What are peoples actions when finding rings on a beach

[stejens]

I've been pondering this for some time since a friend found a signet ring on a beach which went straight into their collection.

I often wonder the sentimental values of items like rings and wonder how I would deal with it when I firnd my first, if it was let's say a signet ring...

1) Take it to local police station in case owner has reported it (and hope they are not dodgy and pocket it themselves), then get it back after the waiting period.
2) Just keep it without any risk of losing it.

I often think if I lost my signet ring which was bought for me by my now deceased grandfather, which for sentimental reasons means the world to me, I'd pay more than it's worth in scrap to get it back if it was found by a detectorist, who may keep if for fear of losing it's worth in scrap or gaining any reward, which i'm sure must be a large percentage.

I have no doubts that other owners of lost rings from weddings/engagements or any other sort feel the same way.

Personally if I found a ring that possibly had a high sentimental value to someone, that I put straight into my collection, i'd fear the mental guilt of it sitting there knowing someone may desperately be wanting it back.

At the same time i'd feel the fear of handing it in and never getting it back, even if it was not collected by original owner due to stories I have heard of bent coppers, so I would be in a dilemma.

How do other people feel and act in these situations?.

[mikeaa]

If I find one I report it to the local police that I have found it and can contact me if anyone turns up asking about it. That way they don't have lots of paperwork and it wont get lost or misplaced!

[rob-greaves]

Good question! I've seen some finds displayed on Facebook detecting pages, mainly in the USA, of things like Tiffany diamond engagement and wedding rings, worth upwards of $10k, and the attitude seems to be 'finders keepers'.

Now if the loser had any sense, they'd report the loss right away to the Police. Perhaps a visit to the Police could reunite the ring with its rightful owner very quickly.

But the attitude on Facebook seems to be 'they will have claimed on their insurance' (they must have a good crystal ball) as a sort of dubious justification for the 'finders keepers' mentality.

If I turned up a ring like that, I'd start with the Police, then get the local paper to run an article on it, local radio maybe, and do everything I possibly could to reunite the rightful owner with the ring. The happiness you could bring to the person that lost it, and the positive light it would provide for the metal detecting hobby far outweighs the putting it on display in your finds cupboard or sticking it on eBay.

Just my $0.02

Cheers - Rob

[john Colin]

I did pose a similar question a while ago, you may be interested in the link below.



http://www.metaldetectingforum.co.uk/vi ... 10&t=83326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fred]

If you can return anything then you should do so but for the most part it is unlikely to be possible.

I used to return a fair number each year when I detected Brighton beach 20 years ago because usually people would come over and ask me if I'd found the one they lost. Provided they knew roughly where they had lost it there was even a half reasonable chance of finding it.

Quite a lot of the modern rings I find are foreign gold, presumably lost by visitors and almost impossible to return once they have gone home. Even Brits don't generally seem to report beach losses any more and the chances of the owner of a ring lost fifty or a hundred years ago turning up is pretty limited.

[newseeker]

i remember one American guy advertising a ring in the paper that he found it was distinctive and had initials on it. He had lots of people phone and they were all chancers he was testing them by saying has it got the initials JH on it different to what was on the ring and people were saying yes, and he replied this one hasn't and put the phone down on them.

[El Dorado]

My friend recently found a phone and items of gold jewelry, he handed them into the local police station. After a week or so he asked if they had been claimed and the reply was "we cannot tell you for privacy reasons" he was then told if they was not claimed they would be destroyed and not handed back to him.
So, has they law changed? can they now destroy items handed in to them? I can understand the phone not being returned but the jewelry?

[alfaowner]

I've never detected the beach but I did find two gold rings side by side laying on the sand when I was a kid ,I handed them into my local police station and hopefully the owners went in to claim them
I'm a believer in doing the right thing , if I lost my wallet or anything and it was picked up by someone I'd like to think they would do the same

[Shawshank]

Mostly these days the police will not want to take in a ring that you find or in fact any property.

