Where do lost and found diamonds go?

[MRBXXXFVVS1]

A friend's diamond fell out of her engagement ring a few years ago. She didn't have it insured, didn't have the prongs/ring checked by a jeweler, and I'm guessing didn't have a serial number laser inscribed on the diamond. It was a 1ct round solitaire, I never asked the specs, but assuming high quality. She probably searched her house, car, work, etc. Curious if her diamond was ever found by a stranger, what he or she would do with it? If you found a diamond, what would you do?

 

[Karl_K]

most people would probably just keep it.
By law they should be turned over to the police, if no one claims them in a certain amount of time they belong to the finder in most states in the US.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I think they run away to party with lost teaspoons
Shows the importance of having prongs etc checked on a regular schedule

 

[kenny]

I suspect many are lost where they'll never be found.
Some may be swept up by street cleaning trucks and end up in landfill.
Some will be washed down gutters to the sea by rain.
Some must fall where they get swept or vacuumed up by whomever cleans that building ... again to the the landfill.

I have a few (low value, but real) that I found in the bottom of the local public swimming pool - No joke.
A PADI certified scuba diver, I honed my visual skills searching underwater for shells on a South Pacific Island in the 1970s, before that was taboo - rather before I cared.
I was not successful finding the owners of the pool-diamonds.

I remember reading an astonishing story about a diamond ring a woman lost when gardening.
13 years later when her DIL was harvesting carrots, a carrot was "wearing" the ring.
It just happened to grow in the ground where the ring was lost.

Woman finds long-lost diamond ring on carrot in garden

The 84-year-old woman in Alberta had lost the ring in 2004 but kept it a secret from her husband.

www.bbc.com

 

[headlight]

As I just posted in another thread, insurance really is important.

 

[kenny]

As I just posted in another thread, insurance really is important.

Not to me.
Odds are there will be no loss, well, of course except for those monthly insurance premiums.
Insurance is gambling, and as with all gambling the odds are with the house.

We only hear about the rare birds who can say, I paid $500 a year, had a loss, and got back my $XXXXX gizmo.
Nobody ever brings up the 50 years, over which they paid $25,000 in premiums with no claim.
IOW they threw away 25 grand ... or whatever the exact numbers are.

For 45 years instead of paying premiums for insurance not mandated by law, I've been investing that money.

I've never had a loss that would be paid by insurance.
Now that investment has grown into a very nice nest egg that would easily replace any loss I could have.
That egg gives me peace of mind ... and I've kept that money in the family instead of giving it to those money-grubbing claim-denying insurance companies.
I call this self-insuring.

Could I have a loss, and wish I was insured?
Sure, but odds are I won't.

But as always, to each their own, YMMV, etc. etc. etc.

 

[tyty333]

I guess it would depend on the circumstances of how the diamond was found. If it was a whole ring with some markings inside you have something
to go on but if you just find a loose diamond on the streets??? You could search newspaper lost and found and contact the police department to
see if anyone had reported a lost diamond. Not sure if it could be tracked down by the GIA report number if the stone has one. I would think the
chances of finding the owner are very slim.

I think in most cases the diamond would now belong to the person that found it.

 

[stracci2000]

I once found a loose 10 pointer in a jewelry armoire that I bought at Goodwill.

 

[sledge]

 

[LemonMoonLex]

Noooooooooo!

 

[elle_71125]

What a freaking waste!

 

[msop04]

God, this scene irked the living sh*t outta me... it legit made me a little nauseous.

 

[diamondsR4eVR]

I’ve always wondered what happened to my .81 stud that I lost. Pretty sure I lost it at the gym. Did some one find it? I hope so. Someone deserving. Or lost in a vacuum bag or some sort of crevice or drain never to be found again.

 

[MRBXXXFVVS1]

@kenny Interesting view on insurance. DH and I also share that view point and self-insure for life insurance and long term care. We look at risk level compared to premiums and payout. Do you buy more than the required minimum for your car? I find the risk is a lot higher for car accidents and losing jewelry, so it's worth it to us. We only insure my engagement ring though, since other pieces are less expensive to replace if we lose them.

Yes, I'm guessing her diamond is most likely in her house somewhere, in a landfill, down the drain literally, or someone very lucky found it! The diamond was lost by itself, it fell out of the prongs. This also happened to another friend on 2 occasions, but she noticed right away and was able to find the stone on the ground.

 

[diamondsR4eVR]

My studs were insured. I’m glad they were!

 

[sledge]

Self-insuring can be a wonderful and horrible thing @kenny.

To truly define the right answer, it depends on so many factors that is unique to the individual. Major items to consider would include insurance premium costs, risk tolerance, cash flow, liquidity of assets, rate of return, etc.

I do fully agree the odds are in favor of the house, and their little nerds called statisticians.

Worse are the product warranties or their special branded credit card that every retailer in the world seems to offer for literally everything.

