So I found this ring while snorkeling...
 

Last January when in Hawaii, I found a mens wedding band while snorkeling.
It look pretty nice and I found out from the manufacturer it was about a $2,000 ring. After trying to locate the owner via craigslist, lost and found sites and other internet resources, I ended up tossing it in my desk drawer and forgetting about it.

This week in prep for going back to Hawaii for vacation, I came across the ring again. I got the idea to contact one of the metal detecting companies that specializes in finding lost items on the beach for tourists :)

Well, less than 12 hrs later, one of the guys e-mails me with a description of the ring, inscription, etc - it looks like I've found the metal detector guy that was contracted to look for the ring last year - Im going to take it back with me to Hawaii and it wil then go back to it's original owner.

AM

Interesting!!

1. Will the metal detector guy give you a finders fee?

2. How much will he charge the ring's owner, I wonder?

Good for you....

is his name Gollum?

Neat. $2k is a lot of money, but if you hawked it you probably wouldn't get much, and it looks like the original owner really wanted to find it if he hired someone ... the good merit/feeling of giving it back far outweighs the potential profit.

one ring.....

Wow, very cool.

My boss lost his wedding band swimming in the Chesapeake. I think he bought another on the way home and his wife was none the wiser.

Neil Peart from Rush had a sidecase fall off his motorcycle on a hwy. in CO and he didn't notice it for many miles afterwards. He had his wedding band and Patek Phillipe watch in there. He actually got a call from the guy who found it and responded to his lost ad. Neil, unfortunately, hit 7 by accident and deleted the guy's voicemail, never could get back in touch with him. What a buzzkill.

Ever read Ghost Rider, Rick? You might like it if your a Neal Peart/Rush fan, or if you just like a real adventure.

Regarding the ring - that's pretty cool!

angela

Year 2000, Villa Covarrubias - north shore Cuba I lost my wedding ring while snorkeling off a Seadoo on a reef. The cold water shrinks your finger and . . .

Ian

Andrew are you coming to Kauai? I would like to share aloha with you here.
PM me so we can plan a get together. You have the aloha spirit for sure.
cheers Richard

I lost my damn wedding band last year. I keep thinking it will show up :(

Good on you Andrew.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

Great story but is there anyway you can give it back to the owner in person?

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After my divorce I hammered my wedding ring into one of the roof rafters of the family home.

Why??? I felt it was jinxed. So there was no way I was going to keep it or give it to one of my kids.
At some point in the future the house will be demolished... Maybe some guy or gal will find it in the rubble. ;)

Good for you...

Back in the day a GF of mine had her wedding ring melted down to create a neat necklace ornament...a replacement for one her mother had lost years before (had pics of it tho')..

Keep things moving and good things come round...

A great story and a lucky owner.

Now I know why I don't wear one. If you don't have one, you can't lose it!

Excellent!!!

I wore mine the day I got married, haven't seen it for 14 years. I'm not a jewlery kinda guy but no one wears rings when you do my job because of gold transfer

what a great story.!!!! good on you!

my wife dropped a favorite pearl earring into some kauai bay. she dove for it, and the silt covered it up shortly. the look on her face haunted me..she was so SAD! she left for some job meeting in LA, and i stayed (with all her girlfriends..ahhaha). i dedicated myself on searching every jewelry store to find a much better replacement. the new pair is her new favorite!!

wait until i sneak that remaining earring out and make it into a pendant..

Did it look like this?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1294682052.jpg

If so, it's mine.

I would try to give it to the person directly. Would suck that the owner of the ring paid some kind of finder's fee to another company when they didn't do much.

Very cool story. I lost my wedding band about 2 months after the ceremony. I was dumping leaves in the woods, and after finishing noticed the ring was gone--tried looking for it for 2 days--even had a metal detector, but has not been found--keep expecting to see a squirrel sporting it one of these days.

don't wear them..
but for her I tried..
but no rings allowed on the flight line..
on ..off ..on.. off..
so of course I lost it..
so while eating lunch in the snackbar one day..
I noticed the guy across from me wearing it..
he gave it back..
it's laying in a drawer now..

Rika

Funny but I just remembered I lost one in Hawaii awhile back...

Speaking of Hawaii and jewlry...

My wife and I were in Hawaii several years ago on a company trip and she really liked a black pearl and diamond necklace we saw. I said I'd think about it. Just as we were about to leave, I snuck away and bought it. I presented it to her later and she started crying tears of joy! Then she told me she was crying because she bought one herself because she didn't think I'd buy her one...

precious!

