New Member from Canberra

I posted on the Dectector page to say that I'd entered an article in the MINELAB success story competition and ask if anyone was interested in it being posted on the Forum.  A synposis is: "
On 8 July 2021, I purchased a MINELAB Equinox 600 and a Pro-Find pin-pointer. I’m a 72year-old military retiree and I had just completed organising a 50th Anniversary reunion for our Vietnam tank squadron.  I needed an interest which would also provide some exercise.  Metal detecting had been in the back of my mind since 1979 when one of my Army colleagues wrote a book entitled ‘Metal Detecting in Australia’ (Colin Webster).  
My decision to get a metal detector coincided with one of Canberra’s COVID-19 lockdowns.  We were limited to one hour’s exercise (later increased to two) within a 5km radius of our home.  I thought that I had got the timing wrong, but the opposite proved to be the case.  As at 9 November, my finds include 315 coins, eight rings and a silver necklace; plus, an enormous number of relics, etc".

Welcome to the forum . Sounds like you have done alright in a short time.
This is a great hobby/activity and it is even better if you are actually finding good stuff aye?!

Hi Adrian,
Thing I find difficult is tracing the owners. I was able to return car keys to one person and inform another about a lost geocache, but how do I contact the owners of lost rings and jewelry (some of which might be quite valuable)? Bruce

Welcome to the forum cam, just out of interest was col Webster a Bendigo fella?
There was a good detectorist with the same name around these parts , a painter by trade I think.


cheers moredeep

Colin Webster spent many years at Puckapunyal/Seymour during his Army career. He spent a lot of time fosicking around the (deserted) Graytown site. When he retired he moved to Avoca. At one stage he was hired by Ansett (I think it was) to lead gold detecting tours. I tried to contact him recently, but without success.

Cameron wrote:Hi Adrian,
Thing I find difficult is tracing the owners.  I was able to return car keys to one person and inform another about a lost geocache, but how do I contact the owners of lost rings and jewelry (some of which might be quite valuable)?  Bruce

I handed some items in to the police lost and found...Never heard what happened to any of that stuff.  ( Be sure to get receipts). I also advertised a number of high value rings in the papers but never had any takers. Not easy to locate an owner if there are no ID marks on the item. At the beach I would check at the SLC to see if any items have been reported lost in the sand or below the low tide line and have left a contact number at the club. I found a chaps fav fishing knife this way and also a set of car keys that had been lost up in the Snowy Mts near Adaminaby,  The owners paid my petrol costs.
   

Thanks for that Cameron,There are probably thousands of col Webster's in the world,this fella I think is long gone,was a good prospector though and found plenty.

cheers moredeep

Hi Adrian,
"Not easy to locate an owner if there are no ID marks on the item".   Exactly.
I'm planning on setting up a Facebook Page entitled 'Lost Jewellery Bulletin Board Australia' to which those who have lost jewellery could post a description of the item, city and date; allowing any finders to contact them and confirm the item involved (eg place lost).  The actual place lost would not be disclosed beforehand. A photo of the item could be posted by the person who had lost it (if they have one).
A finder could also post similar info.  One would hope that such a site would not be open to abuse (but maybe that's wishful thinking). There would be two sections, one for LOST and one for FOUND.
As an example; my post would include: 'Men's ring, large, white gold, dug up in Canberra Oct 21'.  (I've not revealed the design, pattern, nor place found, which I would ask the person claiming to have lost it, to detail.)
Are there any opinions?  [I see that there are a couple of US based sites of this nature.]

I think these sorts of ideas have been tried in the past and they all seem to run into trouble, the main one being is that by law we are supposed to hand any recovered lost item of  significance.. (whatever that is?) to the police and if nobody claims it in 30 days it then belongs to the person who handed it to the police. If you do not have a receipt for it then it will end up in a police auction.