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Huge Gold- and an unsatisfying return experience.

MTtrashdigger

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2017
Messages
727
Location
Montana
I haven't posted much over the past few months, I just haven't found much worth posting. And besides, I just can't keep up with LTS :p. But on Sunday I decided to comb over an area of a park I have hunted extensively that has given up some teen wheaties and a few older trinkets. I figured it was a relic day and I was digging mid tone junk and nickels. A solid but relatively shallow 18 hit my ears and I figured it was another aluminum screw cap, or folded can slaw like these signals always are. I dug it and saw the gold peeking out and I quickly pulled out my phone and took a couple of pics-- just in case. when I dug it out, I had in my hand maybe the largest gold ring I have ever seen, much less held. I laid it down, took another pic, stuffed it in my pocket, filled in the hole and went back to my dig rig. Once in the drivers seat, I took a better look, It was a high school debate team ring from a local high school and the owner's full name was clearly engraved on the inside of the band. After seeing that, I knew I had to return it. After all, it had to be of sentimental value, right?
In less than 5 minutes of Facebook and LinkedIn sleuthing, I had a business phone number for the ring's owner. He lived in a town a couple hundred miles away. Being Sunday, I figured I would call him on Monday, tell him the story of finding his ring, he would be elated and we could arrange for a future meeting to return his ring.
Well, Monday morning, I called his number and he answered. I told him I was a metal detectorist and that I had found something that I was sure belonged to him. I described the ring, the markings and where I had found it. He told me he didn't remember ever being at that particular park, didn't remember losing it or even having it and must have lost it while he was still in high school, some 22 years ago. But, it was obviously his, and he said " I guess I would like to have it".
He told me his father still lived in my town and that he would contact me and arrange to get it. He then remarked that this was one of the weirdest phone calls he has received and politely told me he had to get back to work.
Later in the day, I got a text from his father, saying he would like to arrange to get the ring. He gave me his address and told me if he wasn't there, to just leave it on his steps. Well, It is still on my desk and it might stay there for a while.
Maybe I expect too much, but this was a disappointing experience.

BTW, the ring weighs 295 grains on my reloading scale, which translates to 19.1 grams. It's its 10k and has a melt value of about $450.00. I will eventually return it but I see no reason to get in a hurry about it.
 

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Oh boy, is THIS a "can of worms" post.

First off, I love the play-by-play and the in-situ reveal pix. Good job @ taking the viewer along. And yes, we md'rs all love the "Sherlock Holmes" repatriation home-coming stories. It's part of our hobby, to enjoy putting it to use. And as such, we naturally assume that the other persons are thinking the same things about md'ing, our phone-call-intentions, etc...

But nothing could be further from the truth. Because the reality is, that when someone looses something (22 yrs. ago, for pete's sake), they have long-since forgotten about it. And .... yes, .... they didn't make meticulous notes about what park they might have gone to, on a given day, 22 yrs. ago :roll:

And in this day & age of phone solicitors and scams , can you blame them for being skeptical (if not down-right hanging up, thinking you are just someone "trying to sell them something").

In your case, it turns out that the fellow stayed with you on the call. And even acknowledged that you had his ring. So: At this point, you'd think he'd be elated, pose with you for a pix, and it'd be one of those heart-warming stories we love to read about. Right ?

But put yourself in his shoes: You have HIS ring. Ie.: It's not yours, it's his. And while, yes, a half-hearted "thanx" and "leave it on my doorstep" is NOT what you were expecting, yet .... legally .... in their mind's eye, you have *their* ring. I know we md'rs think of it differently. Since we know 1) It would have remained there forever if it hadn't been for us, and 2) We could have just sent it off to ARA or Midwest and gotten $100 for it. Yet, legally ..... it's still theirs . There's no statute of limitations.

I have heard of other ingrate stories like this. Where you, *at best* , get a half-hearted "thanks" (as if it were your duty all along to find the ring and track them down). But we've all heard of others where it's a fun time, with the gratitude, stories, pix, smiles, etc.....

I too have had a few returns where I thought : "Why did I even bother ?" One time, for example, I tracked down and returned a class ring, that had been lost on the beach 30-ish yr. earlier. So the gal was now in her early 50s. We arranged to meet at a parking lot somewhere. As I chatted with her and her husband, the conversation turned to md'ing, in general. The husband started telling me about where they currently live in the Gold Rush country in CA, that there's this & such on his land, and his neighbor's land. And that he knows the guy who operates the such & such that has cellar holes, etc.... So I gleefully asked "can you put me in touch with them ?" and so forth. He said "yeah, send me an email".

But that was it. I never got a reply to that. Nothing. And that was the end of it.

For these type reasons, I know guys who will make zero effort to track down owners. And a weird way, you can hardly blame them. And in a weird way, you can hardly blame the ingrate ring-looser people. However , I still think that the occasional ingrates are outweighed by the heart-felt fun reunion stories.
 
