A few finds from a yard today.

[Dan(NM)]

I hit a permission house built in the 50's, I didn't expect much, maybe some wheats and a rosie or two. First signal within 5 minutes was a toasted war nickle about 4" down, that's a very good sign!! I hunted for the next 20 minutes and started pulling some wheats, I'm thinking silver for sure baby!! I had just started my second pass when I got a 12-33 on the Etrac, pulltab was what I expected to pull out, my jaw drop when the ring popped out, I knew instantly it was gold 10K!!! Sweet, I would have been more than satisfied right there, but, there was more to come I dug a few more wheats and a bunch of clad when I was making my last pass in the front yard when I got the silver number, 12-46, oh yeah, silver dime on the way. 2" down I flip out a large black disc, the last thing on earth I expected today!!! It just doesn't get much better than that, silver and gold and everything was shallow, deepest coin was maybe 5" I hunted for the next hour and dug the junk jewelry, which was icing on the cake and 3 or 4 wheats and more clad.

I found out who the owner was, I talked to a couple of ladies on the Lynn English HS class of 1968 facebook page. Looks like he's no longer alive......

Gary Lee Mitchell, age 59, of Lynn, died Tuesday, May 5, 2009, in Union Hospital, after a brief illness. He was the beloved husband of Nadine (Hashem) Mitchell for 29 years, and the son of Lila (Hoben) Mitchell and the late Arthur Mitchell. Born in Lewiston, Maine, he was raised in Lynn where he lived most of his life. A graduate of Lynn English High School, class of 1968, he was a supervisor for the former Malco Industries on Eastern Avenue in Lynn for over thirty years. He enjoyed fishing and spending time outdoors in nature. Together with his wife Nadine, Gary traveled to England, Rome and Sicily. They spent time on Sanibel Island in Florida hunting for fossils and enjoying the beach. Gary was a coin collector, and an avid reader with a special love for Roman and Greek history. He was a member of the American Numismatic Association. Besides his wife Nadine, Chief Librarian for the City of Lynn, and his mother Lila he is survived by his two sisters Pattie Mitchell of Burlington and Julie Baker of Nahant; nieces Jennifer Baker of Nahant and Lindsey Baker of New York; mother-in-law Sophie Hashem of Swampscott and brother-in-law of John Hashem of Groveland. His funeral will be held in the SOLIMINE, LANDERGAN & RICHARDSON FUNERAL HOME, 426 Broadway (Rt129) Lynn on Saturday at 10AM. Interment will be in Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. Visiting hours will be Friday from 4-8PM. Memorial donations may be made to the American Lung Association, 460 Totten Pond Rd. Suite 400, Waltham, MA 02451.

I believe I found his wife on facebook and left a PM for her telling her my story about the ring. I hope I get to talk to her and find out how his ring ended up here. I will post an update if I get more info. Looks like Gary and I had a few things common, love of coins and the outdoors.

 

[chipper97]

Nice work Dan. It's always cool to be able to tie a find back to an individual and a bit of their personal history. Usually can't do that with coins, but something like the class ring can bring our hobby to life in a special and poignant way. Hope you can get up with his wife. Gary sounded like a good and interesting man who lived a full life. How ironic that he was a coin collector. Really neat.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Here's the rest of the story. The school is in Massachusetts with initials GLM. Lecia,my wife, found a Facebook page for the class of 1968, Lynn English HS. I posted my story and within a day I had tracked down the owners wife, unfortunately, he had passed away 7 years ago. The ring is now on its was to his wife in Ma after being lost since 1968. Here's what she told me about how it may have ended up here ..........

"Hello, Dan. My, this story sounded a little odd but I just checked out that LEHS class of 1968 page. Gary died seven years ago. But back in '68, he and his buddies bought a used VW van and drove west to California. I don't know the route they took, but they could have gone through New Mexico. We had a great life. Thanks for getting in touch."

This is the second ring I've found that had been lost for 40+ years and I was able to track down the owner though Facebook........you can run, but, you can't hide

 

[sprchng]

Terrific tale and follow up Dan.
Kudos on the return.
I wonder how many high school graduates could afford a ring like that today.
In '68 gold price was still under government control , no market forces at work.

 

[diggervance]

Hello Dan,

Dan that is a great and touching story for sure.
There is no better feeling in the world then to see or hear in a persons voice the shear joy in getting something back that they thought was lost forever.

A couple of years ago I found a class ring that had been lost for 54 years and with some great help from the schools alumni I was able to track down the owner.

On returning the ring to the women I could tell her husband was not in the best of health and he kept on offering a reward in witch I kept declining. After his third attempt to reward me I finely got my point a crossed to him. I simply said Mr Tomlinson you seem to be a dollar and cents kind of man so that being said it's not about the money because if it was your wife wouldn't be getting her ring back as I could have pawned it for around 100.00. What this is sir is getting things back to where they belong and that is reward enough. He got the point. We said our fair wells and I didn't give it much thought until a year or so later I seen this article in the paper. There is no money reward that can top this.

D.V.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Now, that's cool. Great job.

 

[chipper97]

Great stories guys, and what a great hobby.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

Great story Dan and your a good man....