I have a pretty good ring story. My (now ex) wife and I were at walden pond swimming about a month after we got married. She was playing around and ended up dropping her engagement ring (diamond and all) in the water. The bottom is really silty and it was pretty clear after all of our searching that we we not going to find the ring that day.

I came back with a friend and a a snorkel mask the next day. The ring was lost in about 4 feet of water. I searched and searched and miraculously I found it. I also happened that it was my birthday, so it was a very nice gift to find it again.

I can tell you this: I experimented with metal detectors and they are worthless for finding gold. This is especially true in water. The metal detector guy is most likely just crook.

Any decent metal detector works fine in water and can certainly find gold.
If you are using a $29.95 detector from Radio Shack, the above is not true.

Way to go Andrew!


So I don't get it?, the guy asked one of those guys that cruises the beaches with a metal detector to find it? Sounds dumb, so how did you find him (just in case I loose mine) :D

Well to summarize a few questions
- I haven't talked about a reward - that's not what it's about for me
- Yes, you can find gold with a metal detector - either on land or in water
- Is the contracted guy going to get paid? Probably yes, but then again they wouldn't be getting the ring back with out him - so he did find it for them. sort of....
- Here's a link to the initial guy I contacted - I suspect he has an informal association with a small group of others that do the same thing:
http://www.lostringmaui.com/index2.html

Not a bad way to earn a living - walking the beaches of Maui and going for the odd swim :)

Regards,
Andrew M

One of my friends -- who was in some marital distress -- lost his wedding ring while on a business trip to Pearl Harbor. Bad situation. We spent hours hunting around the beach trying to find that d*** ring. She somehow decided to believe him, and last I saw they were still married.

That's nice of you to find the owner of the ring... We were in Kauai on our honeymoon and snorkeling and I lost my wedding ring. I just kept telling my wife that a sea turtle mugged me! LOL!

I wonder if you can google the inscription, and find the original owner without the 'ring guy.'

Not to disparage the 'ring guy' and/or his service, but I bet he's going to yank the original owner pretty hard.

Did it contain diamonds or is it just gold? I would expect you to be at least rewarded with its scrap metal value.
Jim

Nope - tried to do that already using manufacturer and model of ring, inscription, metal, style, etc - no dice.

The ring guy did offer to give me the name of the person so I could send it back - I think he's already billed them fior his time back during the initial search - I'll ask him when I get there.

AM

Buzzkill for Neal. Jackpot for the guy finding the watch.

good for you! not many people like you around. i would have never thought you wuld have found the owner. i would not have tried that hard, not because i am dishonest, but what are the chances.

Really cool story. I would want to meet the owner of the ring and would love to see the look on his face.

About 8 years ago, I lost my wedding ring at the Hollywood Bowl. This was about 3 months after I got hitched. Of course I didn't say anything. I hurried back to my dad's shop (Dad's a Jeweler) the very next day and made another one without all of the inscription on it. She never knew.
Then my dad busted me at dinner and ask how the new ring fit. Coffee came out of her nose laughing. I can't seem get anything past this woman.

Hi Andrew I tried to PM you but couldn't get it thru.

Aloha Andrew, Maui will be fun. when are you planning to be here. I think you will find that our local airlines do not make it easy to hop inter-island, each leg is a separate fare. It really adds up. Have you been to the Iou valley just to the west of Wailuku, it is a beautiful place to spend some time! Also in a few weeks a P-car mechanic is going to be here from the mainland for 6 weeks and I will be pulling the engine out for a clutch job and all that goes with it, Would hate not to have a fun ride to cruise with you while here. Let me know if I can help you plan your stay with some local knowledge.
Cheers Richard

Well, I'm back from Maui and the ring is being sent back to the owner. I met the detection guy and he was a really nice guy who does this as a side job.
He had already been paid a fixed price a while back to look for the ring and wasn't going to claim a reward - He's just going to send it back to the couple that lost it.

He did have all thier contact info and I was able to call the wife and tell her I found the ring.
Boy, was she suprised! They were on thier honeymoon right after the wedding back in 2009 and lost it their first day on the island. The ring hadn't been resized yet and fell off the very first time they went into the ocean. Lots of searching but no ring turned up. She offered to send me flowers / gift / money, but I declined - It's just nice to know they got back something that was important to them.

Hey Richard - Sorry, I didn't get the above post before I left or we could have met up. I was actually suprised at the number of P Cars I saw in Maui - yellow 911 SC, white Cayman, 2x Boxsters and a 996 or two I've been to the I'o valley a few times - some nice hiking trails in there - quite different from what I see up here!

The only donwside to the trip? MCDonalds doesn't make the SPAM MCMUFFIN ANYMORE!!!!

Regards,
Andrew M