Letter of the law is that you must hand in any found property - Posting âIs this yours?â on Facebook doesnât cut it. Failure to hand in to Police can potentially see you done for âTheft by Findingâ.
Iâve only had two or three rings claimed from Lost & Found, and they were surface-find (ie recent) fancies with inscriptions.
Itâs not always the owners who get them either, sometimes itâs the Insurance Companies if a claim has been paid out.
Plain bands (ie with no names, or unique designs) always come back to me, as do âgreenâ golds (Crusty 9ct), silvers and deep/old finds.
Even when a ring is returned, legally you still donât own it (Although I have never heard of any issues with onselling in this case, and you have the Police slip to show you have made the appropriate effort) If you tried to sell on TM, and someone can PROVE itâs theirs then you are required to surrender it - Best way would be to resurrender it to the Police and give the âclaimantâ the Lost Property receipt number - If itâs theirs then the Police will make sure, if not, the person wonât follow up and three months later you get it back.
I had one returned to me as unclaimed, despite having a name and date inside it. Bit of legwork traced it to a lady in Argentina, who luckily blogged about losing it when she was over here on holiday - date was her wedding day.
Some people, probably a majority to be truthful, just pocket them.
Golden (haha) Rule: What goes in the pouch, stays in the pouch - Donât be tempted to show rings off.
Thereâs a scam in the US where a hunter shows a ring to pretty girl, the girl then reports it as âfound, but he wonât give it backâ to PoliceâŚand they have a good description of the ring to prove it! Copper turns up and you are forced to hand it over.
Iâve handed in wallets full of cash with drivers licence, credit cards, etc to Auckland CBD
Unclaimed/returned, I got the call, was handed back the ENTIRE wallet.
Until I said, âShouldnât you keep the drivers licence and credit cards to destroy!â
Unless it is significant value (thousands) Iâd;
try to find the owner yourself - Iâve done this successfully (save the underfunded-over worked police the time)
keep the goodies, hand cards in individually to police.
Donât waste your time, smelt it, sell the gems individually on ebay after getting valuation - ensure you are there for valuation & do not let gems out of your sight for a second.
Never trust second hand dealers - theyâre little better than white collar criminals.
Cash converters / pawn brokers will only give you 1/4 of itâs actual value.
You wouldnât go swimming with a $10,000 gold bar in your pocket would you?
If someone is stupid enough to take a massively expensive/centimental item to lark around the beach, then itâs their loss.
If you do find something that is of historical significance though, consider recording the exact location and donating to museum. Sometimes things that are corroded & a bit junky can be of untold value to historians.