Regarding the $4k to $5k 1 carat diamond ring...maybe you all better sit down

Charles (Upstate NY)

Full Member
Jun 5, 2006
165
1
USA
Detector(s) used
ML Explorer
I just turned the ring into to the local police department. When I found out what the ring was worth this morning my first thought was that I should try to find the owner. This is not a $50 gold ring or even a $200 gold ring, we are talking $4,000 to $5,000 and unless this coin/jewelry dealer is the only honest one I have ever met odds are it may be worth a good deal more than that.

Second this ring was obviously important in terms of sentimental value. A friend of mine commented that it appeared to be an older style ring. It could have belonged to my mother, what if it belonged to yours? Keeping it was out of the question as it didn't survive the mom test.

I tell you it caused quite a stir at the station and the two officers on duty were awestruck when I opened the case and that diamond spewed fire in all directions under the lights. I was busy documenting the find for them when the lieutenant came out and he and I had a very good discussion.

The lieutenant was genuinely amazed that I would turn in such a find. He said, "people are out there detecting all the time and nobody ever turns anything in and I know they are finding good stuff". I mentioned that a find like this is quite rare, once in a lifetime for most people. Most days I told him our finds are rather average, a few coins, lots of trash, and if we are lucky a piece of gold or silver that is often worth well under $100. I told him straight that I don't turn those in, they pay for gas, parking, and equipment.

But a find like this, this ring is in a different class and many in our hobby will do the right thing and turn in a find like this. I tell you I made HUGE points with the lieutenant. He of course got all excited about getting into metal detecting and gave me his card and email address. Several times he was adamant that if the owner was found he was going to tell them that they need to pay me a reasonably sized finders fee. When I tried to wave that off he almost told me to be quiet, saying look you have to pay all this money for the equipment then spend your time finding the ring, you deserve a finders fee dam it so be quite I'm going to make sure you get one. lol It was great.

In general the point that I made mostly by my actions was that people have some misconceptions about the metal detecting community. Our hobby has lots of great people who often step forward and do the right thing returning lost items of value to their owners. I mentioned our track record of returning class rings to their owners. I tell you he was impressed. If I accomplished nothing else tonight I won new respect for those in our hobby and a truck load of good will. And probably three new members, I know treasure feaver when I see it, the officers had it bad!

Now to the legal part. They hold the item for 30 days and try to find the owner. They have a log of lost items and the owner may have already reported the item lost who knows. They will do what they can to find the owner and that is my wish. If at the end of 30 days nobody claims the item then it will be returned to me. The lieutenant told me this directly and I believed him. He assigned the whole thing an incident number and I got the feeling they took it all very seriously. Of course when I told him the ring had been roughly assessed at a value of $4,000 to $5,000 that helped. Jaws were gaping. They asked me all kinds of questions about what to ask to ensure a person claiming the ring was the rightful owner. I provided some. I will follow up with an email detailing exactly where it was found and what the owner should be able to tell them about the location itself and identifying marks on the ring the owner should know.

So in 30 days if nobody claims the ring, I will be the new owner and I will be happy to own it under those terms. If I kept my mouth shut and just kept the ring I'd never feel quite right about it. That whole mom test thing would have worn on me.

By the way the lieutenant was anxious to get my contact information and line up people who would pay to hire me to help them find some rather expensive lost items. He mentioned a $10k ring someone lost recently. I smiled and told him I had a day job but that I'm willing to volunteer as time allows. I kept a very low key in terms of rewards, finders fees, or whatever. I left them with a we volunteer to help our neighbors impression.

So there you have it. I'm sure some of you may be thinking Charles what are you nuts? Hey you know what, I guarantee you I just banked a serious amount of karma, probably enough to find a chain cent or half disme or something. ;D ;D

Charles
 

Upvote 0
Charles (Upstate NY) said:
Stormtrooper154 said:
Charles (Upstate NY) said:
Update:

I got an email from the lieutenant this morning, here's a copy, note my full name is Raymond Charles Keith

Hi Raymond,

Got your email and wanted to say thanks for the info....We currently have a person who lost a diamond ring on the beach on July 8th. I spoke with her this morning and it is definately not the same ring....I will keep you posted.