I also prefer to pay cash for most items; however, there are times it makes sense to finance. I bought some new furniture a year or so ago. It had 18 months no interest. Sure, I'll take that deal and invest my money elsewhere and gain interest because I'm disciplined enough to pay in full before the deal expires. Most people aren't. Also, I've got 0-2% interest on vehicle financing in the past. Again, I can rake more in investing in stocks or mutual funds, and maintain fairly good liquidity of my cash if I need to pull out.

But I've also learned the more cash I accumulate, the harder it is for me to let it go.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I’ve always wondered what happened to my .81 stud that I lost. Pretty sure I lost it at the gym. Did some one find it? I hope so. Someone deserving. Or lost in a vacuum bag or some sort of crevice or drain never to be found again.

Yes
i like the idea of it being found by someone - hopefully a nice person

 

[kenny]

@kenny Interesting view on insurance. DH and I also share that view point and self-insure for life insurance and long term care. We look at risk level compared to premiums and payout. Do you buy more than the required minimum for your car? I find the risk is a lot higher for car accidents and losing jewelry, so it's worth it to us. We only insure my engagement ring though, since other pieces are less expensive to replace if we lose them.

No, I buy only the bare minimum liability auto insurance required by the government.
I pay cash for my cars and if mine is stolen I can buy another with savings, again self-insuring.
Odds are that won't happen, and it never has.

My priority is preserving my hard-earned money, and not allowing fear (of what is extremely unlikely) to shove me around especially when a money grubbing insurance company is flying around me like a vampire or mosquito.

I suspect I drive more carefully, considerately, and defensively than many fully-insured drivers, since their insurance may give them a certain peace of mind.

Not preaching here, just reporting my choices.
Everyone should do what they want, hopefully after hearing and considering other perspectives.

 

[lynahs1295]

insurance is a tricky thing...i have never once lost a valuable piece of jewelry until i lost my OMC from adam at OWD...in my defense, both my fiance and i thought the other had renewed the insurance policy but nope

it was never turned in (lost it at work) but i tell myself someone found it and really needed the cash for something like a surgery or transplant for a loved one and it makes me feel a little, tiny bit better about it

 

[motownmama]

My wedding ring was lost in 2002; I still dream it shows up!

 

[monipod]

I can't remember the link my daughter sent me but it's a thing to go hunting for gold and diamonds in New York (or other cities I imagine). This is the gist of it in this article (https://nypost.com/2011/06/20/got-his-mined-in-the-gutter/) but the YouTube showed these hunters go through the process of collecting panning dust from the pavements and actually finding tiny bits of gold, silver and previous stones once they pan it. Sadly it would include some lost diamonds but unless it's over 1ct, I wouldn't think it's something you need to hand over to police?

 

[whitewave]

My mother lost hers in her kitchen and never found it.

When we went snorkeling in Hawaii on Maui and Kauai, they told us to look for diamond rings that weren’t sized before the wedding and lost on the honeymoon.

 

[meesmom]

This reminds me of a story about my grandmother....she lost her engagement diamond about 40 yrs ago....and about 2 yrs ago she found it! She was cleaning out under her bathroom sink and found in a baggie, inside her ladys electric shaver box (which was from the 60s, and she hasnt used in decades). She was so happy, bc she almost threw the shaver out without looking inside. But she wonders why in the world she put it in there??

 

[WinkHPD]

I suspect many are lost where they'll never be found.
Some may be swept up by street cleaning trucks and end up in landfill.
Some will be washed down gutters to the sea by rain.
Some must fall where they get swept or vacuumed up by whomever cleans that building ... again to the the landfill.

I have a few (low value, but real) that I found in the bottom of the local public swimming pool - No joke.
A PADI certified scuba diver, I honed my visual skills searching underwater for shells on a South Pacific Island in the 1970s, before that was taboo - rather before I cared.
I was not successful finding the owners of the pool-diamonds.

I remember reading an astonishing story about a diamond ring a woman lost when gardening.
13 years later when her DIL was harvesting carrots, a carrot was "wearing" the ring.
It just happened to grow in the ground where the ring was lost.

Woman finds long-lost diamond ring on carrot in garden

The 84-year-old woman in Alberta had lost the ring in 2004 but kept it a secret from her husband.

www.bbc.com

When I graduated from GIA and moved back to Boise, I went to work for a wonderful man, Joe Robinson who was the current owner of Sexty's Jewelers. We had a client come in with the exact experience, only it was the year after she lost the ring, and it was a much bigger diamond.

It does happen, if you are VERY lucky.

I wore my wedding ring while snorkeling off the coast of Okinawa where I was stationed. Many hours of looking over several days never recovered the ring which Resa had made for me while we were stationed in Rio de Janeiro. I now worn my clients not to wear such treasures while swimming, especially in salt water, which dessicates the fingers, allowing the rings to swim off to hard to find places.

Wink