Beach hunting question

Bump any info?

Laws vary, also the thought process on returns do too...Its a personal issue about how hard you may want to work to find a person who lost something.

Sell your scrap gold to ARA...not a local pawn shop or 'We buy gold' place...

You may also try to sell any designer jewelry on Ebay or to friends or family for a premium above melt...(google 'Goldcalc' for melt values)...

I wouldnt and dont worry about getting in trouble for finding 'stolen' jewelry...unless its obvious that it came from a robbery, ALL beach drops are accidental, some have insurance on the item even, so they aint out nothing...

We all have return stories, some good and some not...as far as I know, not a ONE of us have ever run into any legal issues...I dont think some old guy who found something with a detector is a prosecutable offense..in fact, you might even get a reward.
Mud

There's also the remote possibility of some found items not being "lost" but rather tossed on purpose! Lovers spats do happen and in some cases rings and other things can and will get thrown by spiteful people.
I also like to think that some of the things I've found were lost as the person was throwing their garbage on the beach, lol.

Pete

As someone else mentioned, sell your stuff to a refinery, not a pawn shop. The pawn shops try to scam you and will give you like 50% or less of the value.

I actually keep all of my finds now so I dont sell it until I am ready to buy my next detector...I keep making them pay for themselves

As far as finding things...I always check craigslist. If its marked I always post it to craigslist. I leave it there about a month. Oh, and I put on the post in craigslist that I charge a $20 finders fee. I do this because the first few times I found things for people it was awkward - they wanted to reward me but didnt know what was appropriate so they usually offered me too much and then I had a person just say thanks and left (that was a person on the beach who asked me to find her ring). So I put it out there to save everyone the awkwardness...I say the same thing to people on the beach now. Although when someone comes up to me and says hey I will pay you $100 to find my ring, etc I wont turn it down either My wife thinks its wrong and I should not have a finders fee but she wasnt there for my first few encounters where neither of us knew how to do the exchange and if they should reward me and how much, etc...save yourself the headache and just put it right out there.

Finders keepers if I find it on a beach or public place. However if it's military I'll try to return it. Haven't fount one yet though.
Definitely stay away from the pawn shops.

Yeah, I'll take pay for a return!...So many you give back withouth even a 'thank you'....We didnt spend all this money on gear/gas/time to just be philanthropists!
I got $50 for that cell phone from the owner I found a week ago after the fireworks..he drove right out to my house...Had I not contacted him, I coulda sold it on the open market for an easy 3X that...

It was all his fault that he lost it..he was admittedly drunk..he was very thankful that I punched redial and called him...It woulda cost him $600 for a replacement...So he learned a cheap lesson, and I made some cash for getting up at 4am, with high buck gear and hard earned skills...
Mud

007tallguy said:

I also like to think that some of the things I've found were lost as the person was throwing their garbage on the beach, lol.

Click to expand...

That's a great way to look at it!!

mikedero said:

.... What is the legality of lets say finding jewelry on the beach, is it finders keepers type of thing? just want to know before I start out then try to sell something only to get into trouble......

Click to expand...

Mike, you want the technical answer ? Or the realistic answer ?

The technical answer (afterall, you "wouldn't want to get arrested", eh? ) is that Florida (and all the 50 states) have lost & found laws. The criteria/threshold for requirement to turn items in to the police, is somewhere between $100 to $250 value, depending on the state.

These laws were born out of wandering cattle laws. And for the obvious need that if the back-door of an armored car swings open on the freeway, it's not just "finders keepers" wads-of-cash for the next lucky passerby. Or so that no crook can take the bike leaned against the bike rack and say "I found it", etc....

Technically there's no reason why these laws don't apply to the items we find md'ing. And there's no time-period cut-off as to when YOU think it was lost. Ie.: last week, or last year, or decades ago, etc... The law merely says the value criteria, and you are to turn them in to the police for proper repatriation procedure. Supposedly in 30 or 90 days, if un-claimed, you can get it back (after paying for storage, processing, etc....)

Or did you mean realistically ? If so, take a look at the "finds" forums on any md'ing website. Ask yourself if all those people went running to the nearest police dept. at the finding of each ring, coin, etc... ?