Went to the beach early this morning for my second trip hunting ocean sand. I'm slowly learning all the different aspects of ocean beach hunting - best time of day, what the "cut" is, how to deal with really wet sand and finding things etc...
About an hour into it, I got a signal that indicated possible pulltab, but since it's so easy to dig in sand I was digging everything other than iron and about 8 inches down I found my first ring ever!!!!
It's nothing too fancy - 10K high school class ring but I was excited. I didn't want to attract alot of attention, so I just let my heart beat, dumped it into my goodie bag and set off again. Finally after finding lots of clad over the next couple hours too many swimmers started getting in my way and I headed back to the car to inspect the ring. Here is why I titled the thread as I did...
Good - my first ever ring and although it was nothing too fancy, it still was gold
Bad - after looking it over closely I found there was a name inscribed inside as well as a graduation year - as much as I wanted to keep my first ever ring, I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if I didn't at least make an honest effort to find the owner.
Good - I did a little internet searching when I got home and found the kids name although I wasn't about to pay one of those services for an address and phone number. He was actually listed in a couple sports articles about his baseball play in 2001 and 2002. I came across 2 women in the city he went to high school with the same last name and managed to find their phone numbers. Called the first one and got no answer. Called the second one and this rude woman answered the phone very sharply. I apologized for bothering her and asked if she had a relative with the name I had on the ring. She got very evasive with me and angry and asked "who is this!!!" I told her my name and where I lived and said I had just found this young man's ring at the beach that morning. Her tone immediately changed and she told me the boy is her nephew and he was actually there since he slept over that night with her son. I heard her yelling to him in the background and she asked him where his class ring was, then I heard her say "well there's a man on the phone who found your ring." He got on the phone and was astounded that I had found it. He lost it a couple weeks ago at the beach and said that he was deep in the water - deep enough that he couldn't stand up. I told him where and how I found it and that it was either washed in with the waves or more likely it was where he dropped it, but I was able to find it when the tide went out.
Needless to say I'll be returning it to him tomorrow and he was ecstatic and amazed that he was going to get it back.
I wish I was able to have kept this first ring, but in the long run I know I'm going to find lots more better ones and it does make me feel good to be able to help out this kid .
Enjoy the 2 pictures.
"There is no getting away from a treasure that once fastens upon your mind" - Joseph Conrad (Nostromo)
That is absolutely awesome!!! Dont think twice about it, you know you are doing the right thing! I guarantee you are going to find many many more rings, especialy now that youve buttered up the karma gods! Youve done good Cubbie..............you get a cookie!
"Agitate! Agitate! Ought to be the motto of every reformer. Agitation is the opposite of stagnation...... one is life, the other death."
-Ernestine L. Rose-
Congrats on your first ring find!!!!That is so exciting!! You have done the right thing with the return of the ring...................thanks for that. HH and may you find a thousand more rings. Aguila
It's too bad that people are jerks though, I bet it would be easier to give the ring back if the people showed common courtesy to you. If I found someone's ring and tried to give it back and they were rude and offish to me I might just forget about giving it back...
I don't know why, but rude people really tighten my jaws.
Madfranks
Life is a big doo sandwich and we all have to take a bite, savvy?
WTG and Congradulations on finding your first ring and with following your gut feeling and returning it to the owner. And it was the Aunt who was a ...a... (well, you know)...not the nephew...ATTA BOY!!! And the heck with the cookie....you get the whole German Chocolate Cake!!!!
Ron - Professional Printer, Fishing, Diving, Asst Scoutmaster Troop 65
Proud parent of 1 daughter and 2 sons!!!
Way to go on your first ring! Returning it is definitely the best thing to do. If the kid's mom is as bad as the aunt (After all, she named him MARVIN!) he would probably be in BIG trouble if she found out he'd lost it.
Keep searching, your reward will come!
Very nice Cubfan64, WTG!!!
I'm sure some good Karma will come your way.
Just be sure to back that picture up on disk for proof later on...
Good luck, & Happy hunting~
Cubfan64... WTG. You did the right thing! It's a nice story as well. TY for sharing with us! Good luck finding your next gold ring! I'm sure it wont be a long wait! You deserve another.
Bu
Thanks for all the kudos - After watching so many episodes of "My Name is Earl," I like to believe in the whole karma thing too so next time out I'm hoping for good results .
As someone else mentioned, the aunt was the nasty one on the phone (at least at first), but Marvin was quite happy to get his ring back. I like to imagine that Marvin saved up all his lawnmowing money to buy that class ring or maybe his parents scrimped and saved to buy it for him knowing how much he'd appreciate it - probably not true, but it makes me feel even better for returning it - hehe.
This coming Saturday and Sunday mornings I plan to get to the beach by 4-4:30 am and hunt hard until the crowds start showing up. I have a better idea of where to hunt and what areas to look for now. I'll make sure to post the ring(s) I find
"There is no getting away from a treasure that once fastens upon your mind" - Joseph Conrad (Nostromo)
You will get more rings to keep. I have found several and was able to return 2 of them. I would rather have the picture of the smiling owner reunited with the ring than have the ring itself.
The way that I look at it is when I find a ring it is my trophy for the hobby. If I can return it and get that picture with the owner then that is my new and better trophy.
Be sure to let us know how the return goes, hopefuly you wont have to deal with his snotty aunt! Try to get a pic of you & Marvin together holding up the ring, maybe your detector in one hand, eh? And Cubbie, Id trade that cookie for the German chocolate cake anyday!
"Agitate! Agitate! Ought to be the motto of every reformer. Agitation is the opposite of stagnation...... one is life, the other death."
-Ernestine L. Rose-
Nice job Cubfan! Maybe your kindness will soon be repaid with a Cubs Series win!
I hate sounding too pessimistic, but after 30+ years of being a Cub fan, the phrase "not in my lifetime" is becoming more and more realistic, but thanks for the kind words
"There is no getting away from a treasure that once fastens upon your mind" - Joseph Conrad (Nostromo)
Hey Cubbie, I too have been a fan for about 30 years now, this season looks bleak but it WILL happen in our lifetime!!! I have a shrine, all kinds of autographed pics & cards, lots of hall of fame autographs, Sosa, Billy Williams, Rich Nye, Fergie Jenkins, Ron Santo, Andre Dawson, etc. My fave peice is a 14x11 color litho of Mr.Cub Earnie Banks that I got autographed at a convention in L.A.! Dont know what it is worth but it is priceless to me! You gotta beleive, they will do it!
"Agitate! Agitate! Ought to be the motto of every reformer. Agitation is the opposite of stagnation...... one is life, the other death."
-Ernestine L. Rose-
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Originally Posted by treasurekidd
