Swedish Ring Found and Returned to Swedish Owner

For Mike Miller it started out as a normal trip to do a little water detecting at St. Pete Beach. Pickings were slim and when he heard a very sketchy signal rang out while in waist deep water. Thinking it was a bottle cap and indicating near the surface Mike decided to dig it and get it out of the way.   What popped out was a ring that had him shaking his head and more than a bit curious. When he got home he confirmed what he thought he had seen. The ring was marked…18kt 925 Iron. This would explain the strange signal he was getting on his CZ-21. Also inside the ring was the name Katrina and what looked to be the makers mark, Elin. Doing a Google search turns up a jewelry maker in Sweden. Mike sends an email with a picture of the ring to the jeweler and explains the circumstances and hopes she can identify the owner so that it can be returned. She had originally thought that Mike’s email was junk so she disregarded it. The owner of the ring contacted her to see if a replacement could be made. She explained that she had lost it at the beach in Florida. This jogged the jeweler’s memory of Mike’s email and the jeweler replied…”I know” which really confused the owner until she explained the email she had received from Florida. Mike finally after about a week gets an email from the owner with a picture of the ring. However, here is a twist…in the picture that Mike received the name is Caroline, not Katrina. So Mike emails back saying he is sorry that the ring he found must not be hers since the name didn’t match the one he found. She then replied that she was sorry, English is not her first language and the name inside the one she sent was an identical ring that she and her partner had custom made. Needless to say she was extremely excited to get the ring back noting that the gold used to make both rings was from her grandmother’s ring. She explained that they used iron because “its ruff look symbolizes life together isn’t always easy and shiny but can still be very beautiful.” Both she and the jeweler were both amazed that someone would go to that much trouble to find the owner and return the ring. (Those of us who know Mike are not surprised) The jeweler asked for the details of Mike’s find because the news media in Sweden had heard about the recovery and wanted to interview her about this remarkable story. Katrina also asked for a picture of Mike with the ring for her Facebook page.

Needless to say we at SRARC are extremely proud of Mike for this wonderful ring return. The hobby is better off because of people like you!