Big Boys Hobbies

what would you do?

Toccopola

Toccopola

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
60
a man i been working for(clearing brush on his farm) on my spare time found out by us talking that i had a metal detector. he wanted to know right away if it would find gold, i told him it finds all metal including gold. he then told me he had lost his grandfathers gold ring 24 years ago that has a 1.5 carrot diamond, he said he was washing a horse and his hands were real soapy, he had rinsed his hands and went from the horse barn to the back of the house and when he went to open the back door he noticed it gone. he wants me to come to his home and try to find it, he told me he would give me $10. a hour just to look for it even if i don't find it and if i do find it a $1000. reward. he lives about 50 miles from me, i already told my wife if i found it i don't think i could accept the $1000. SHE THINKS I'M CRAZY but i was looking more at the big picture, his farm is only a few miles from my home and its big with many acres of river bottom hunting land. i could really use the money because my truck needs a new motor but i will get that sooner or later without the reward money. i just don't think i would feel right taking it and seeing him get it back would be reward enough. what would you do?
 
If you need the money and he's offering a reward even before finding the ring, take it if you can find it. If you really feel that bad about it, take only half and give the rest back to him, $500 is still really good. Hell, $100 is really good. I wouldn't take the $10 an hour for not finding it, but maybe just enough to cover gas there and back.
 
Toccopola said:
a man i been working for(clearing brush on his farm) on my spare time found out by us talking that i had a metal detector. he wanted to know right away if it would find gold, i told him it finds all metal including gold. he then told me he had lost his grandfathers gold ring 24 years ago that has a 1.5 carrot diamond, he said he was washing a horse and his hands were real soapy, he had rinsed his hands and went from the horse barn to the back of the house and when he went to open the back door he noticed it gone. he wants me to come to his home and try to find it, he told me he would give me $10. a hour just to look for it even if i don't find it and if i do find it a $1000. reward. he lives about 50 miles from me, i already told my wife if i found it i don't think i could accept the $1000. SHE THINKS I'M CRAZY but i was looking more at the big picture, his farm is only a few miles from my home and its big with many acres of river bottom hunting land. i could really use the money because my truck needs a new motor but i will get that sooner or later without the reward money. i just don't think i would feel right taking it and seeing him get it back would be reward enough. what would you do?
Click to expand...

1st off...24 yrs ago is a long time ...can u find a ring lossed 24 yrs ago, yes...
but dont spend the reward money yet!
i would do it ..if u find it great....if not..you may find other nice finds in searching for it....
if you do find it...hand him 500 back and ask for unlimited hunting access...case closed
 
Sounds like a nice little side job.

If the search area can be contained to a small number of square feet, we bet you can come up with it.

Just be sure that the terms of the hunting are agreed upon.

Train your machine to search for a decent size piece of gold.

If he was using a bucket and a brush or a squeegee, search for where any water was dumped from the bucket too. It may have got tossed. :shock:

Back in January, I helped for hunt for an excavator bucket tooth.

It's about re-tracing the steps.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=224925&highlight=tooth
 
You didn't solicit him, he asked you. My wife convinced me to accept rewards when they are offered, but I NEVER ask for money nor hint at it. I DO occasionally do paid for hunts for a White's dealer I know here when he can't make it, but the money issue is between him and them.

If you feel bad about it, tell him you'll accept his $10/hr to search and if you find it, all you want is full permission to hunt the rest of his land...


 
The fact that you're not overly eager to take $1000 shows your integrity, but consider the possibility that he is offering the $1000 because he might be rich enough that $1000 is not a big deal to him compared to getting the ring back.

If he is on a limited income and little savings then I can understand not wanting to accept $1000, but if he is really well off with huge savings then why not accept a blessing that your family could really use ?
 
He probably just would really really love to get that ring back, not because the value but sentimental reasons I'm sure. If you want, you can do it out of the goodness of your heart, but it sounds like he definitely wants it back and was offering high dollar for your services so he can rest assured he has the chance to get it. The money is probably not important to him, as compared to having the chance of getting something obviously very important back. Have you told him you'll look for it yet? I'd be annoyed if I wanted something back that badly and offered an absurd reward and the person told me, "I'll have to think about it."

You work for this guy, and I'm guessing you really like your job...just saying. Good jobs can be hard to come by nowadays, and even though it's out of the realm of your job...he's offering you great compensation.

If I was you, I'd...
 
While it's noble not to "ask" for a reward or pay for your services, yet when one is offered, I do not decline. Also remember: You could be offending someone by NOT accepting their generosity and gratitude.
 
I was beach hunting when I had a lady ask me to look for her husbands wedding band that he had lost the evening before. I found the ring within minutes of arriving where they thought he had lost the ring.

Both of them pleaded with me to take a reward as he had made their rings before they were married 35 years before.

I kept telling them No and they kept up until it was like they almost begging when I finally consented to accepting a small reward.

The reward was far above anything that I would have expected and regretted telling them that I would take the reward He also made me promise to cash his check.

I waited three weeks before I could bring myself to cash the check. Had that ring not meant the world to him he would have never given me the reward.

If you find the ring try to talk him down but do not insult him in his desire to reward you.
 
