Does anyone remember this find/reward story ?

No

CTCurt said:

No

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Laughed at "no" [emoji23] I'm new hear and haven't heard it either but it is a really cool story.

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No, but good for him for taking the money!
When I lived in the mountains in CO I delivered pizza for a few years, nice areas like vail and beaver creek. Lots of wealthy Texans would be there in the winter and almost always hit me with a hundred for a 20 dollar pizza and expect I could break it no problem. One of them looked at me one time and said "What, those spend like 1 dollar bills in Texas." I looked at him and said "Fine, tip me 5 dollars then..."

Just wait, GeorgeSC will be along shortly with a personal story of this magnitude like this. Or so i hope......

I've never heard that story before but it's a good one .I have successfully returned three rings and have turned down all three rewards .Two were cash rewards and one was to have a person of my choice beaten up by the ring losers Biker dad .The two later ring losers both presented me with a bottle of fine wines.

If I ever found a ring of that quality lost by a person of such affluence I am sure I could be persuaded to accept such a princely reward and split it up between my Grandkids for their future needs .

Here are some pictures of a High school ring return (owner and her Dad ) .
I can't believe eight years have gone by since that ring return .

Haven’t heard that one but I would of taken the tip as well.

No, haven't heard but I'd take the cash too.

Soil Surgeon said:

... Here are some pictures of a High school ring return ... .

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Great pix

Is that even a real story? Sounds a bit tall tale-ish to this native Texas son.....currently living in Florida....dang it!!

StPetePaulie said:

Is that even a real story? Sounds a bit tall tale-ish to this native Texas son.....currently living in Florida....dang it!!

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Yes. But as I said: From memory, thus paraphrased. The tip could have been 800. The time to find the ring might have been 30 seconds or 2 minutes. But the basic gist of the story is accurate. I recall that he saw that he was dealing with a wealthy doctor, etc.... The basic call, the resulting search, the tip, and how the dealer said that , based on the appearances that they were "jet setters", that.... he accepted their tip (perhaps the doctor wouldn't take no for an answer, I dunno). And in retrospect, after considering the size of the stone, realized " they could afford that tip no problem "

Great story Tom, I love reading stories like that! I've never heard it but I could vision that happening. Stranger things have happened.

Ken Tn You know how to put a guy on a spot. I spent 20 minutes typing a reply and my computer deleted It.

A friend and i had spent 5 hours at a local beach to have found less than a dollar in clad between the two of us.

High tide was at 5 pm and by that time we were headed home. I got an overwhelming urge to go to a different beach. I knew that my friend would not want to go to the the other beach and neither did i. So i did not say anything.

Next morning the urge became even stronger as the morning went by. So mid morning i decided to drive the 30 miles to that beach wondering where i would find a place to park that late in the morning as parking becomes very limited by mid morning.

Arrived at the beach and was my custom turned into the street that parallels the beach. As i approached the area where i like to park a turn signal came on and i let the car pull out of the parking space and i pulled in.

Got on the beach and started to detect. For some reason i turned around and started walking and swinging. Just moving down the beach looking for an area that might have had some sand moved. Found the spot and started to detect when a young lady walked up and had my undivided attention in her teeny little bikini. She said Excuse me sir will that thing find a ring. I said yes it will on occasion but not nearly often enough. Daddy lost his wedding band.

A more mature lady walked up and said it was my husband who lost his ring. Would you be kind enough to come look for it. I said certainly i would be glad to.

As we walked the two city blocks back up the beach she informed me that they live in Germany. Her husband is retired Army. They were here for a different daughters wedding. She showed me her ring saying that folks would never know that it was a wedding band but her husband had made their rings before they were married 35 years previously.

When we got to the area i asked when did he lose the ring. About 5 yesterday evening. I thought this is a done deal as that is when i got the urge to come here.

I noticed a gentleman on the beach who appeared to be distressed looking intently at the sand. Suspected he was the man who had lost his ring.

When i started to detect she walked off to speak to another guy with a detector. In minutes i had the ring in my hand.

She walked back up to me and asked half heartedly "Any Luck?" I held up the ring and said if this is what i am looking for.

She had tears flowing and was trying to get her husbands attention. When she did she said honey he found your ring. I thought the gentleman was going to collapse.

When he walked up to me and i handed him his ring his hands were shaking so badly he had trouble getting his ring back on his finger. Then he turned his back to me and walked off 30-40 feet.