That pretty much sucks man. :(

I kept the one class ring I found. Didn’t have a name inside but probably could have tracked down the owner but don’t do FB or any other social platform.
 
Keep it till some one cares enough to come and get it. It apparently does not meqn much to the loser. And that individual is a LOSER.

I have had two returns that i felt like the person who lost the item had slapped me in the face. Made me sorry that i took the time to search for their lost items.

But some folks when you hand them a retrieved item let you know by their reaction just how much your effort meant to them
 
I'd keep it. Most people on the internet will tell you to return it. But that's all they are is people on the internet. You tried and the person doesn't seem to care. Money in your pocket.
 
Don't feel alone. I returned an expensive wallet with $400 plus drivers L, credit cards and business receipts and barely got a thanks. If I'd known how unimportant it was to her I'd of donated it to the shriners.
 
Interesting inputs so far. And I can totally see the rationale of the "just keep it crowd", in-lieu of the ingrate stories we sometimes see.

However, I'd still try the returns. Because if only 1 in 3 were the fun heartfelt grateful reunion stories, then ... to me ... that makes it worthwhile. But that's just me.
 
I'd say this guy definitely lost a debate , not a ring ! Can't remember an important event such as a class ring. Nobody does that. Doesn't remember the park or even owning it. Then " I GUESS I'd like it back ". And then pops wants you to leave it on some random porch....
I've had wayyyyy to many of these kinds of returns. Though I just returned a passport ID last week to a grateful girl (refused a venmo deposit). I'm still sitting on 2 wallets , 1 that is fully loaded , the other...not so much. This , after alot of internet searching , finding them and no response. Jewelry, , phones.....I keep and sell them all now. I have too many horror stories compared to happy endings. Keep it. Keep it. Keep it.
Just making sure.....Keep it !
 
Do what you set out to do. Do the right thing even though you may not get the pat on the back you want...or deserve. You will know in the end you finished what you set out to do.
Congrats on the gold find.
 
Ya know what, sounds like you were ready to rain down some good karma and happy to do so and these people peed in you wheaties. Heck with them, keep it and if they contact you back tell them you changed your mind and there will be a finders fee. Why can't people show a little grace and humility. Good luck, Mark
 
I haven't posted much over the past few months, I just haven't found much worth posting. And besides, I just can't keep up with LTS :p. But on Sunday I decided to comb over an area of a park I have hunted extensively that has given up some teen wheaties and a few older trinkets. I figured it was a relic day and I was digging mid tone junk and nickels. A solid but relatively shallow 18 hit my ears and I figured it was another aluminum screw cap, or folded can slaw like these signals always are. I dug it and saw the gold peeking out and I quickly pulled out my phone and took a couple of pics-- just in case. when I dug it out, I had in my hand maybe the largest gold ring I have ever seen, much less held. I laid it down, took another pic, stuffed it in my pocket, filled in the hole and went back to my dig rig. Once in the drivers seat, I took a better look, It was a high school debate team ring from a local high school and the owner's full name was clearly engraved on the inside of the band. After seeing that, I knew I had to return it. After all, it had to be of sentimental value, right?
In less than 5 minutes of Facebook and LinkedIn sleuthing, I had a business phone number for the ring's owner. He lived in a town a couple hundred miles away. Being Sunday, I figured I would call him on Monday, tell him the story of finding his ring, he would be elated and we could arrange for a future meeting to return his ring.
Well, Monday morning, I called his number and he answered. I told him I was a metal detectorist and that I had found something that I was sure belonged to him. I described the ring, the markings and where I had found it. He told me he didn't remember ever being at that particular park, didn't remember losing it or even having it and must have lost it while he was still in high school, some 22 years ago. But, it was obviously his, and he said " I guess I would like to have it".
He told me his father still lived in my town and that he would contact me and arrange to get it. He then remarked that this was one of the weirdest phone calls he has received and politely told me he had to get back to work.
Later in the day, I got a text from his father, saying he would like to arrange to get the ring. He gave me his address and told me if he wasn't there, to just leave it on his steps. Well, It is still on my desk and it might stay there for a while.
Maybe I expect too much, but this was a disappointing experience.

BTW, the ring weighs 295 grains on my reloading scale, which translates to 19.1 grams. It's its 10k and has a melt value of about $450.00. I will eventually return it but I see no reason to get in a hurry about it.

keep it-you cant fix ungrateful- fofidy go a long way towards....

Oh boy, is THIS a "can of worms" post.

First off, I love the play-by-play and the in-situ reveal pix. Good job @ taking the viewer along. And yes, we md'rs all love the "Sherlock Holmes" repatriation home-coming stories. It's part of our hobby, to enjoy putting it to use. And as such, we naturally assume that the other persons are thinking the same things about md'ing, our phone-call-intentions, etc...