I would get some twine and some sticks and grid it off in like 4 foot sq. Depending on how big the area is where the ring was lost. It might help to make sure you don't miss anything.
 
thanks for all the reply's. the day he told me about it i told him i would like to look for it, no mention of money was even in the talk at first but then he said if i could find it he would sure be happy and give me a reward. the next week he came by my home but i was at work and he told my wife about the $10 per hour and the $1000. reward. he's been a pharmacist since 1965 and his home estate is what i would call grand. his farm by my house is a old dairy and has been in his family forever, but in the last 20 years its been converted to a family getaway with all the old barns and house site pushed away and a huge cabin built over looking about 300 acres of farm land and woods. i can hunt it already when no ones around and thats most of the time. i'm going to do my best to find it and if i do get lucky and find it i will let him pay me for gas and time spent but that will be it. i know if i can find it he will be happy but if i find it it will be my first gold ring with my detector and my second returned ring. right now i can't look for it because of the extreme dry weather has me working double overtime putting out forest fires heck i can't even get time to look for stuff around my house. i know when i do get the chance it needs to be wet so i don't tear up his yard digging plugs. i know where i been looking if i were to dig all the tones related to gold it would look like a army of gophers had invaded my spots.
 
Be sure to take a photo for the return to show us all! Good luck with the hunt. You're very kind.
 
georgeinsc said:
.... Both of them pleaded with me to take a reward as he had made their rings before they were married 35 years before.

I kept telling them No and they kept up until it was like they almost begging when I finally consented to accepting a small reward. .....
Click to expand...

this sounds like an exact case of what I alluded to in my post # 8 of this thread: Where a person could even be offended that you DON'T take their reward. So I can certainly understand politely telling them "not necessary". But in a situation that you paint, where they insist, it seems that you were well-within an arena to accept.
 
What a great adventure! Its gonna be a lot of fun for us to read about what happens...Yes, take good pictures and do us a good post about your search/return!
Mud
 
Tom_in_CA said:
While it's noble not to "ask" for a reward or pay for your services, yet when one is offered, I do not decline. Also remember: You could be offending someone by NOT accepting their generosity and gratitude.
Click to expand...

Exactly. But why do so many people here not value the time and money they have put into this talent? :darnconfused: How many hours have you spent learning your machine? How much time researching where and how to find things? Sure you look at it as a hobby but there is value in your ability to find things other people can't find.
 
twcook said:
Exactly. But why do so many people here not value the time and money they have put into this talent? :darnconfused: How many hours have you spent learning your machine? How much time researching where and how to find things? Sure you look at it as a hobby but there is value in your ability to find things other people can't find.
Click to expand...

your very right, investing in a detector and investing hour after hour of time learning it and the cost of batteries, gas and your time searing for a lost item for someone else that your not going to keep. not getting some kind of gratuity is basically just charity and he's not the kind of person that would take charity. i'm not sure of the true value of the ring at today's market but he did say when it was bought all them years ago that $850 was paid for it second handed. the value of it to him- his granddad bought it and wore it then handed it down to his son then it was handed down to him same as their farm and their first name so you know he wants to find it something bad that way it can go to his son and then on down to his grandson as their first name has been handed down. its hard for me to think why he hasn't bought a detector and tried to find it. then again he might have and just didn't want to say. i have been practicing with 3 different gold rings and a assortment of rusty nails and such buried close together trying to find the best settings that will pick up the gold signals. so far the coin&jewelry and relic settings on my mx sport are working the best but i plan on roping off small grids when searching for it and using all the settings before moving to the next grid.
 
I know what I would do...

I had this same thing happen to me.

So, I know what I would do and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
 

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Toccopola said:
a man i been working for(clearing brush on his farm) on my spare time found out by us talking that i had a metal detector. he wanted to know right away if it would find gold, i told him it finds all metal including gold. he then told me he had lost his grandfathers gold ring 24 years ago that has a 1.5 carrot diamond, he said he was washing a horse and his hands were real soapy, he had rinsed his hands and went from the horse barn to the back of the house and when he went to open the back door he noticed it gone. he wants me to come to his home and try to find it, he told me he would give me $10. a hour just to look for it even if i don't find it and if i do find it a $1000. reward. he lives about 50 miles from me, i already told my wife if i found it i don't think i could accept the $1000. SHE THINKS I'M CRAZY but i was looking more at the big picture, his farm is only a few miles from my home and its big with many acres of river bottom hunting land. i could really use the money because my truck needs a new motor but i will get that sooner or later without the reward money. i just don't think i would feel right taking it and seeing him get it back would be reward enough. what would you do?
Click to expand...

You're either dealing with a very wealthy farmer or I call HS ! A 1.5 carat diamond is huge. Just remember diamonds come in different grades that run from junk to very high end. So junk diamonds aren't worth much no matter how big they are and smaller, high quality diamonds are worth more the bigger lesser quality diamonds. So a diamond's value is not just based on carat weight. I have been in the fine jewelry business so a diamond is diamond at a certain weight does not hold true to value but rather the quality of the stone. My experience is that most farmers are not wealthy and could not afford a high quality 1.5 carat diamond set in a 14 kt. or higher setting.
Now if this guy is a champion thoroughbred horse breeder and on the big racing circuit then a very valuable ring could have been lost but again the story doesn't hold true as there would be stable hands washing the horses and shoveling the HS. No one shovels HS and washes horses that could afford to own a high quality ring.
I'm not saying that you weren't told this story by the horse farmer. What I am saying it reeks of horse manure.
Take the $ 1,000 if you can find the ring but don't count on finding it. If you do find find it the Grand is worth more then the ring, I'm guessing.
Chances are it was shoveled up with the HS long ago.
 
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