What would you do? Updated info.

Personally I would keep trying. I lost my high school class ring long ago and I know how I would feel to get it back. I'd never give up as long as there is a chance. The money value is not that important.

Cliff

I think you have already gone beyond your duty. I'd sit on it for another 2 weeks and then call yours. I have read many stories of found rings being returned, and hardly "a thank you." People are strange.

That is an old ring. Possible the owner is no longer around. You have tried for quite a while. Time to melt.

Wow, that's an interesting question. It's also a legal question. Because : Since you were so nice to reach out to find an owner, let's just say (hypothetically) that you waited several more months. And then melted it down and spent the cash. But then all of the sudden they contact you, and you are put into contact with the bona fide owner . You tell that owner : " Sorry, I already melted your ring and spent the $$."

Would you be in some sort of legal trouble ? Because all 50 states (including your state of Texas) has "Lost & Found" laws. That typically stipulate that if anyone finds an item worth over a set-amount (typically like $100 or more), that they are to turn in the item to police L&F. It is *NOT* up to individuals to try their own repatriation attempts. And if no one claimed the item in 30 days, that you can go back to the police and claim it for yourself.

These L&F laws were born out of wandering cattle laws of the 1800s. And serve a good purpose . Now, are those L&F laws ever invoked for our type of fumble-fingers stuff ? Of course not. But *could* someone cry foul, in a case-like-yours ?

From a "reasonable man" perspective, it seems reasonable that if no one has gotten back to you by now, that they most likely WON'T get back to you. But from a technical legal perspective, you were already in-the-wrong. For not trotting down to the police station on the first day you found it.

And the law makes no provision for how long you think the ring was lost for. Ie.: We are not allowed to rationalize : "Shucks, this has been here for years, so I bet the person is no longer looking for it".

So to answer your question: Do you want the realistic answer ? Or the technical answer ? (BTW : Nice find ! )

Tom_in_CA said:

Wow, that's an interesting question. It's also a legal question. Because : Since you were so nice to reach out to find an owner, let's just say (hypothetically) that you waited several more months. And then melted it down and spent the cash. But then all of the sudden they contact you, and you are put into contact with the bona fide owner . You tell that owner : " Sorry, I already melted your ring and spent the $$."

Would you be in some sort of legal trouble ? Because all 50 states (including your state of Texas) has "Lost & Found" laws. That typically stipulate that if anyone finds an item worth over a set-amount (typically like $100 or more), that they are to turn in the item to police L&F. It is *NOT* up to individuals to try their own repatriation attempts. And if no one claimed the item in 30 days, that you can go back to the police and claim it for yourself.

These L&F laws were born out of wandering cattle laws of the 1800s. And serve a good purpose . Now, are those L&F laws ever invoked for our type of fumble-fingers stuff ? Of course not. But *could* someone cry foul, in a case-like-yours ?

From a "reasonable man" perspective, it seems reasonable that if no one has gotten back to you by now, that they most likely WON'T get back to you. But from a technical legal perspective, you were already in-the-wrong, for not trotting down to the police station on the first day you found it.

And the law makes no provision for how long you think the ring was lost for. Ie.: We are not allowed to rationalize : "Shucks, this has been here for years, so I bet the person is no longer looking for it".

So to answer your question: Do you want the realistic answer ? Or the technical answer ? (BTW : Nice find ! )

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Thanks Tom. Yes I've been pondering that scenario of being contacted by the owner months from now wanting their ring back. Then trying to explain to him that, hey man I melted it down and bought myself a metal detector :-)

Florida Sheriff's office holds items for 30 days and then releases them if not claimed. I use that timeline and if I don't have any substantial leads, I consider myself to have performed my due diligence. It is justifiable, reasonable, and ethical to keep it for yourself.

Dan(NM) said:

Thanks Tom. Yes I've been pondering that scenario of being contacted by the owner months from now wanting their ring back. Then trying to explain to him that, hey man I melted it down and bought myself a metal detector :-)

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This is the pickle our hobby presents, eh ? We all love to solve a sherlock holmes mystery. We all love the repatriation stories, eh ? We all want to be nice, and see this type show & tell, eh ?

But then pickles like this *have* been known to occur (albeit rare).

Personally the potential pickles will not stop me from trying to repatriate. And I highly doubt that such a string of legal dots would ever connect. But I know of other md'rs who have "heard stories" , and thus, never make any attempt. I don't fault them (although I think that's kind of cruel for something that they had clues was a recently lost item).

This has been a good debate topic of many past threads. It has both legal ramifications, and human-relations ramifications, wrapped together in an interesting web.

Since you went this far, may as well wait 90 days from the time you talked to someone. I think that is a fare enough time to where if someone would step forwards as the owner.... I would not feel bad about not having it anymore. That's the bad about exposing one's name n number when it comes to returns.. almost like opening a

Me.. I never make a effort for anything dated 1970 and down. And very rare for me to find gold rings dated any newer.

Good Luck

Wait 6 months ... hear nothing its yours... I did that on one...

DaviDs said:

Florida Sheriff's office holds items for 30 days and then releases them if not claimed. I use that timeline and if I don't have any substantial leads, I consider myself to have performed my due diligence. It is justifiable, reasonable, and ethical to keep it for yourself.

Click to expand...