But nothing could be further from the truth. Because the reality is, that when someone looses something (22 yrs. ago, for pete's sake), they have long-since forgotten about it. And .... yes, .... they didn't make meticulous notes about what park they might have gone to, on a given day, 22 yrs. ago :roll:

And in this day & age of phone solicitors and scams , can you blame them for being skeptical (if not down-right hanging up, thinking you are just someone "trying to sell them something").

In your case, it turns out that the fellow stayed with you on the call. And even acknowledged that you had his ring. So: At this point, you'd think he'd be elated, pose with you for a pix, and it'd be one of those heart-warming stories we love to read about. Right ?

But put yourself in his shoes: You have HIS ring. Ie.: It's not yours, it's his. And while, yes, a half-hearted "thanx" and "leave it on my doorstep" is NOT what you were expecting, yet .... legally .... in their mind's eye, you have *their* ring. I know we md'rs think of it differently. Since we know 1) It would have remained there forever if it hadn't been for us, and 2) We could have just sent it off to ARA or Midwest and gotten $100 for it. Yet, legally ..... it's still theirs . There's no statute of limitations.

I have heard of other ingrate stories like this. Where you, *at best* , get a half-hearted "thanks" (as if it were your duty all along to find the ring and track them down). But we've all heard of others where it's a fun time, with the gratitude, stories, pix, smiles, etc.....

I too have had a few returns where I thought : "Why did I even bother ?" One time, for example, I tracked down and returned a class ring, that had been lost on the beach 30-ish yr. earlier. So the gal was now in her early 50s. We arranged to meet at a parking lot somewhere. As I chatted with her and her husband, the conversation turned to md'ing, in general. The husband started telling me about where they currently live in the Gold Rush country in CA, that there's this & such on his land, and his neighbor's land. And that he knows the guy who operates the such & such that has cellar holes, etc.... So I gleefully asked "can you put me in touch with them ?" and so forth. He said "yeah, send me an email".

But that was it. I never got a reply to that. Nothing. And that was the end of it.

For these type reasons, I know guys who will make zero effort to track down owners. And a weird way, you can hardly blame them. And in a weird way, you can hardly blame the ingrate ring-looser people. However , I still think that the occasional ingrates are outweighed by the heart-felt fun reunion stories.

That pretty much sucks man. :(

I kept the one class ring I found. Didn’t have a name inside but probably could have tracked down the owner but don’t do FB or any other social platform.

Keep it till some one cares enough to come and get it. It apparently does not meqn much to the loser. And that individual is a LOSER.

I have had two returns that i felt like the person who lost the item had slapped me in the face. Made me sorry that i took the time to search for their lost items.

But some folks when you hand them a retrieved item let you know by their reaction just how much your effort meant to them

thats a honker

Keep the ring man, don't lose any sleep over it.

I'd keep it. Most people on the internet will tell you to return it. But that's all they are is people on the internet. You tried and the person doesn't seem to care. Money in your pocket.

Don't feel alone. I returned an expensive wallet with $400 plus drivers L, credit cards and business receipts and barely got a thanks. If I'd known how unimportant it was to her I'd of donated it to the shriners.

Interesting inputs so far. And I can totally see the rationale of the "just keep it crowd", in-lieu of the ingrate stories we sometimes see.

However, I'd still try the returns. Because if only 1 in 3 were the fun heartfelt grateful reunion stories, then ... to me ... that makes it worthwhile. But that's just me.

I'd say this guy definitely lost a debate , not a ring ! Can't remember an important event such as a class ring. Nobody does that. Doesn't remember the park or even owning it. Then " I GUESS I'd like it back ". And then pops wants you to leave it on some random porch....
I've had wayyyyy to many of these kinds of returns. Though I just returned a passport ID last week to a grateful girl (refused a venmo deposit). I'm still sitting on 2 wallets , 1 that is fully loaded , the other...not so much. This , after alot of internet searching , finding them and no response. Jewelry, , phones.....I keep and sell them all now. I have too many horror stories compared to happy endings. Keep it. Keep it. Keep it.
Just making sure.....Keep it !

Keep it!!!!!

End of discussion

Do what you set out to do. Do the right thing even though you may not get the pat on the back you want...or deserve. You will know in the end you finished what you set out to do.
Congrats on the gold find.


Thanks for the comments. I have tried twice to return this ring in a face to face meeting. Both times I was told I could leave it on his steps. Something about leaving a $500 chunk of gold on the steps for any random UPS, mail, or Fedex driver to find just doesn't seem right. I don't detect for the money. I have never sold anything I have found or even spent any of the clad I have dug (yet). I am going to try one more time to return it. I will tell this guy that I wont just leave it and if he wants to arrange for a meeting to collect the ring, I will be glad to accomodate him. If not, then i guess this ring will go into the box with all of the other non-junk rings I have found.
 
