Happy Ending 18k And A Big Happy Fathers Day

[PI-Man]

Well I found the owners of the lost wedding rings.  It was a heck of a journey navigating the internet to a different country, a language barrier, and back to the States.  Yes the rings are an expensive designer set as others commented in the original post and the diamond was pretty much flawless.  We could not find any inclusions under the scope at the local jewelers.  He commented on the quality of the stone.  Cha Ching!  

Here we go!  So at first I was able to locate the manufacturer/jeweler from the hallmark in the rings.  The original manufactures location was in the emerald district of Bogota, Colombia.  I had sent them an email, but received no response.  Since I got no response I kept doing searches on the name engraved in the wedding band.  Fortunately I found the name on a business website once again in Bogota, Colombia.  Ah Ha! Progress!  I figured I was doing good now since the name was located in the same town as the manufacturer.   Again I sent an email to the business and no response.  Well back at it I knew a higher power was saying ‘get these rings back to the owner’.  Finally putting two and two together I found accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, FB with the same name and place of business associated with them. Also said located in central Florida (that was the big clue).  Bam finally photos! What slowed the process down now was I do not have accounts with that form of social media, but there was just enough info on the person I was searching on that was available for viewing without an account.  Found a picture showing his wedding band that matched the one I had found.  Than luckily I found a picture of his wife’s hand showing both the rings I found.  Well at that point I knew I had the right people.  BTW — DP is my only form of social media.

Moving forward the journey was coming to an end I thought.  We used my wife’s FB to send a private message to them.  Finally a day later the message we sent was replied to,  but in Spanish —- I am calling it the curse of the 1715 Fleet 😂  Well the good news is they provided a phone number.  A few hiccups but texting via iPhone and the built in translator app worked flawlessly.  Heck I didn’t even know that app was in there.  No I am not making a pitch for the company, but it did work great in this situation  😆  Did I mention that the iPhone 14 Pro Max 256gb I was using is the one I found brand new in the surf last year.  😜 Fortunately I got to keep that one all legit, but that’s another story.  😀 

So with an afternoon of texting back and forth we were able to communicate and come up with a meeting location.  This past Saturday morning mission was complete.  We met at my custom jeweler who speaks Spanish (thank Miguel/Mike).   Rings back in owners hands and they were very happy.  They said they took the rings off at the beach and put them in his pocket and then sat down.  Told them when going to the beach just leave the jewelry at home, but they were smart for engraving them.   Also mentioned usually one tide cycle in less than 6 hrs is all it takes and the jewelry is usually gone for a verrrrrrry long time.  Showed them my 1696 Reale and said ‘see it took over 300 years to find this’.

The journey finally ends.  It took me from a central Florida beach to Bogota, Colombia then back to the Orlando, Florida area via the internet then physically meeting at my local jeweler in less than a week.  Someone upstairs wanted this to happen.  My reward some people have asked……….Hopefully Good Karma cuz I sure could use a treasure chest full of Royal Escudos 😂 Just happy they got the rings back.  Their smiles were priceless.  Like I said to some before since surviving my cancer I have a lot of promises to keep with someone upstairs.  My real reward is still being here with my family/friends and hopefully for many adventures/years to come.

Still hard to believe the below pictures of the sandy rings ended back together with the other matching ring.  My wife took a picture of their hands/rings together.  Many other pictures of the owners from our meeting, but out of respect for them I will not post.  
 

Happy Fathers Day

[matt]

What a great story and great detective work to find the owners! That is an incredible set of rings, probably worth a great sum of money. I'm sure the feeling of being able to reunite them with the couple is powerful. Good on you!

[TampaBayBrad]

WOW! Just wow.....talking about a needle in a haystack!

You are a good man PI, and I am sure that good karma will be with you. Congrats on the return.

[cuniagau]

What a great journey!  And what a great ambassador for this hobby!  Thanks for sharing!  Those returns are priceless memories and really give good feelings to all that hear about them.  👍👍👍

[CPT_GhostLight]

That's just awesome, PI-Man! Good on you, brother, you are another shining example of all that's good in this hobby, well done indeed! 😎 

[F350Platinum]

Kudos, Karma, and other Krap to ya, PI. Excellent sleuthing and perseverance to find the owners, told ya a square diamond is big bucks. Depending on the sizing my wife might have had the engraving buffed out 🤣

You're a great person and deserve a long and happy life, also a credit to the hobby. 👍 Keep Digging! Soon enough there will be one or two you don't feel bad about keeping 🙂

[PI-Man]

If I keep using the D2 I might have to change my online name 😂  oh the Pulse is just taking a rest for now!  It will be in use soon enough.   

Oh my wife was interested in these rings too but knows we did the right thing in the end.  She said I need to find more gold and platinum with diamonds.  Getting tired of silver and tungsten 🤣 

[Joe D.]

   Your are definitely an inspiration to real detecting detective work! That was definitely a test of your "metal" as a finder and keeper, and a good soul in general! Many would be hard pressed to do the research, or just let the "authorities🙄" try and do it for them!

   That is definitely a "bucket lister" any way you look at it, and will always be something to be proud of! The money that was possible for resale, would not have lasted near as long as the feeling of accomplishment you now have!! That will never be diminished, or spent!!🏆🙏💍🍀👍👍

   

[Valens Legacy]

Glad you were able to find the owners who I am sure are glad to have them back.

Good luck on your next hunt and I hope you can find something that you can keep.