A little disappointing that no attempt to even identify the person who stashed it and their family was documented.
This wasnt just a ring dropped decades ago in a lake, it was a deliberately saved fortune with origins probably very verifiable. Even if statuates of limitation secured me as the nre owner, I think I might still contact next-of-kin and give them something. Evidently someone knew about the stash and this knowledge had somehow transferred from the original owner to others.
I live in a house built in 1930, year after the great crash...and probably in that very narrow period where many people realized maybe they should sock something away. My house has lost of little "lost corners", old masonry and pipe conduits not used in decades, and it's obvious that many little modifications have been made over the years. Our concrete shed, for instance, is also old...but obviously was built as an addition to the basement and used to have a door which opened into the laundry room. By the looks of it, I'd surmise the shed may have been added in the early 50's when this house was already over 20 years old. I also know some general info about the original owners. This entire community was built as a housing for miners who worked just over the next hill. My particular house is a ranch, not a simpke "saltbox" like the streets up on the hill have. That leads me to believe some foreman or business administrator for the mine was the first owner and some of the locals have opined the same. That would likely have been someone making enough money to put some away.
But of course that doesnt mean they didnt remove a little stash they had before I was even born! It's kind of a freak thing when stashes get forgotten and there is no one left to confirm their existence. In the story related in the OP, I'd be really curious to hear how the rumors of a hidden treasure had evolved.
Every older house I have ever lived in has always piqued my curiosity as to what could be hidden or buried in its walls or floors, old wells, barns, concrete slabs, gardens, former pad for a coal furnace, chimneys, etc.