On one hand, I would make every effort to find the owner, or watch the paper/sites for an ad of some sorts. I would give it a reasonable amount of time, then I would see about it.
On the other hand, I didn't flip 800 for a machine to find your stuff for you, if it meant that much and was worth that much, then one has no common sense swimming/jogging/volleyballing/basketballing with a piece of hardware like that on one's finger. I sweep, I keep.
A long time ago, maybe 15 years, my father found a retail ring box in a small shopping center parking lot. He found a ring that was gaudy and too big to be diamonds right?
WRONG!!!!
After having it appraised, it turned out to have better than 5 carats in seperate stones onboard. He did the right thing, called the Police, who told him the ring was stolen and proceeded to send a squad car over to recover it. He refused to release the ring until proper id was presented either a picture or a report of some kind. After 3 hours of discussion, the cops' shift ended and he left. Still, my father posessing "stolen" property was caught in a pinch. Make a long story short, the MORON that lost it was having it appraised, since it had been in the family for a relatively long time, went to put it into the inner breast pocket of his suit, and presto, disappearing ring. My father returned the ring, in person, after seeing the gem report. The owner handed my father an envelope, later finding two things inside.
1.) 30 dollars in cash.
2.)A threatening note saying that he should have returned it sooner and was about to be sued for posession of stolen property /causing harm by stress or some garbage like that.
I will post a picture of the ring when I get home, but needless to say, after a situation like that, if I had a ring of that value with a potential owner asking for it back, I would allow my ATTORNEY to handle all communication and never reveal myself/location of the ring. I know I sound jaded and that is 100 percent on the mark. If I would have been older back then, after reading that note, I would have buried his ring in a place where he would never lose it again. Use your imagination.
I will attempt to make a reasonable effort, exhausting every avenue that I have without putting myself in the way of harm being physical/legal/unseen. After that, finders keepers. Losers are S.O.L.
Sorry if this sounds bad/inappropriate, but from the past, John Q. Public has not been the nicest when my family did the right thing. Next time, it will be on my (lawyer's) terms or not at all.
Bri-