Returning class rings

[scubadetector]

Greetings ,

I am new to this forum but not at all new to detecting. I find plenty of thing and consider myself a pretty good detectorist. I just wanted to add that I love returning class rings also. Not only does it open up a lot of doors to new spots and private lakes, it is rewarding in other ways. I was in today's paper in my hometown for returning a ring lost 54 years ago. The story they wrote is a bit wrong. the ring is a 1954 and not a 1951. I dive and have just bought a hookah this winter. I own 2 Fisher CZ-20's and I used to consider them the best. I still love the units but no the company that took them over.

Here is the article in the paper. I think the picture of me needs to be fixed!!!

http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080413/NEWS01/804130317/1002




Some of the gold I have dug up

I have found plenty more of that yellow stuff. I also have recovered 2 platinum rings, one I was able to return to the owner.

 

[mrowdy]

It's rewarding ,if you can do it, but twice I've been told that there is "no student by that name in their records." But they said I could send the ring. The Josten website hasn't been too helpful either. And it's been a mixed bag so far. One couple sent a $40. gift card for returning their wedding band, and another woman just said thanks, after returning her 1980 class ring. Last spring , I returned a buried 1977 dog license and got a nice thank you card. That makes it all worth while. Twice I sent keys back to the owners through the mail, and never heard from them. A simple note of thanks would suffice. Maybe someday, someone will send my 1960 Oconomowoc class ring back to me.

 

[Sanddigger]

n/t

 

[PaPa-Joe-Fla.]

n/t

 

[thinkin2]

I've returned several class rings over the years. Last Fall I found a girl's high school ring and contacted the school. Shortly after that I was called by the girl's father and he was very excited. He was in the hospital at the time and he said his daughter or wife would call me the next morning. They never did. After a while I called the school back and talked with the same lady, the principal I think, and she said she would try to contact them again but didn't sound too enthusiastic about it. Anyway, I never heard from anybody again. I also went through the phone book and called every listing with her last name and came up empty. Don't know what to do now. What would you guys do?
Jerry

 

[scubadetector]

thinkin2, I have some I can't return also. One guy said that the only time he was in Port Huron his tackle box got stolen out of his truck and his ring was in it. Obviously the person that stole it went fishing and chucked his ring in the lake. He was absolutely RUDE to me. The ring that I just returned from the University of Maryland was a second attempt. The first time the school told me to send it to them and they would try to locate the owner. I told them that I wanted to do it and they accused me of trying to extort money from the owner and that is the only reason I wanted to. I gave up after that and that is why I collected 14 in the last 2 years. After one success story this year I decided to try for more. I now have 4 success stories in the last week and am trying for more. I would just hold on and try it again another year. You will bet somebody that wants to help. I have 10 more to go. One is probably deceased and possibly two. I am trying to find the next of kin. I wouldn't give up. She might want it but life circumstances are not going great and it is far from her mind or the schools. Maybe try the Media Center at the school. They are the ones that have helped me the most.

Josten's web site doesn't help much but if you call them they will actually give you the name and the last known phone number of the person that owns the ring if they made it.

 

[alsway]

Jerry,they have your tel. no,so i would just wait it out,as some thing bad could have happen and there mind isn't on the ring at this time.Just my tough, AL.

 

[thinkin2]

Well, that's kind of what I figured since her dad was in the hospital when he called me. But if he knew about it then somebody else had to know as well. The school wouldn't have known to call him in the hospital. It just irks me that the schools don't seem to care about their former students. The last two rings I did return were both from the same college, one a man's and one a lady's. The university's alumni association never contacted them. But when I contacted their fraternity/sorority presidents it was almost immediately that I got calls from them. The one I returned to the guy said he couldn't wait till they called him wanting a donation. He said they had no problem at all finding him for that, lol. But a high school? I don't know who else to call. It's been over seven months since her dad called me. I really hate to think something bad happened to him. Anyway, thanks for the replies.
Jerry

 

[Gulf Hunter]

Yer a better pirate than me though. I have attempted to give 'em back and one I actually was successful returning, in stainless. 3 others I contacted the school and 2 of the 3 actually knew who the person was. I simply asked for a cashiers check for $20 to cover my expenses to package and insure and no takers, so I quit bothering with it. Why should I take any loss, I found it, should I not be compensated for the return? I have several, some I've not even wasted my time with, some got refined. Sorry I sound a bit synical, but maybe if my experience had been more favorable, I would not feel like I do.