They would prefer you kept it and if an owner came forward reunite owner with property.

It's even the same with cash. The police do not want to be a lost and found business.

Not sure what experience El Dorado's friend had but handing in property to a police station would involve a report and a receipt with a number. If a claimant didn't come forward then the finder can keep it within a set time. That is still the law and what happens. Perhaps it's time to find out from your friend what really happened or make a complaint. Don't forget that police stations are covered in CCTV before a complaint is made so things can be checked. If they messed up then he is entitled to have it looked into.

Having handed in what appeared to be someones paycheck in cash minus their details a few years ago I got in touch with the police who told me to keep hold of it. Sure enough the owner proved that it was his to the police and I was really pleased to hand it back.

The bottom line is report it to the police, they will tell you to keep hold of it and if the person who lost it doesn't come forward it is yours. Personally though I think I'd try and go the extra mile and do my best to reunite the item to the owner if it was identifiable. There are some brilliant feelgood stories on here about reuniting people with wedding rings and I'd love to help someone like that.

[El Dorado]

I will ask him again what exactly happened, but I know that they said he cannot claim any items un-claimed. They also told him that they would not tell him if they were claimed

[norman]

It may well be that different police forces deal with found property in different ways.
This link shows how the London Metropolitan Police deal:-

http://content.met.police.uk/Site/lostandfound" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the case of jewellery you hand it in and they either trace the owner or "otherwise deal with it". I can find no mention of them returning it to the finder.

[Machinist]

When I first started finding gold rings on the beach years ago they were all taken to the police station local to the beach and you got a receipt and there was an option on there to collect it if not claimed or donate to charity. About 8 weeks later, on my next detecting trip, I used to call back and collect the unclaimed ring. I have a pile of receipts somewhere and not one of those rings was ever claimed by its owner.

As time went on and police station open hours reduced It was not practical to hand them in as they had usually closed when I came off the beach, I live 50 odd miles away from the nearest one, so I started to write to the station with details and kept them safe. I never had any feedback from the police so stopped reporting as it seemed they were not interested any more. Now I keep them safe with the hope one day I may be able to track down an owner, I do not sell any of the rings so when I kick the bucket the grand-kids will be getting them to do with what they see fit.

Ray

[stejens]

Some good replies, it's nice to hear how everyone else has dealt with their findings and the outcomes, gives a good general idea on how things move forward

[Gary_Graham]

I think that the majority of new dectectorists start off in this hobby with the aim of searching for lost gold, as they really get into the hobby they see the broader range of "treasure" they can uncover.

Rings on the beach are probably the best treasure to be found there, whereas gold coins are the best to find on land.

If I find an item that can easily be returned to its owner I return it. This does not mean I send all my pound coins back to the Queen.

Otherwise it is photographed and displayed on my website (when I get time).

Then it is sold to further fund my hobby, metal detecting, treasure hunting, call it what you like, it's a hobby not a lost property recovery and return business.

Although if asked I will use my hobby to find lost items and have done successfully in the past.

[Expat Aussie]

My friend recently found a phone and items of gold jewelry, he handed them into the local police station. After a week or so he asked if they had been claimed and the reply was "we cannot tell you for privacy reasons" he was then told if they was not claimed they would be destroyed and not handed back to him.
So, has they law changed? can they now destroy items handed in to them? I can understand the phone not being returned but the jewelry?

When I started detecting in the 1970`s I concentrated solely on beaches and back in those days it was not uncommon to find rings.I always handed them in to the police who wrote down the details in a lost and found book.If unclaimed (and none of them were) after three months I then had a small period of time to collect them.This dropped to one month and by then I only handed in those with identifying features (such as initials & or dates).The final one I handed in was about 15 years ago and I had the much same result as `El Dorado` - the police said there was no policy of returning item to finder and they would dispose of as they saw fit (they had told me it was unclaimed).These days I rarely find rings as the beaches are well searched around here and I do as much if not more land detecting.