Really ? So you DO take each ring (assuming it's over Florida's L&F reporting $$ threshold) to the police L&F each time ? And you always get the ring back after 30 days ?

This too has been the subject of various threads on this topic before : Is it possible that your ring would just disappear into the police bureaucracy ? Ie.: You'd return 30 days later, and they'd say "It got claimed". You could not ask "Who claimed it ?" I'm assuming that privacy laws would not allow you to get the person's name and info. You just have to accept that it got claimed.

I'm not suggesting police corruption necessarily (although, yes, the front desk person might be the proud new owner of a ring), but just saying that in this day & age, the police have bigger fish to fry. And your item might get lost in the bureaucracy.

I've often toyed with the idea of taking my own wedding ring down to my local police station for a test. Saying "I'm turning this in to L&F". Then returning 30 days later, and seeing if it's still there to get back.

You made in my opinion, an extreme effort to return the ring.
Wait 30 more days to be sure and then melt/do what you want with it.

Tom is correct.

There's a big difference between personal effort and legal effort.

You have now made it publicly known that you are in possession of the ring. As noble as your personal effort has been to find the owner, your effort won't hold up in court if the true owner contacts you, but you have already melted or sold the ring. That's because the legal effort would have meant giving it to the police.

Take the ring to the police. Chances are, it won't be identified by anyone, and then it will be legally yours to do what you want with it.

Keep the ring for a while, 6mos.......you did your part!

When I first got into this hobby I was taught to make an effort to repatriate or return an item. It was the right thing to do. Things were different then , no internet , only post in craigslist , local papers , even on a posterboard at the grocery store. I still make a feeble attempt on many finds , particularly phones. Times are totally different now. Seldom do people have the attitude of gratitude in life anymore. Repatriation acts , quite frankly , suck. Way to many negatives outweigh the positives for me anyway. And for a few others I know. When I first witnessed a couple on a crowded pier get into a major fight , it was my awakening. The woman took her ring off and threw it over the rail. So......the bottomline line here is that NO ONE can know for certain a ring was "lost". Only when someone posts that they lost something is it known. My finds , for the most part , were all abandoned and thrown away. AGAIN , nobody can tell me that junker or gold ring I found in the sand was "lost" by the owner. Unless it is posted by the owner that it was lost. And definitely do not post any personal identifying marks of any item you are attempting to return.

I found a sheriff’s ring at Laguna and contacted his out of state office and took about a month to finally make contact with the owner and arrange a return. Its a test of your patience.

Tom_in_CA said:

Really ? So you DO take each ring (assuming it's over Florida's L&F reporting $$ threshold) to the police L&F each time ? And you always get the ring back after 30 days ?

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I have a lawyer and follow the premise of applicable laws. Further, I cannot deny nor confirm my involvement with regulatory agencies; however, I have returned many items and invoke my rights accordingly.

Do your best reasonable effort to find the owner, but never Never NEVER give out any identifying information to a stranger on the internet- including the A&M ring return folks. Unless you need the money, I'd hold onto it until you either Do, or until you are tired of it taking up space. It may be that the A&M folks are lazy/incompetent and the owner may pee in his pants when he finds out he will get his ring back.

And from a silly, yet legal point of view, there is no legal evidence that you actually found that ring (unless you sent them a pic or something) and you can just say ' i am a sick individual who delights in jerking others around. i never actually found that ring haha. ' if some jerkwad wants to play persnickety legal games with you.

I appreciate everybody's time and input concerning this matter. Here is an update. I wanted to clear my conscience and make a concerted effort to reunite the ring with its rightful owner. So, I contacted A&M again. I was told by the person on the other end of the line that they had sent multiple emails and they had tried calling the number on file. The lady said that they were getting a voicemail full or not set up. She suggested that I send the ring to them and they would hold it until they were able to make contact. I told her that I wasn't willing to do that. She asked me why not? I told her I wanted to make personal contact with the owner and that that's the way I've done it with other rings that I found. She didn't sound too happy about that remark. So, on my way to town, I got to thinking, why haven't they tried sending the guy a text message. So I called back again and ask the lady if they tried sending him a text message. She said they were unable to send a text message because all they had there were landlines. In my mind I'm thinking, you guys are college graduates and you can't figure out to send a text message on a personal phone. I told her I wanted to text the guy and asked her if I could have the phone number. She gave me the phone number and I tried to call and got the same results they did. I sent a text with no response. On my way home I got a phone call from A&M. Come to find out they were able to get a hold of his mother.She toldthem he had a new phone number. I sent a text to the new number and within 20 seconds I got a phone call from the owner. The guy was over the moon that I had actually found his ring. He gave me the story and he told me the exact park where he was and the circumstances in which the ring was lost. Come to find out they were sending emails to his college email, which he never uses and he had changed his phone number. The ring is now on its way back back to the owner, case closed. I damn sure am going to use a little bit more discretion next time I find a massive ring like that. Lesson learned. BTW... I also informed him that in another couple of week, that ring would have been sold and melted down. He started laughing and told me he didn't blame me one bit.

Dan,

Here's a link to a thread I started on the topic of returning rings back in June. Lots of opinions and good information on the legal aspects of returns. Here in Iowa, if I follow the law to the T, I'm supposed to turn it into the Local Police, who then hold it FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR, then if unclaimed, I can claim it. Hope this thread is helpful.

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=297400