Thanks,

Dan

am I the only one that caught this......Charles, Confirmed Treasure lost of the beach. Get your butt in gear and grab the batteries!!! LOL ;D ;D ::) ::) ;D ;D

Storm, Joel says take that sissy coil off your Explorer, hop a plane east and come git some! :D

WTF!!! LOL What do you mean Sissy Coil LOL. Damn that man!!!! Next time I may just have to leave him out in the park LOL
 

BlueShadow said:
Here is the "LAW" according to the WA State RCW;

RCW 63.21.030
Release of property to finder -- Limitations -- Payment to governmental entity -- Expiration of finder's claim.
(1) The found property shall be released to the finder and become the property of the finder sixty days after the find was reported to the appropriate officer if no owner has been found, or sixty days after the final disposition of any judicial or other official proceeding involving the property, whichever is later. The property shall be released only after the finder has presented evidence of payment to the treasurer of the governmental entity handling the found property, the amount of ten dollars plus the amount of the cost of publication of notice incurred by the government [governmental] entity pursuant to RCW 63.21.010, which amount shall be deposited in the general fund of the governmental entity. If the appraised value of the property is less than the cost of publication of notice of the finding, then the finder is not required to pay any fee.

(2) When ninety days have passed after the found property was reported to the appropriate officer, or ninety days after the final disposition of a judicial or other proceeding involving the found property, and the finder has not completed the requirements of this chapter, the finder's claim shall be deemed to have expired and the found property may be disposed of as unclaimed property under chapter 63.32 or 63.40 RCW. Such laws shall also apply whenever a finder states in writing that he or she has no intention of claiming the found property.


[1997 c 237 § 2; 1979 ex.s. c 85 § 3.]
So you gotta pay one way or another?
Phooey they can have it ???

Hope all stays well
Blue

wow shadow, that's no way to encourage people to do the right thing now is it?
 

you are wizer than most folks think--if you tried to "sell" your find and the "owner" had it listed as stolen---say they lost it but didn't know it and later "found" it was gone ---they might have reported it as stolen --- or some one really might have swiped it and lost some of the loot getting away in the night or while swiping stuff off their chair at the beach or what ever------- if you try to "move" the item you "found"---you just might get busted for attempting to sell "stolen" goods---the way you did it was smart---if the ring was "insured" a lost claim would have to have been filed in order to get "paid"---on many modern high dollar rings ---the are GIA numbers "marked" into them and on older ones the stones cut and other indentifing items are noted in a computer often---high dollar stuff is often insured---the way you did it was smart because --if a insurance company pays out $5,000 bucks for its loss and you turn the ring in --they can return the ring get back the ($5,000) money and pay 10% finders fee- $500 to you---saves them alot of money that way---if no one reported it ---in a month its "all" yours with a clean bill of health and a boat load of folks willing to vouch for you that you did the right thing---plus the word of your "honest" nature will gain you many good properties to hunt---Ivan
 

You did the right thing. I hope the owner IS found, and even if they don't pay you, you have something money can't buy, CHARACTER.
 

Am I wrong? but when did we become the worlds lost and found department?
I didnt get into this hobby, spend my hard earned money and time to find things other people lost and return it to them.
When I "found" the gold and ruby pendant and chain at the hotel I was staying in, SURE, I turned that in, I figured I didnt find it in a legitamate hunt, but something on the beach or better, in the water?
I'm not saying I'm heartless as you can tell by my return of the pendant, and let me tell you, it was heavy,
I read about class rings, great, I can see that but.....really, how far is too far with the "lost and found" attitude?

I'm not knocking your return, just wondering about the karma, still wondering when my good karma will come back to me.

>still trying to make friends =)
 

Re: Regarding the $4k to $5k 1 carat diamond ring...maybe you all better sit dow

I am finding it hard to figure out a way to word this post. I know what I want to say, and think I need to say, but I can't figure out a quick and easy way to say it. I hope I can keep the logic clear enough so it says what I mean.

The people who use this forum have a common bond. We find the hobby of metal detecting exciting, rewarding, fun, etc. We all dig our share of pull tabs, crushed cans, nails, and other junque and crape but every one of us also dreams of the find of a lifetime - an apparent $69,000 Half Dimes, a cache of gold coins, a container filled with jewelry and money buried to keep the Civil War soldiers from looting it, a Spanish cob, a gold doubloon, etc. Every beep we hear, we think silver, gold, ring, not what is usually in the hole. That is one of the reasons this hobby is addictive.

