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Lost & Found

After a long hiatus, the "lost ring found surrounding a carrot or other veggie" category receives a new entry ...
Lost ring found wrapped around garlic plant months later

A ring that slipped from a Maine girl's finger while she was planting a garden turned up nine months later -- wrapped around a piece of garlic.

Madison Cooper, 12, said she lost the ring while planting garlic at the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset in October.

The ring had been a gift to her grandmother, Leanita Perry, from her late grandfather in 2012, and Perry had given the ring to Cooper after the grandfather's death. ...

The family never expected to see the ring again, but nine months later Hannah Marshall, a Chewonki Foundation Outdoor Educator, was harvesting the garlic and spotted something shiny on one of the plants.

"I was sent out to harvest the garlic, and I pulled up one of the final plants and I saw something shiny around the bottom, and at first I thought, 'It must be trash' " ...

She said she was shocked to see it was a ring wrapped around the plant.

"It was a total coincidence that the garlic kind of captured the ring as it grew through the straw that they helped put down" ...

Perry said the ring's return was a good omen.

"When the call came, it was 23 months after the day that he passed away, so it was like an omen, it was meant to be, she was meant to get that ring back," Perry said.

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...ound-garlic-plant-months-later/4071596133971/
 
I had looked everywhere for a steamer machine I had last used years ago as I wanted to clean around machines in the laundry.
Although I found the attachments I couldn't find the actual machine anywhere so bought a cheaper version from KMart.
Yesterday I was looking for a small folding trolley which also hadn't been used for ages when what should I see but the yellow wheels of the steamer standing up amongst some yellow topped paint cans.
Still haven't found the trolley which I wanted to move a heavy potplant, but I live in hope.
 
Maybe you're thinking of former BBC and ITN newsreader Julia Somerville, who in 1995 was arrested, together with her husband Sir Jeremy Dixon, after photos they sent to Boots for processing were found to include one of her daughter naked in a bathtub.

It was an innocent bathtime photo: allegations against the couple were dropped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Somerville
Blimey was that really 1995?
 
Maybe you're thinking of former BBC and ITN newsreader Julia Somerville, who in 1995 was arrested, together with her husband Sir Jeremy Dixon, after photos they sent to Boots for processing were found to include one of her daughter naked in a bathtub.

It was an innocent bathtime photo: allegations against the couple were dropped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Somerville

My ex once took photos of our kids, aged 4-6, cavorting naked on a beach. I didn't know until I collected the holiday snaps.

I went, as the saying goes, fucking ballistic.

This was back in the '80s but I was surprised nothing had been said when I picked them up.
 
My ex once took photos of our kids, aged 4-6, cavorting naked on a beach. I didn't know until I collected the holiday snaps.

I went, as the saying goes, fucking ballistic.

This was back in the '80s but I was surprised nothing had been said when I picked them up.

It really was a more innocent time in the early '80's (maybe not for mothers and parents). Geoffrey Dickens accusing bigwigs in Westminster of being 'paedophiles' in 1981 was met with snorts and rolling of eyes across the nation. I remember there was an advert for Outspan oranges on TV with nine year old girls prancing about on a stage. It was my mate's younger sister who pointed out that perhaps they shouldn't be wearing T shirts with the slogan 'Small ones are more juicy'. Just didn't click at the time.
 
Birkbeck launches hunt for lost memorial that commemorates students who died in World War II

Birkbeck, University of London, had a sculpture commissioned in 1956 and seemed to have misplaced it at some unknown date. It 'depicts a woman sitting in a sorrowful pose, her limbs and body are disproportionally larger than her head, which is thought to suggest grief and mourning for her mother'. Anyway, they're offering a £20 Amazon voucher for the first person who can find the sculpture or tell them where it is - competition ends 23rd August, let's hope it's found.

Birkbeck sculpture.jpeg

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/birkbeck-...ommemorates-students-who-died-in-world-war-ii
 
It really was a more innocent time in the early '80's (maybe not for mothers and parents). Geoffrey Dickens accusing bigwigs in Westminster of being 'paedophiles' in 1981 was met with snorts and rolling of eyes across the nation. I remember there was an advert for Outspan oranges on TV with nine year old girls prancing about on a stage. It was my mate's younger sister who pointed out that perhaps they shouldn't be wearing T shirts with the slogan 'Small ones are more juicy'. Just didn't click at the time.

