a on line magazine. All you need is a manager, a couole of people that know HTML, a few Editors and you have a magazine. The members here could fill a book with articlecs.

El Diablo

 

[wo2e]

Find a $10,000 ring ? How hard do you search for the owner ? Are you %*$^&% kidding me !?!?! Stick it in your pocket and run for the truck, try not to run over too many folks while leaving the scene..   HH                      Roadrunner_426

.

 

[Gramps]

Interesting topic. I'd have to say I like the idea of the person who lost the item getting their own metal detector or hiring somebody who has one to go looking for the item for them. Otherwise I suppose they will have to be happy with what the insurance company gives them. HH, Gramps

 

[Saddletramp]

Wow Interesting topic, Would I return it?....Yea, as long as it was engraved with the owners name, address, phone number, and SS number and a DNA block sample.
  Honestly, If I knew who may have lost it I would check with their mortgage company and find who they are insured with, If insured I would turn it over. I'm sure an insurance company would pay more recovery fees than the owner. The owner would get the chance to get the item back and the insurance company would not be out so much, I would go home feelin' good about myself and a few bucks richer.