Every once in awhile, the item in the hole IS that find of a lifetime. We do the "gold dance" or get the shakes, whatever we are programmed to do when something shocking happens. We are on cloud nine. We give our MD a big kiss, maybe, if we can get the dirt off. It's as good as it gets.

Most of these finds are from long ago. The person who lost it or buried it is long dead. It's yours now dude.

Most finds are not worth much. Maybe they were worth something before spending 100 years in the ground. But grandpa's favorite hunting knife ain't no more. And the coins we find are truly lost items and nobody expects you to give them back (except those landowners who think those old coins are worth a lot of money and want a piece of the action). The little trinkets at tot lots, soccer fields, etc. are sort of "disposable" jewelry. It gets lost and you're out a few hundred bucks at the maximum. Your not going to really miss it and you will most likely not going to look real hard for it. You just get something else. Maybe you'll like it even better. Makes it easy on hubby or wifey for the next "present giving" event.

So for the most part, the things we find are not that valuable, not important to anyone, and keeping them is something you can do with a clear conscious. They are just lost items and if it weren't for us, they would stay lost because there is nobody looking for them.

But there is another category of finds. These are items that fall into the very valuable recently lost (as best we can tell) category, items that may have great sentimental value to a living person or their family, reasonably valuable (several hundred dollars or so) items that are found somewhere other than buried (floor in a restaurant, sidewalk, hotel room, parking lot, etc.) The items found just laying on the ground, floor, or pavement are evidently something that was just lost and there is someone who is missing it and, most likely, actively looking for it. When we find these type items, we are no longer metal detectorists recovering and preserving history, we are the average Joe citizen who has found something someone recently lost. IMHO these items need to be treated differently. They are in a "missing" mode and someone is, most likely, actively "trying to find" them. We are the finder of this item. We are not the OWNER of this item just because we saw it and picked it up. It is this type of find that MUST (in my opinion for the items with possible high sentimental value and in the eyes of the law for the very valuable things) be put into the "system" in some fashion to try and locate the owner. An ad in the local paper, turned into lost and found at the hotel, restaurant, Big Box store, etc. Or turned into the police if they have a better "return" policy. Just put it in the system to find the owner at the place that will return it to you if nobody claims it within a certain time period.

So yes, for some things we are a lost and found department. We are the average citizen who finds something lost and found in plain sight or finds something extremely valuable or sentimental where the owner is still likely around. It is something we should be proud to do. We shouldn't have to be talked into it or threatened into by the laws on the books or what might happen to us if we try to sell it. We just need to be the responsible citizen and serve as an example to out children and community.

I hope I kept the logic of this understandable. It is not an easy thing to do and the differences in the types of finds is sometimes pretty subtle.

Respectfully,

Daryl
 

Asking someone to identify something by where it was lost IMHO is a waste of time. I found a ring in a park and when I returned it and told her where I found it she replied that she believed she lost it in her sister's backyard.
 

Re: Regarding the $4k to $5k 1 carat diamond ring...maybe you all better sit dow

You ask where they lost it BEFORE you return it. If they can't describe the ring, size of ring, where they lost it. They don't get it. That's why they put it in the police report. If they can't answer the questions correctly. They hear "Next."

Daryl
 

A clear conscience then is the guide

From algebra class, Conscience is the "x" variable...

I hope you get to keep it, now lets watch Karma in action, I'm off to the beach!
 

Re: Regarding the $4k to $5k 1 carat diamond ring...maybe you all better sit dow

Great job and thanks for shining some light on the hobby! Nice win/win situation, you can't lose here. I hope they find the owner but if they don't... ;D. There is nothing wrong with accepting a reward. Congrats and HH, Mike
 

I REMEMBER THE TIME I FOUND A $100.00 BILL IN THE 60'S , A $1.25 WAS ABOUT THE GOING RATE FOR A LOCAL UN-SKILLED JOB PER HOUR BACK THEN. I FOUND THE BIG NOTE ON A SIDE WALK AND STARTED TO HURRY OF HOME TO GIVE THE FIND OF A LIFE TIME TO MY DAD, WHEN I NOTICED A LADY WALKING VERY SLOWLY WITH EYES DARTING BACK AND FORTH SEARCHING FOR WHAT I JUST PLACED IN MY POCKET! KNOWING VERY WELL THAT A $100.00 BUCKS CAN FEED A FAMILY FOR A LONG TIME, I HELD OUT THE BIG BILL
AND WAS PROMPTLY KISSED AND HUGGED UNTILL I WAS RED WITH LIPSTICK! YOU SEE, SHE WAS POOR AS MY FAMILY WAS BACK THEN. ;D I HOPE THAT IT ALL TURNS OUT FOR YOU IN THE LONG RUN.