 

[scubadetector]

Gulf Hunter, I agree with you on some of your points. I returned a wallet with 197.00 in it. He had lost it off a dock 6 months before and never bothered even with a thank you! I have also returned rings with no reward but a thanks. However I have had doors opened up to me that would never have happened if I had not returned items. I have been in my local paper twice and I will be on the Detroit news this week. I have received 4 100.00 rewards and plenty of smaller ones. I have been able to detect a lot of private lakes and I pulled my second platinum mens band out of one after I helped locate a persons keys in the water. I got to keep that ring.

I think that this subject is a personal preference. I have friends that don't even try to return them and that is their choice. I will keep it up. Since my article in the paper on Sunday I already have a lead to find a University of Michigan class ring at a private beach and I am sure I will be able to clean up other items when I go their. Michigan has around 10,000 private lakes and with no public access this is the greatest way to get into them!! The sandbars and the shared beaches are GREAT to play in.

One door that opened up was an ex boss. He went water skiing with 1200.00 in is pocket in 100.00 bills. He let me stay at his cabin and look for his money. I found it and was able to keep 600.00. Finding 12 100.00 bills on the bottom of a lake was a trip!!

 

[grumpyolman]

It wasn't a class ring. It was a 3rd generation 22kt wedding band. A newlywed was riding a sailboard he had rented, and fell into the water. He saw his wedding band, which had been worn by his wife's great-grandfather, slip off his hand an oscillate toward the bottom like a fishing lure. He noted where he was by taking cross bearings on land marks and then called the local dive shop to see if anyone they knew could find it. I was contacted and went to the area to meet the couple.
The husband swam with me out to the spot where he thought it had fallen off and I dropped a marker weight on that spot. I then got all my equipment and swam to the marker and surface dived to the bottom. It was 15' deep and was muddy and dark. I had taken my left diving glove off as I knew it was muddy and wanted to be able to feel in the mud. I was also conscious that this was an old area and there was probably a lot of broken glass in the mud. I tied another line to the marker line and commenced a circle search. The plan was to start close to the marker and move a sweep length out on the circling line each time I had completed a full circle. It was so dark and muddy, I had to guess when I had completed a circle. On the first circle I hear nothing. On the start of the second circle I heard a faint beep. I slowly moved some of the mud off the top of where I heard the beep an made a second pass over the spot with the detector. This time it was louder. I repeated that about 3 times and now the beep was really loud. Being wary of broken glass, I slowly pushed my hand down into the mud and that wedding band slid right onto my ring finger. I held it there with my thumb, surfaced and swam back to the dock where the couple was waiting. I held it up to them and asked if this was it. She immediately broke into tears of happiness and thats all the reward I needed. I'd take that any day over material items. It probably took less time to find that ring than it did for you to read this. Plain stupid luck but sometimes that' fine too.

 

[au4me]

Wow, As a vetran of many ring finds myself I congradulate you on your luck as I know how it usually goes in dark muddy water. Good job HH

 

[scubadetector]

I also think you did a wonderful job. I love dark murky water because nobody else goes there. Experience with your detector and knowing how far the coil is away from your hand and when you get a signal grabing handfulls of muck and waving them in front of your coil is something a lot of folks won't do. I carry a small mesh bag to put the muck in that gives me a signal, swish it around holding the top closed and I then get the target out of it. I sometimes NEVER know what I have until I come out of the water. Having the ring slide on your finger is amazing!! That has never happened to me.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Well that's excellent...well done!

I have found and returned a few myself, as have many others here.

You would probably find the site in the link below of interest, if you haven't yet seen it. It's a great place to go when you first find a class ring...or in the event you hit a dead-end using the normal channels of tracking down the owner.

http://classringfinder.com/

I have an entry on there, for 5 years now: http://classringfinder.com/RingDetail.asp?RingID=1216

 

[Gulf Hunter]

Well, it certainly sounds like it pays well for you. It's not like I'm trying to reap a reward though, simply covering cost and time. I ask for $20 and I think that is a reasonable enough cost to stick my neck out on the line. Maybe I should rethink all of this perhaps. Sounds like it really pays for you. Keep it up, you are doing well with this!