I thought you Ungrateful (&^%) you could have said thank you.

I started to walk off and she grabbed me by the arm and said in a rather stern voice. Dont you go anywhere. I said my job is done here. She said NO He Needs to give you a reward. I said no he does not. I did not come here expecting a reward. A reward is not needed.

Then i noticed him wiping away his tears. He came back up to me and said I need to give you a reward. I said No that is not necessary. He said again I Need to give you a reward. He then said i did not bring any cash with me but i am going to write you a check. I kept saying No and he kept saying its something that i have to do.

He kept saying promise me that you will cash my check. I finally relented and said okay a small reward will be acceptable. He walked off to get a pen to fill out the check he had inside his shirt.

While he was getting the pen she said I am begging you Please take his Check and cash it as he desperately needs to give you a reward. It is not for you its for him as he really needs to do so.

Well he wrote the check. Put it in my shirt pocket, we said our goodbye's and i went back to detecting.

About 30 minutes i thought did he give me a 20 for my efforts. I pulled out the check and my initial reaction was that the check was for 100 dollars. Then my knees got weak when i realized that the check was for 1000 dollars.

I could not bring myself to cash his check. After about three weeks my wife in all her wisdom asked me Did you promise him that you would cash his check. I said well yes. She asked me are you a liar. Ouch that stung. .

So i researched him and found that he is a Retired Army Colonel practicing pediatric dentistry in Germany. I know some men who are dentists and have heard them discussing a friend who only grossed 900 k that year so that made it easier to cash his check.

Never dreamed that someone would present me with a reward approaching something of that size.

I dont know why some one would feel the need to give a reward of that size but i was the recipient.

George, thats one of my favorite detecting stories because i KNOW its true.
(And i get to tell my friends that i know that guy that made a grown man cry.)

KinTN said:

George, thats one of my favorite detecting stories ....

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^^ this ^^

Yes that was well-written. And it is true that some people might be dismayed if you/we DIDN'T accept their tip. And yes, it's easier to accept if you know they're possibly affluent upper crust.

My wife worked as server in a country club during her college years. And some of the more wealthy clients took pride that they could toss down a $50 tip for a $5 drink. They spent their lives to succeed in business , so they could now enjoy to splurge a little. Perhaps the same type thing for some of our md'ing posse hunt stories.

Interesting stories. I declined a tip/reward the other day partly because I was pretty sure that I was on the more affluent side of the exchange. I didn't need the money.
This subject makes me wonder...do yall think that people think that, because we are out there metal detecting, that we are doing it to make money? Or that we do it for the monetary value of things we may find? I'm sure that some folks do it for monetary gain, but not me.
I don't know about yall, but I do it for the thrill of what each beep could be. It certainly is not about money. It's a hunt...for thrill of the hunt.

MKW one return that really touched me was a cheap sterling silver ring. She had gotten married on Saturday. He gave her the sterling rins as a wedding ring. She lost the ring on Sunday. I found the ring on Monday before sunrise. When i handed her the ring the tears started to flow and the thanks you's just kept coming.

georgeinsc said:

MKW one return that really touched me was a cheap sterling silver ring. She had gotten married on Saturday. He gave her the sterling rins as a wedding ring. She lost the ring on Sunday. I found the ring on Monday before sunrise. When i handed her the ring the tears started to flow and the thanks you's just kept coming.

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That is awesome.

I guess I am in the minority here, I water hunt for the thrill of finding money and I use that money for things like the roof over my head and groceries.
Land hunting is a different story, I like the history but sell my land finds as well if they will bring a good price, except for old silvers, I like those reales and they stay with me.
Doing it this way my wife has NEVER complained about me buying a new machine because they literally pay for themselves...

zeemang said:

I guess I am in the minority here, I water hunt for the thrill of finding money and I use that money for things like the roof over my head and groceries.
Land hunting is a different story, I like the history but sell my land finds as well if they will bring a good price, except for old silvers, I like those reales and they stay with me.
Doing it this way my wife has NEVER complained about me buying a new machine because they literally pay for themselves...

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Please don't misunderstand..I don't think there is anything wrong with doing it for monetary gain or selling your finds. I just don't do it for that. And this thread just made me curious about the subject of why folks do it.
I think it's great that you can find enough stuff to make a financial difference.