JAMES.
 

Re: Regarding the $4k to $5k 1 carat diamond ring...maybe you all better sit dow

Just a note to say that property laws vary by State. What the law says in one State has no bearing on the law in another State. If I'm reading the thread correctly some of the law being quoted is from a State other than New York State. They don't apply.

Daryl
 

BlueShadow said:
When I handed over three backpacks full of stolen cherry picked jewelry (The great dumpster dive) to the local police dept.
Blue

Maybe the difference was your find was actually STOLEN & found, not just LOST & found??

I don't know the laws, but I hope for the best Charles and you get to keep the ring. ;D

If all else fails, remember you know where the Officers live (Police Station) to hunt them down ;) J/k of course
 

I'm very impressed with this find, the treasure hunter's actions and the entertainment the thread has provided!

WTG, Charles!

Being a newbie... I found what I thought was a diamond ring the other day while I was hunting in the park.

The ring had numerous stones and boy were they glistening in sun the minute I popped it out of the ground!

I can tell you that at that moment my last thought was "how and where should I return this?" ;D

Not that the thought wouldn't wear on me over time.

Luckily, I believe the ring is costume jewelry and I won't have to make the same decision you did...

I will watch the outcome of your actions and maybe I will be better
equipped if/when a similar situation occurs :P

Thanx for sharing!

HH,

Nickel_B

P.S. Like OutRaged, I too have heard great things about Charles' character and I believe the validity of his findings and posts.
 

I've enjoyed your posts on various forums for years!! I've seen some very nice finds, tons of Indians and older silver coins! This is a great find and wish I could sit here and say I would do the same!! I return class rings and seldom mention them being returned on a forum, if asked I will usually find that ring and return it. I know at times I can sit here and say, "I'd do the same thing" but I also hear myself saying "WHAT?????". Only thing I can say is I hope the person who lost it gets it back, but also know I'm pulling for you to get that ring too!! Then you can host a forum party soon!!
 

Re: Regarding the $4k to $5k 1 carat diamond ring...maybe you all better sit dow

Hardy said:
I REMEMBER THE TIME I FOUND A $100.00 BILL IN THE 60'S , A $1.25 WAS ABOUT THE GOING RATE FOR A LOCAL UN-SKILLED JOB PER HOUR BACK THEN. I FOUND THE BIG NOTE ON A SIDE WALK AND STARTED TO HURRY OF HOME TO GIVE THE FIND OF A LIFE TIME TO MY DAD, WHEN I NOTICED A LADY WALKING VERY SLOWLY WITH EYES DARTING BACK AND FORTH SEARCHING FOR WHAT I JUST PLACED IN MY POCKET! KNOWING VERY WELL THAT A $100.00 BUCKS CAN FEED A FAMILY FOR A LONG TIME, I HELD OUT THE BIG BILL
AND WAS PROMPTLY KISSED AND HUGGED UNTILL I WAS RED WITH LIPSTICK! YOU SEE, SHE WAS POOR AS MY FAMILY WAS BACK THEN. ;D I HOPE THAT IT ALL TURNS OUT FOR YOU IN THE LONG RUN.

JAMES.

That reminded me of a time I was in a convenience store ( I was 16 at the time). I saw 2 x $20 bills sitting on the floor of an empty aisle and quickly grabbed them thinking "cool, free gas money!!." At about that time, I heard a little kid crying in one of the aisles right next to this one and as I walked around to look, I heard his mother scolding him for losing the money he was supposed to be using to buy his father a Father's Day present.

It took me all of 2 seconds to go up to the kid (I think he was around 7-9 years old), hand him the money and tell him I had just found it in the aisle next to me. He smiled a great big smile, his tears dried up immediately and his mother thanked me and offered me a reward which I turned down. I told the kid to be careful and hold onto that money :).

You know what's really neat about that - I doubt I'd even recall finding that $40 if I had just taken it and spent it on gas or whatever else high school kids spend money on, but I can still see the kids face in my mind and to this day it makes me feel good what I did.

Everyone in this world is different - some think Charles is insane and others think he's the salt of the earth and this thread just goes to prove that.
 

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