I love it when they go that extra step to look for its owners ^-^

Very cool ring too! Metal detector hero moment

Well done op for returning this to his family ❤

Amazing find!!

beautiful

Zeelandia! That is the Danish island on which Copenhagen is situated! Can I have it back please..? :D Nahh.. jk. Some Dutch guy got it selling something to a Dane a long time ago. It's rightfully yours :)

That looks expensive

Salute you sir!

OOOOOH! It looks so satisfying!

I hope it has a full tank ⛽ for a ride back home!

The ownership thing: many may not agree, but I think handing it in is the right thing to do. To a museum who will share it with the public for all to enjoy. And there are some grey areas with ownership. Case in point: I found a large piece of river smoothed pounamu about 0.5m depth down, in my garden several years ago. Clearly put there at some point, as I'm not in the right area for pounamu or river stones. It's size was a factor too, so I contacted the local iwi group in charge of taonga and heritage, with photos etc as pounamu belongs to the iwi, with some small exceptions for small pebbles etc. They discussed it and decided that due to my open honesty about finding it and wanting to return it, that it should stay with me, as pounamu stays with those it chooses along the way of its own journey. Almost everyone asked me why the hell did you tell them, just keep it, or sell it blah. Even if that wasn't illegal, I still wouldn't have as some things have a higher meaning than my wants

Cultural heritage belongs to all according to the international agreements of UNESCO. Although it varies from country to country, but in most cases you are obliged to hand such finds to your local museum or other cultural heritage care facility. Even if you are allowed to keep your finds, you must give access to them to whoever whants to study them. And you are obliged to care for them at your own cost according to your state law. Archaeologists aren't happy about metal detector hobbyists. They tend to dig the finds out of the ground and ruin the original dirt layers. Therefore the finds lose context and valuable data. The position of a coin or ring in the ground is just as valuable as the find itself.

Detectorists sign a contract with the owner of the land. Anything they find on their land officially belongs to the land owner. A museum can offer to buy it. A share of the find will go to the detectorist along with the land owner. This is fair and most detectorists know this and are happy to agree.

Precious!

When you say auction it to the museum, does this mean the museums buy it from you? I have never metal detected but I was going to buy my young grandson one and I don’t think he’ll ever find anything of real value but you never know and I would like to know the rules please.

Wow! great find.

it is a treasure you found -- be thankful you did! nice job

I wonder how much this ring eventually auction for? Does anyone know the details on this?

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"Obliged" psshhh nope that s**t would be handed down in my family so my future generations will be taken care of.

Best find!!!

Looks more like Carnival of Death

😯 Wow!

That's one of the things I like about the 'Treasure' legislation: Finds of certain type you have to bring for assessment, and if declared "treasure" for quantity/value/historical importance you are obliged to offer it for auction/sale --- but if falling short of that, you have a free expert evaluation by people that really care and give you the maximum background details.

No one can tell me that's not ET!

Amazing.

This would mean a lot to somebody. It touches my heart as well.

time to make noodles

Im questioning the tentacles coming out of her belly

It's beautiful!

I hope the paratrooper found his way after losing his compass

A rapper somewhere is missing their grill. I imagine they are pretty pissed about it too.

Rich man

That silver/ gold face... creepy

Thats so nice of her

This is so cool!

I need an update STAT!!

Looks like it stopped a bullet! Awesome find!

Beautiful!! My mom had one like this

Hope you still had the other one

Art Nouveau. Very nice.

Probably dropped by some soldier in WW2.

That is so neat!

Awesome!!!

What is it?

In the Netherlands of all places? You know Napoleon was the one to unite the Netherlands as to what is is now? It's not weird to find Napoleon stuff here.

Beautiful Claddagh ring

Each one of the rings has a story.