What do you do with your rings?

[mapper65]

I'm fairly new to detecting and in about the 7 months I've acquired a small handful of gold and silver rings. A couple of the rings that I found were wedding rings and have information inscribed in them. I'm really one of those people that understand the sentimental value of these items and how you feel when you lose something of that kind of value. I would be all for giving something back to the person that lost it but there just doesn't seem like an easy way to find whom these would belong to.

On the other hand, the scrap gold value of what I've found in 7 months of detecting is pretty much equal to half of what I paid for my new 705. Recently I put an ad on Craigslist saying that I found a ring in a certain area and if anyone was able to tell me exactly what was inscribed on the inside of the ring I would gladly return it to it's rightful owner. I had one person send me an email but was not even close to being right for telling me what was inscribed in the ring.

What's everyone else do with the rings that they find? I can't see keeping them just to show people that you found them, especially since gold is so high right now. I would imagine that the scrap value of many items is higher than the what someone originally paid for the item.

I've found tons of coins and would never consider turning coins over to someone because in most cases you really couldn't prove that you lost them and they typically are of minimal value. I feel a little different about rings. I really don't believe that you could trust the people that may take care of a park or similar location to get them involved.

What is everyone else's thoughts on this?

 

[Terra1959]

What - like this one found last week ?
sadly its probably junk the stone is too large to be real knowing my luck

I cashed in plain banded, untraceable, unwanted gold rings this year for $800 odd so it helped by an Etrac.
I keep the nicer ones and the ones with gemstones in them
You can only check lost and found adds etc
What you did on craigslist is admirable, its a wonder that you didnt get a lot of crank calls though.
In Australia by law you should hand a valuable ring into the police station where they log it and hold it for 3 months if by then no-one claims it, it comes back to you.

T59

 

[Beale]

I have yet to find any wit any way of tracing them? I have kept all but one. I sold a small 21K ring, Beale.

 

[DELETED USER (Emmitt)]

What rings??? LMAO!! I have yet to find a really nice ring! Someday when i least expect it! Happy Hunting all! Emmett (time is running out here in New England! Snow on the way! Gonna make a great day of hunting today for sure!! )

 

[Digger]

My advice is to make every effort to track down who may have lost it, and return it. I've found quite a few rings "on purpose" for people who have lost them. And, I've been fairly successful in returing old class rings and wedding rings that included a date and initials. For the most part, the people are grateful. Some even offer a reward. But I remember a couple instances where I had second thoughts after going through the time consuming process. I found one wedding ring in a yard, and learned the name of the people who lived there previously. I located the husband and gave him the ring. He tossed it on the counter top of his kitchen and told me he had been divorced for several years. Said he'd take it to the pawn shop and get a few bucks out of it. (heck, I could have done that!). Another one that stands out in my mind is a class ring I found a few years back. It had the name of the school, date of graduation and initials of the owner. Searching school year books, I found two men with those initials. One of them still lived in the area, so I called him and told him that if it were his and he could describe it, he could have it back. Unfortunately, he guessed the wrong color of stone and finally admitted it "probably" wasn't his. Eventually, through the school's alumni association, I found the other man had moved out of state in the early 1970's, and was living in Colorado. I did an internet search for his name and town and was able to contact him. I told him where I found it and that I would mail it to him, which I did. He never bothered to let me know when it arrived or that he appreciated my efforts. I finally called him and confirmed it had arrived at his house. But still, no thank you, kma or anything. So it goes.....

Again, for your own personal satisfaction as well as theirs, I'd make an effort to return those with names, initials, dates or something that assures it is going back to the rightful owner. I'd certainly want someone to do that for me, if I lost one. But I would research the names, dates etc. myself, opposed to listing them on a classified. Too many goofballs our there to advertise valuables found. I suppose with the price of gold, I should consider selling some of the others. But who knows what that price will be if hyper-inflation comes around? JMHO HH Randy

 

[ky digger]

Once you resolve the ethical dilemma of how much effort to make returning them you will have other found gold items that you may want to sell. There is a web site that makes new custom jewelry that gives 100% trade value for gold. You send in your gold found items and get 100% credit against making a custom jewel. With gold at 1400 you can get a pretty nice custom ring made out of the old stuff. The web site is www.momentsintimejewelry.com.

 

[mapper65]

All good points. I was just curious what other people's thoughts were on this subject.

 

[7centsworth]

I try to return them. I found a class ring and returned it and the man started crying he was so happy. I almost started crying.

 

[Danno]

I'm yet to find a ring!

My day must surely be coming!

 

[Prep1957]

I have been hunting for 35 years plus I am no hobbyist.I have found over 50 high school rings I found 12 in one swimming hole I even knew a lot of the owners.Thank yous are nice but they do not pay for equipment,gas,batteries.I use a dremel now but in years past I used emery cloth to get rid of all information on inside of ring.I have returned only one and that was to hunting buddy of mine and I made him buy me a box of 12 gauge shells.When you go to sell your rings take a picture of you holding a detector they will ask where you got your rings.High school rings are the hardest to get rid of if you have more than one school they get to asking a lot of questions.Remove the stones they just want the gold they will heavy finger and deduct stone weight if you left them in if there are no stones in there is no argument more money for you.