My eldest daughter as a young child was given a gift of a pack of pants printed with My Little Pony characters. The pictures were on the front, as you'd imagine, and one was called Lickety-Split. Seemed a bit dodgy to me! but back then, as you say, children were supposed to be innocent. People who detected innuendo around them, as with the 'juicy' tee-shirts and the 'Lickety-Split' pants, were told they had dirty minds.
 
Birkbeck launches hunt for lost memorial that commemorates students who died in World War II

Birkbeck, University of London, had a sculpture commissioned in 1956 and seemed to have misplaced it at some unknown date. It 'depicts a woman sitting in a sorrowful pose, her limbs and body are disproportionally larger than her head, which is thought to suggest grief and mourning for her mother'. Anyway, they're offering a £20 Amazon voucher for the first person who can find the sculpture or tell them where it is - competition ends 23rd August, let's hope it's found.

View attachment 28513

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/birkbeck-...ommemorates-students-who-died-in-world-war-ii
Typical of a University to offer bobbins to the finder, when it'll cost a fortune to move it and possibly buy it off the current owner.
 
Birkbeck defence of a £20 Amazon voucher offer was "Big cash “no questions asked” rewards for lost or stolen artworks need to go through official channels, due to global concerns among law enforcement agencies that this would increase the incentive for theft". I think it could still be on campus somewhere.
I have three very large mortar and pestles cast from bell metal on a shelf in Stores, one inscribed with a dedication 1572. These came out of the Dean's old office years back and it took some searching through the School Committee minutes to track them down to a donation made in 1955. Three mortars had gone to the Ashmolean (Oxford) and three came to my domain - and I seem to be the only one left to know about them.
 
This lost class ring was discovered and returned to the original owner's family 87 years after it was first obtained.
Class ring from 1930s found in car about to be crushed

A class ring from the 1930s was found inside a car that was about to be crushed at an Oklahoma scrap yard, and the item was returned to its original owner's family.

Lovetta Phipps said her ex-husband was going through a car about to be crushed at a scrap yard when he found the 1933 Clinton High School class ring inside the vehicle. ...

Phipps posted photos of the ring on Facebook in the hopes of getting some help tracking down the owner.

The ring was presented Monday to Diana Willey, whose mother was the ring's original owner. Willey said she didn't realize her mother, who died in 1984, had ever owned a class ring. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...und-in-car-about-to-be-crushed/6101597175654/
 
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In one of Janet Evanovitch's books, set in Trenton, NJ, a character explains that it is junkyard etiquette never to look in a car that is about to be crushed.

Yes, but ... That's understandably 'Jersey' junkyard etiquette. :reyes:
 
In one of Janet Evanovitch's books, set in Trenton, NJ, a character explains that it is junkyard etiquette never to look in a car that is about to be crushed. Edit - my mistake, the etiquette is never to look in the trunk of the car.

Is that in case something untoward is found? Holds things up a bit.

Some years ago after a big scrapyard fire near here, a missing woman's body was found in a car boot.

She had been murdered and probably would have been crushed and processed with the car. Terrible business.
 
A surfer in Hawaii lost his surfboard to the sea in 2018. It was eventually found afloat off the Philippines, and the school teacher who now wishes to use it for learning the sport it has contacted the original owner.
Hawaii surfer's lost board floats 5,200 miles to the Philippines

A Hawaii man who lost his surfboard in the water more than two years ago said the lost item has now been found 5,200 miles away in the Philippines.

Doug Falter, 35, said he was surfing in February 2018 when the leash tethering the surfboard to him came loose and the board was carried away by the waves. ...

"I swam as hard as I could to try and get to it. I ran from one end of Waimea Bay across to the other side and scaled the rocks trying to get a visual until it was completely dark" ...

The surfer said he eventually gave up hope of ever locating his lost board, but Lyle Carlson, the man who designed the board, recently received a message from a man named Giovanne in the Philippines.

Giovanne said he had purchased the board for $40 from a fisherman who found it floating in the water. He used the board's markings to identify its maker and decided to try to determine how it ended up floating loose in the ocean.

Carlson recognized the item as Falter's long-lost board.

Giovanne, a school teacher, told Falter he plans to use the board to learn to surf, but there are no local stores that sell surfing supplies.

Falter said he is now raising money to send surfing wax and other supplies to Giovanne so he and his students can learn to surf.

