A Heartbreaker....The One That Got Away. Post Your Own Story!

[Indianhead Jones]

Hi Everyone,

Did you find something special, only to lose it again?

Post your own "Heartbreaker" story, about the one that got away from you !

Here's mine:

Each time I read accounts of rare and beautiful finds made by our members, my mind drifts back to a great find I made....and lost.

It was 1973, and I was in the Navy, stationed at the Naval Air Station in Sigonella, Sicily.

I had become very ill with an inner ear infection, and as it grew worse, the doctors had me airlifted to the military hospital in Landsthul, Germany, for hospitalization and treatment.

Well, to make a long story short, one evening I was feeling well enough to take a walk around the hospital, and I found myself in a tiny patient lounge, and it had a large bookshelf with hundreds of old, tattered and well-read paperbacks. I remember the large sign on the wall that said, in effect, that if you found a book you liked, you were welcome to keep it.

I pulled out what I thought was just an autobiographical book by President John F. Kennedy, but my jaw almost hit the floor when I saw, on the first page, that it was signed by the President himself! I don't remember the title, but it had something to do with his White House duties, day-to-day, that sort of thing.

I do however, remember the inscription exactly: "To Susan....Jack Kennedy". I did some later research and found out that President Kennedy signed "Jack" for personal autographs, and to close friends and such. The book was written while he was in office. I kept the book, and it became a prized possession.


Now for the heartbreak....when I got out of the service in 1974, I arrived at Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, Conn. only to find that the two large bags I had checked in had been lost....all my personal stuff, including the book.

The airline never found my bags, and I subsequently collected, but the money could never replace the things I had lost...and to this day, I still think about that little paperback book, with it's precious signature.

Larry G.

 

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[Produce Guy]

Years ago ,back in the 80's I found one of those swiss-army knives that come with everything that you would ever need,you know the really,really fat one that they make,it's real wide and heavy ,anyway I found it and for some reason I put my name on it with a marksalot marker,years later while I was camping in Big Bend National Park I lost it in the river.I was so pissed my buddies told me that I would never see it again,well flash forward ,it's the year2001 and a fellow scout dad is telling me about finding things while your out camping and he pulls out MY swiss-army knife,but it's missing allot of the blades and other things that were in it.I told him to go ahead and keep it.

 

[Indianhead Jones]

Years ago ,back in the 80's I found one of those swiss-army knives that come with everything that you would ever need,you know the really,really fat one that they make,it's real wide and heavy ,anyway I found it and for some reason I put my name on it with a marksalot marker,years later while I was camping in Big Bend National Park I lost it in the river.I was so pissed my buddies told me that I would never see it again,well flash forward ,it's the year2001 and a fellow scout dad is telling me about finding things while your out camping and he pulls out MY swiss-army knife,but it's missing allot of the blades and other things that were in it.I told him to go ahead and keep it.

The odds of your ever seeing that knife again were astronomical!

Interesting story!

Larry G.

 

[batcap]

Ok here is my Found, then Lost, then Found story . . .

I bought an acid test kit and I was looking for some opportunities to use it. A lady sometimes sets up on the sidewalk in the business district selling "used" jewelry for a buck a piece. As you can imagine it gets well picked through. There's so much of it though that nobody sees everything.

I stopped to pick through a few boxes for scrap sterling, she knows that if I buy something, it's going to be worth more than a buck. It was a cold day and she wasn't doing much business, out of the blue I asked her if she'd take $20 for one of the boxes. She said "Sure!", actually I ended up buying 2 boxes.

To shorten this story, I'll summarize that I found 2 18K bracelets - the one piece kind like a ring for your wrist. I acid tested and scratched and tested until I was absolutely sure that the 18k acid wasn't doing anything to the metal in these bracelets. I sent them Priority Mail to ARAGold in TX on Nov 15th. Unfortunately, the max insurance on a small flat-rate box is only $200.

The box went missing right after leaving the Baltimore sort facility. I was devastated. This was my BIG SCORE! With the other stuff in the box I estimate the equivalent of a 2-week paycheck. So I sat on my hands and waited for the minimum time to pass so I could file a claim. Every day I'd pray and check the USPS tracking number to see if there was some change.

Fourteen days after I mailed it, it ended up in Bethpage, NY (which sort of looks like an island ). Two days later it arrived at ARA in Dallas. I called ARA and asked if the box appeared damaged, was the label self-stuck or taped, was the packing tape I used on the non-hinged edges of the lid intact? Everything was OK, according to Wayne at ARA.

The only evidence I have of this story is my USPS tracking number: 9105128882300411930960

Well, also I have a little piece I broke off one of the bracelets as proof to myself it wasn't a dream, 15 lbs of junk jewelry on my floor, and an as-yet-to-be-determined settlement from ARA. After I finish paying 2009's income taxes, the utility bills and rent, I should have enough left over for one of them snazzy Garrett pinpointers.

I'm a firm believer that if you look for treasure, and keep looking, you will find it. I've had lots of other eyeball scores before, but this looks like the big one, so far.

 

[extractor]

The odds of your ever seeing that knife again were astronomical!

Interesting story!

Larry G.
[/quote]

That's what I thought about My X and 20 years later poof she appears.

 

[JD-GA]

I have a funny one with a swiss army knife to share. I was 15 years old fishing in the chattahoochee river hear in georgia. I was in about 4 feet of water and it was frigid. While fighting a small trout at my feet i saw a huge red object in the black sand and was simply excited. Let the fish go, dunked my head and torso and grabbed a brand new swiss army knife with 30 different appendages including toothbrush and toothpick. I put it in my pocket and said to heck with fishing im going home with my prize at it barely fit into my shorts pocket. I strolled across the small island when a 6 foot long black rat snake decided i had disturbed her rest. Ive never been afraid of snakes and have picked up many of them in my life but a 6 footer that raised its head like a cobra and immediately came at me was enough to send me skinny butt hauling it in the opposite direction. After a good 100 yards in under 3 seconds im sure, i stopped to check the snakes progress and of course it was nowhere to be seen. And neither was my new knife. I looked for it for 2 hours and to this day im sure that the snake had to have picked it up and put it back in the river using it as a "lure" to screw with fishermen all day.

 

[Kieth-Tx]

Had been finding a few arrowheads on the hunting lease. So one day while out looking for some more I looked down in a gully and I spotted something that didn't look right. When I got to the bottom of the sand gully...here was a large arrowhead looking rock....somebody told me it was a pre-form or something like that. Well I continue down the bottom of the gully and pick up a nice arrowhead and 4 or 5 pieces. Took them back to the lease house and took some pics. Loaded up the truck to go back home the next day and remember putting them in the truck...and that's it...that was the last I saw of them. I literally cleaned EVERYTHING out of my truck including the back seat...nothing! Oh well...at least I have the pics.