I haven't posted much over the past few months, I just haven't found much worth posting. And besides, I just can't keep up with LTS :p. But on Sunday I decided to comb over an area of a park I have hunted extensively that has given up some teen wheaties and a few older trinkets. I figured it was a relic day and I was digging mid tone junk and nickels. A solid but relatively shallow 18 hit my ears and I figured it was another aluminum screw cap, or folded can slaw like these signals always are. I dug it and saw the gold peeking out and I quickly pulled out my phone and took a couple of pics-- just in case. when I dug it out, I had in my hand maybe the largest gold ring I have ever seen, much less held. I laid it down, took another pic, stuffed it in my pocket, filled in the hole and went back to my dig rig. Once in the drivers seat, I took a better look, It was a high school debate team ring from a local high school and the owner's full name was clearly engraved on the inside of the band. After seeing that, I knew I had to return it. After all, it had to be of sentimental value, right?
In less than 5 minutes of Facebook and LinkedIn sleuthing, I had a business phone number for the ring's owner. He lived in a town a couple hundred miles away. Being Sunday, I figured I would call him on Monday, tell him the story of finding his ring, he would be elated and we could arrange for a future meeting to return his ring.
Well, Monday morning, I called his number and he answered. I told him I was a metal detectorist and that I had found something that I was sure belonged to him. I described the ring, the markings and where I had found it. He told me he didn't remember ever being at that particular park, didn't remember losing it or even having it and must have lost it while he was still in high school, some 22 years ago. But, it was obviously his, and he said " I guess I would like to have it".
He told me his father still lived in my town and that he would contact me and arrange to get it. He then remarked that this was one of the weirdest phone calls he has received and politely told me he had to get back to work.
Later in the day, I got a text from his father, saying he would like to arrange to get the ring. He gave me his address and told me if he wasn't there, to just leave it on his steps. Well, It is still on my desk and it might stay there for a while.
Maybe I expect too much, but this was a disappointing experience.

BTW, the ring weighs 295 grains on my reloading scale, which translates to 19.1 grams. It's its 10k and has a melt value of about $450.00. I will eventually return it but I see no reason to get in a hurry about it.


Don't feel bad... Found a 1983 school and found the owner and went to return it when I knocked on her door and told her where I found it then showed it to her she gave a dirty look and told me I invaded her privacy she then slammed the door in my face and I promised myself I would never try to return anything again. Its not worth it... if they didn't want to lose it then she shouldn't wear it.
 
I can't agree with this ^ If something has a name in it then not returning it isn't much different than stealing from them. For the 1 in a 100 unappreciative jerks there are mostly very appreciative ones. God only knows how important some items are that get lost, stolen or who knows.
 
If your story is correct, I’d keep it. It doesn’t sound like heavenly bells and tears of joy were part of any of this, so you know what? They have your info, THEY can make the effort. It’s great that you’re that kind of guy MT, we all appreciate that mindset. But if there’s anything that 53 years has taught me, it’s that not everyone else is like me/us. Sometimes nowhere even close. It can be difficult to understand, it doesn’t make sense to us. People can be obnoxiously suspicious. Your guy said something about it “being a weird call”. I ask the ether....how so? There’s a person (you) who is clearly conveying information in English regarding an object of value which is obviously his. Yet...he remains in a “stand off-ish” pose. Now it (almost) seems you are being suspected of some kind of under handed deal, when it all started with you wanting to do the “right thing”. All the satisfaction they can offer is for you to take the ring there and drop it off with no interaction? No smile? No “thanks”? No handshake? Nothing?
With that kind of nonsense as a reward, you might as well keep it, which is exactly what I would do.
 
After 16 years of detecting I found my 1st high school class ring recently. I have made attempts to contact the owner. I sent 2 PM's on FB Messenger and my son reached out to her on Instagram. I then spoke with the campus police office at the University of Maryland where she attends and the officer emailed her with my contact information. It's been a month and no cigar. At this point, it looks like I'm going to be keeping it.
 
I can't agree with this ^ If something has a name in it then not returning it isn't much different than stealing from them. For the 1 in a 100 unappreciative jerks there are mostly very appreciative ones. God only knows how important some items are that get lost, stolen or who knows.
You might want to reread the original post. Then read mine. Wait until you find an iPhone 50 yards out from a pier , buried in 1 foot of sand , in the water. Take 3 days of cleaning it up and finally getting access to the contacts. Reaching the owner and he says he's going to call the police and say you stole the phone. These kinds of things , like the OPs , will wear thin in no time. Regardless of whose name is on anything. I still make a feeble effort on returns. But nowhere near like I used to.
 
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