"As bummed as I was when I lost it, now I am happy to know my board fell into the hands of someone wanting to learn the sport," Falter wrote. ...

SOURCE https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...-5200-miles-to-the-Philippines/9221597687290/
 
Birkbeck launches hunt for lost memorial that commemorates students who died in World War II

Birkbeck, University of London, had a sculpture commissioned in 1956 and seemed to have misplaced it at some unknown date. It 'depicts a woman sitting in a sorrowful pose, her limbs and body are disproportionally larger than her head, which is thought to suggest grief and mourning for her mother'. Anyway, they're offering a £20 Amazon voucher for the first person who can find the sculpture or tell them where it is - competition ends 23rd August, let's hope it's found.

View attachment 28513

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/birkbeck-...ommemorates-students-who-died-in-world-war-ii

How is that supposed to “commemorate students who died in WWII”?

“...her limbs and body are disproportionally larger than her head, which is thought to suggest grief and mourning...”

To me, it suggests that the sculptor was rubbish.

Also, offering a cash reward for the return of stolen property is an offence under s.23 Theft Act 1968.

maximus otter
 
How is that supposed to “commemorate students who died in WWII”?

“...her limbs and body are disproportionally larger than her head, which is thought to suggest grief and mourning...”

To me, it suggests that the sculptor was rubbish.

Also, offering a cash reward for the return of stolen property is an offence under s.23 Theft Act 1968.

maximus otter

Birkbeck know they are not allowed to offer a reward for stolen property, but they never said it was stolen - just lost or mislaid. I think you're right that the sculptor was rubbish so most likely the stone was tucked away or quietly disposed of years ago. Unfortunately there's a book being written for Birkbeck's 200th Aniversary in 2023 and there's renewed interest in past events.
 
Here's the 3rd prosthetic lost and found story I've posted in the last 4.5 weeks alone ...
Prosthetic leg found in California river returned to owner

A diver who takes near-daily plunges into California's American River said he encountered an unusual item under water -- a prosthetic leg -- and was able to return it to its owner.

Karl Bly, who runs the American River Lost & Found Facebook, said he regularly finds phones and other devices at the bottom of the water, but the prosthetic leg discovery was a first for him. ...

"Once I got past the foot that was on it, the human-looking foot, I saw the mechanics of it and realized it was a prosthetic leg and I just knew immediately somebody needed it back," Bly told CBS Sacramento.

Bly posted a photo of the leg on his Facebook page and he soon received a message from the leg's owner, a man named Scott.

"He came down right away to pick it up. Very very thankful. He just went on and on about how he needed it to get back to work," Bly said.

Bly said the man told him the leg would have cost $15,000 to replace, making it the most expensive item the diver has fished out of the river this year.

"If you're bringing something valuable on the river, make sure it floats," Bly said. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...fornia-river-returned-to-owner/8491598991789/
 
Yes, but ... That's understandably 'Jersey' junkyard etiquette. :reyes:
There was a car on fire near my house last week. Once it was made safe I saw the firefighters search it thoroughly. Poking round the seats, boot open etc.

I reckon they have to check for bodies. They'd look pretty silly if one were found later.
 
German authorities can't find whoever it was that left vials of hamster genetic material on a train in Heidelberg.
Wheel-y mysterious: Hamster DNA find baffles German police

German police said Wednesday they are losing hope of finding out who left on a train a box of vials with hamster DNA, which caused alarm in the southwestern town of Heidelberg last week.

Federal police sent a bomb squad to investigate after a train driver found the styrofoam box with three vials of liquid on a local train Friday. Forensic specialists later determined that the liquid contained genetic material from rodents.

Officers had hoped to crack the case by publicizing the unusual find, but despite intense media interest the owner has remained elusive so far ...

Doering said police had already disposed of the vials as the cold chain had been broken.

Heidelberg is home to several research centers, including the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

SOURCE: https://apnews.com/1abc598411e9e038539d9a46b3077d21
 
This class ring was lost for 49 years - during most of which the finder and authorities were attempting to identify to whom it belonged. It may be that COVID lockdown boredom was the motivation for trying again - this time with success.
Class ring lost while waterskiing returned 49 years later

A New York state man who lost his class ring while waterskiing was reunited with his lost item 49 years later.