 

[scubadetector]

Mike, I googled the school and it is LA. Can't you call and get the media center and find out the owner? I think you would have a wonderful chance to find them. It looks like a womans ring and she would be probably married but somebody in the town with the same last name might be able to help. I enjoy that kind of sleuthing!!

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I called twice and got no answer at the school. I called a third time and was told "I'm new here, but I'll have somebody call you back." She took all the info. I never got a call back. I figured my part was done and put it on the ring page.

Here's another funny thing: I had found another class ring, this one a bit nicer and more valuable. It was 14K and had a little weight to it. It had the guy's name on it AND a serial number. I called the ring maker. I gave them the serial number. I was told their records only went back about 3 years and that they couldn't help me. The ring was class of '83. I called the school. I gave them all the info. I gave my phone number, email, and address. I was told they would find the owner and let him know. I never heard a thing. I sent it to Midwest and let 'em melt it down. For all I know, the ring might have been on his finger when he drowned. Or the shark spit it back out.

It's not always as easy as it would seem.

 

[thinkin2]

[quote Mike (Virginia Beach)]I called twice and got no answer at the school. I called a third time and was told "I'm new here, but I'll have somebody call you back." She took all the info. I never got a call back. I figured my part was done and put it on the ring page.

Here's another funny thing: I had found another class ring, this one a bit nicer and more valuable. It was 14K and had a little weight to it. It had the guy's name on it AND a serial number. I called the ring maker. I gave them the serial number. I was told their records only went back about 3 years and that they couldn't help me. The ring was class of '83. I called the school. I gave them all the info. I gave my phone number, email, and address. I was told they would find the owner and let him know. I never heard a thing. I sent it to Midwest and let 'em melt it down. For all I know, the ring might have been on his finger when he drowned. Or the shark spit it back out.

It's not always as easy as it would seem.[/quote]

Mike, I found an 18K men's wedding band once and it was a Cartier with a serial number, inscription and date but no names. I called Cartier and asked for their help and was told that they didn't keep records that go back that far. One thing I will say is that I never place ads in the newspaper anymore. Last time I did that I had all kinds of quacks calling me and when they couldn't describe the ring they started making guesses. What a total waste of my time. Very aggravating. Problem with most of us is lots of the stuff we find on the coast is lost by tourists who are long gone and if it's worth anything they have probably collected from the insurance company already anyway. If it's local and identifiable I will make an effort but I'm beginning to lose patience even with that. HH
Jerry

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Yup, I agree with all of that...I have reached pretty much the same conclusion. A "reasonable effort" and then, it's MINE!

I mean, let's face it. We didn't go out and spend a $1000 on a killer beach hunting machine to give other people their crap back because they were too stupid to practice proper prior preventive planning to prevent losing their BOOTY!

 

[thinkin2]

[quote Mike (Virginia Beach)]Yup, I agree with all of that...I have reached pretty much the same conclusion. A "reasonable effort" and then, it's MINE!

I mean, let's face it. We didn't go out and spend a $1000 on a killer beach hunting machine to give other people their crap back because they were too stupid to practice proper prior preventive planning to prevent losing their BOOTY! [/quote]

I like that saying. I also like another one and that is: poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine. I do like to be a good ambassador to our hobby but don't like people trying to take advantage of me. I'm even shy of trying to help people who come up to me while I'm hunting asking me to help them find what they just lost. Once I had a couple of teenage girls come to me and ask me to help them find a ring. While I'm looking in the spot where they told me they thought they lost it I noticed that their friends were watching and laughing. Finally the two girls laughed and walked off. The joke was on me that time. From then on I politely tell anyone asking me to take time from my hunt to help them look for something they lost I will be glad to but the cost is $20 for a half hour payable in advance. I tell them that if I don't find it in the first half hour it probably won't be found but I also get contact info from them and promise that if I find it later I will contact them. Some say okay and some give me a dirty look and walk away. Their call, I don't care either way.
Jerry