This is a subject that I have struggled with over the years. I have been chastized by all the "do gooders" on this forum, swore at, ripped a new one etc. simply because I found a ring with a name in it that I wanted to keep.
Obviously on this forum people are slanted towards giving things back if they think they can find an owner, but lets be truthful people, if you REALLY wanted to give the stuff back, you COULD find the owner. It comes down to how much EFFORT do you want expend, and do you REALLY want to give it back? I would guess Labrat could find his married couple if he got on the internet and spent some real time investigating different directions. You folks come across as "Holyier than thou". I treasure hunt for fun AND profit (I don't make a 6 figure income like others on here that say they make plenty), I recently found a ring that is quite valuable, it has two names in it and a wedding annniversary date. The fact of the matter is, if it were not for me finding it, IT WOULD STILL BE LOST, what I decide to do with it is entirely up to MY conscience. ?I metal detect for the VALUE of items and for the change I find, so that I can either sell or cash this in and build my coin collection, I'm not interested as much in the ring as I am in it's value. Other folks may detect for other reasons. I don't jump all over their butts for the way they choose to do their hobby. This is the way I have defined it for me. I DO agree with Northoceanbeach, and you people who chastize him (or her) surely must also do things that would also be considered questionable, but just don't admit it on here. Is digging in a Civil War battle ground and finding a traceable piece of history (and keeping it) any worse? Just because your things are older doesn't mean that you aren't dessicrating the battlegrounds and gravesites of fallen soldiers. You could probably trace a slave tag to it's present day heirs if you really wanted to. ?The fact of the matter is, you are still digging up someone's lost property. Back to modern times and more modern jewelry, etc.. ?If you all wanted to, I would guess you could find the owners of at least HALF of the stuff you find. It was obviously owned by someone who lost it, why are you all keeping it? Because your conscience has justified it to be ok to keep if it's not engraved? Just because it's not engraved doesn't mean it can't be identified by someone. This is where most of us draw the line (ie: our conscience tells us it's ok to keep). Calling me or northoceanbeach a thief, because we choose to cash in our finds is WRONG. You all are just as much "thieves" as I or northoceanbeach might be for keeping all of the items that could be identified with a little hard work! ?They are all someone's property under your definition. Many signet rings and pendants could easily be identifiable and a newpaper add is FREE to place in the lost and found. Don't just post it once and say "Well, I posted it", post it many times until you are fully satisfied that nobody will be claiming it. I don't post these adds because I believe in finders keepers. If I did the work to find it, then it's ine to determine what I want to do with it. This is not to say that I won't in the future, if I found a really nice ring, it would be entirely up to my conscience. If I find a nice ring as I did above, it is entirely up to my conscience as to whether I want to return it. In this case, I agree with Bakergeol on the point of sentimentality. If I lost my wedding ring, of course I would feel pretty stupid for having worn it to where ever I lost it. The fact remains though that this ring would have REMAINED lost (if I did not metal detect) and I would not retrieve it. It would be gone. If another person finds it, it is up to their "inner voice" to tell them whats right and wrong. We were all brought up by parents who hopefully tried to instill some morals in us. I do have these morals, but all of my earnings from work go into my family. All of my treasure finds go into my hobby $ to be spent as I see fit.
I am going to return the ring to it's owner (for all I know they could be divorced by now). It's value in gold and Pt. is about $225-250. I am going to tell him that I will send his ring to him and mention to him that I was going to scrap it for the metal value which to me was about $225, but REGARDLESS of this I will be sending it back to him. I will further tell him that I will leave it up to him to determine if he wants to send anything my way for my efforts. I DO feel it is valid to ask for the value of the ring. After all, it is MY time, MY effort, and until he gets it back, MY ring to do with as I see fit. I will not hold his ring hostage. I will return it, but merely make a suggestion that this is the value that I place on this item. It's not sentimental to me, and I feel why should I leave it up to him to determine it's value to me. I think he will be happy to get his piece of sentimentality back and I would be happy to receive the value.
Ok, now's the time to bash me for my HONEST thoughts. I suspect many of you all are not truly being honest with yours (besides the extreme right wingers). ? 8)
You tell him Chiz,He wont last long,Sounds like he needs a gun for his hunts not a MD.We find plenty of trash in the ground we dig.Dont need it on our forum.
There's a line between common sense and ignorance,with most of us anyway.northoceanbeach excluded