The Sullivan County Sheriff's Office said James Newman lost his Washingtonville High School class of 1970 ring in 1971, while he was waterskiing with friends at Swinging Bridge Lake, near Monticello, N.Y. ...

Swinging Bridge Marina owner Bill Croissant and his son, Mike, found the ring in the muck more than a decade later when the reservoir was drained by Orange and Rockland Utilities.

The lake was drained again between 2005-2007, and the action reminded Bill Croissant of the ring that was still in his possession after a failed attempt to identify the owner.

Croissant turned the ring over to Sullivan County Sheriff Mike Schiff, who said his office got a printout of Washingtonville High School's class of 1970, but deputies were unable to find a definite match with the ring's description. He said the graduates who seemed like the ring's potential owners had moved away.

The ring was left in an evidence locker until this year, when deputies started delving into cold cases amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schiff enlisted the help of sheriff's Detective Sgt. Jason Gorr, a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, who used new databases to narrow down the list of potential ring owners to a single name: James Newman, who now lives in Atlanta.

"Mr. Newman was shocked when he got the call," Schiff said. "He had totally forgotten about the ring and couldn't believe that it was found."

Newman was reunited with his ring in time for his 50th high school reunion. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...skiing-returned-49-years-later/9351600443250/
 
It's been a while since anyone's posted a long-overdue library book item. I suppose this could have been placed in one of the pandemic threads because it was COVID-19 that motivated the library to suspend collection of fines and save the borrowers in this case more than $10,000 ...
Overdue books returned to British library 48 years later

A British library said someone returned a pair of books -- including an early Thomas the Tank Engine book -- 48 years after their original due date.

The Basingstoke Discovery Center in Hampshire, England, said the books were mailed to the library along with an apologetic note from a person who checked them out nearly 50 years ago. ...

The library said the late fees for the books would total over $10,800 by the current rates, but the facility put a moratorium on late fees in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/1...British-library-48-years-later/1231601657967/
 
Here's the latest long-lost class ring story ...
Class ring found in New Hampshire pond after 53 years

A class ring lost in a New Hampshire pond was returned to its owner 53 years later when a recent drought caused the pond to partially drain.

Kathy Rowell, of Barrington, said her husband, Steve, lost his Spaulding High School class ring in 1967, when it slipped off his finger while he was skipping stones with his brothers at Drew's Pond. ...

She said multiple attempts had since been made to find the ring, but no one was able to locate it.

Rowell said recent drought conditions caused the pond to partially drain, so she enlisted the help of neighbor Tom Greco and his metal detector to take a fresh look for the ring.

Greco was able to find the ring and hand it over to Rowell, who presented it to her husband. She said the ring is still in great condition after 53 years in the muck. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/1...-Hampshire-pond-after-53-years/9121601662125/
 
It's rosary lost-and-found time ...
Metal detector hobbyist returns lost rosary 70 years later

A New Jersey man who found a buried rosary while metal detecting a few miles from his home reunited the item with its owner -- 70 years after it was lost.

Daniel Jurgens said he took his metal detector to a large open space about 5 miles from his home May 14 and his haul for the day included a Brownie ring, a 1943 mercury dime, a couple pennies and a small metal container engraved with the image of the Virgin Mary. ...

Jurgens said he opened the container and found a rosary with an inscription reading: "Diana, May 5, 1946."

"So, I go home, and I clean it off a little bit better. ... I know that there's a Catholic church about three blocks from this park, and I call up the Catholic church, and I speak with the secretary," Jurgens told the Clinton Herald.

The secretary at Our Lady of Peace Church got back to Jurgens three days later and told him someone named Diana Antonides of Fords, N.J., had received her first communion on May 5, 1946.

Jurgens said a check of Ancestry.com found census records from 1940, when Antonides lived about three blocks away from where he found the rosary.

Antonides married Salvador Borja in 1958, and Jurgens found an obituary for Borja dated from 2017 that listed his wife among his survivors.

Jurgens said he was excited to learn Antonides might still be alive, and set off on a quest to contact the woman or her adult children.

Just two days later Jurgens connected with Antonides' daughter Kathy, who related his messages to her brother, Kris, and mother, who was indeed still alive at age 81.

Antonides said she believes the rosary -- a gift from her aunt, who was also her godmother -- was taken by a neighbor boy named Ritchie who had a habit of stealing her possessions. She said he must have buried it in the lot where Jurgens found it 70 years later. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...rns-lost-rosary-70-years-later/2991590677677/
 
An American WW2 soldier lost his prized rosary while fighting in Italy. After three-quarters of a century the rosary was returned to his family.
Rosary lost by U.S. soldier in World War II returned to family

The family of a U.S. man who lost his rosary while serving in Italy during World War II had the item returned to them thanks to the family of the soldier who found it.

Tim Maynard said his father, Robert Maynard, told his family the story of how he lost the leather pouch containing the rosary given to him by his mother while he was serving in Italy during World War II. ...

"I remember him saying at one point that his only regret was the fact that he had lost the rosary and it was his mom's and it was a special rosary," Maynard told WCPO-TV. "It had a relic inside of it. And that kept him safe and alive that whole time."

Charles Werley, another U.S. soldier serving in Europe, found the pouch on a beach and brought it back to United States with him in the hopes of eventually finding its owner.

The pouch contained the rosary as well as a note that bore Robert Maynard's name.

Gail Tucker, Werley's daughter, said her father never managed to track down Maynard, but she renewed the efforts when her mother handed the pouch and rosary down to her.

Tim Maynard said it means a lot of have a piece of family history back in his possession.

"It's just amazing to have something, you know, that was with him through those times, back in hand," he said. "Years and years and years have passed since he touched them. But the things that he went through while that was in his possession speaks volumes and the energy is still there with it, as I believe his energy's with it." ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/1...orld-War-II-returned-to-family/9551602012903/
 
Another long overdue library book returned while the application of fines is suspended ...
Book returned to library nearly 60 years overdue

Employees at a library in Britain said a poetry book was recently dropped into the return box 60 years after its due date.

The Middlesbrough Central Library said "The Buried Stream," a poetry anthology by Geoffrey Faber, was returned to the facility's drop box this month. ...

Officials said the tome was 58 years overdue, with a listed due date of December 1962.

"We're really grateful to the anonymous person who returned this book to us as it will be added back to our stock and placed in the Reference Library for future generations to enjoy," Librarian and Community Hub Officer David Harrington said.

Harrington said the book would have accrued more than $650 in late fees, but fines are suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

FULL STORY:
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/1...ibrary-nearly-60-years-overdue/4641602531997/
 
A steam shovel used in constructing a dam was left to lie submerged in the resulting lake for 95 years. It's now been retrieved from the (currently drained) lakebed, and it's in good enough condition to undergo restoration.
Steam shovel retrieved after being submerged in lake for 95 years

A steam shovel that had been submerged in a Michigan lake for nearly a century has been returned to dry land and is being restored.

Mike Oberloier said he dreamed of removing the steam shovel from the bottom of Wixom Lake since his father first told him about the artifact about 50 years ago. ...

Oberloier and a team of volunteers removed the last pieces of the steam shovel from the lake Saturday. It had been used to construct the Edenville Dam in the 1920s and was submerged in the lake for 95 years.

Oberloier finally received his opportunity to see his dream fulfilled when the dam failed in May, causing the lake to drain.

He said the steam shovel's engines are in good enough condition to restore, and he is beginning work on the project.

"It's going to the Midland Antique Engine Association, and it'll be put on display there where everybody can come out and see it," he said. "My hopes and dreams are to make it dig again."

SOURCE (With Video): https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/1...submerged-in-lake-for-95-years/6411603735721/
 
Another lost class ring story - in this case, apparently lost for circa 40 years. In an odd twist, the original owner had completely forgotten she'd lost it.
Metal detector hobbyist reunites 1980 class ring with owner

A Massachusetts man who found a 40-year-old class ring while out with his metal detector reunited the item with a woman who had completely forgotten it was lost.

James Gilbert said he was treasure hunting in the spring near a pond in the Burbank Hospital area of Fitchburg when he unearthed a white gold ring from Auburn High School's Class of 1980. ...

Gilbert said he contacted the school and officials identified the ring's engraved initials, CLB, as likely belonging to 1980 graduate Carol L. Bartlett.

The metal detecting enthusiast said he spent months trying to track down Bartlett before seeking help on a Facebook group called Metal detecting Massachusetts. He said it was only a matter of hours before another group member had located the woman, now named Carol Mulvey. ...

Mulvey recognized the ring, but said she had no memory of losing it. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/1...tes-1980-class-ring-with-owner/4101605558304/
 
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