What is the most valuable thing you have ever found?

[reecejackox]

Whether that be in the street or in a public place or in a new home or something you didn't know you had

I last year on holiday found a mans driving licence under a bench and sent it back to him.

 

[Meriweather]

$2000 in a shoe at a garage sale.
Told the owner

 

[Gumbo4x4]

$60 on the ground at Epcot. We checked with the drink vendor nearby to see if anyone had asked about the money (nobody had) and then waited for a few minutes to see if anyone would come looking for it. Nobody did, so we kept it.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

A $100 bill on the ground during a local art fair.

 

[RedAngie]

Someone's I-phone that was left on a bench at the boardwalk.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

A baby octopus at the beach in the year 2004. My kids and I carefully put him back in the ocean and he swam away. Such an adorable tiny thing, I wish we had a camera to take the picture.

 

[amberpi]

I dug up multiple thousands dollars as a kid in our yard. The previous owner was batcrap crazy and liked to bury money. After the first find (I got a metal detector for Christmas), I was all over it. I'll have to ask mom and dad what it all totalled, but it was over 10k. Some of the money they had to send to the mint because a few of the cans got moisture in them. I didn't even know that was a thing, but to a kid the brand new bills from the mint seemed magical.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Found the woman who would become my wife here on the DIS.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Found the woman who would become my wife here on the DIS.

Well, I was going to post "My DH" but you beat me to it!

I found someone's dog once, took him home (before reliable cell phones). Called his owner and returned him to them.

 

[BrianL]

Sadly, mine is as pedestrian as a $100 bill. It was recently too.

 

[prprincess]

I've found two purses filled with cash and cards. I also found a Samsung cellphone. In all instances I tracked down the owners and returned.

 

[amcnj]

I dug up multiple thousands dollars as a kid in our yard. The previous owner was batcrap crazy and liked to bury money. After the first find (I got a metal detector for Christmas), I was all over it. I'll have to ask mom and dad what it all totalled, but it was over 10k. Some of the money they had to send to the mint because a few of the cans got moisture in them. I didn't even know that was a thing, but to a kid the brand new bills from the mint seemed magical.

Wow that must have been fun and interesting, and kept you busy for a while!

 

[Mokat76]

Diamond wedding band in the ladies room at a restaurant. I turned it into the manager.
A purse left on a stoop outside a building at Colonial Williamsburg. No ID in the thing, but there was cash and a phone. I gave it to the historical actor who was standing at the entrance to the next building down. As I was walking away, a couple of tween/early teen girls came rushing up, one in tears. I’m betting it belonged to her.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Besides pets, I found a $20 bill in a plastic cup on the edge of a parking lot once. I can't think of anything else of value that I've found.

In college while walking down town one day, I found a polaroid picture of a man laying back (clothed) on a bed. Someone had written "Lamont" across the bottom. I brought it back to the dorm and Lamont became a sort of mascot for our floor. Never found out who he was.

 

[amberpi]

Wow that must have been fun and interesting, and kept you busy for a while!

It was a really fun spring/summer. My brother rolled his eyes when I asked for a metal detector over toys, but my folks gave me a small amount of each of my finds for my "hard work" - seriously, digging when you're like 10 is kinda hard and they made me find my treasures on my own.

That house was crazy when they bought it. Its a beautiful mid-century modern (modest by today's standards I guess) they bought before that was really cool. It's much like the Brady Bunch house - giant living room/dining room, but small bathrooms and closets for sure. When they bought it, all the beautiful hardwoods were covered by carpet and all the bedroom doors had deadbolts and chain locks from inside from the master or from outside to the hallway if someone got into the other bedrooms. The privacy fence was topped with barbwire, she had steel bars on all the windows, in a very, very nice suburban subdivision. It was crazy.

 

[Kellykins1218]

$550 in wadded up wet money on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland

 

[amcnj]

It was a really fun spring/summer. My brother rolled his eyes when I asked for a metal detector over toys, but my folks gave me a small amount of each of my finds for my "hard work" - seriously, digging when you're like 10 is kinda hard and they made me find my treasures on my own.

That house was crazy when they bought it. Its a beautiful mid-century modern (modest by today's standards I guess) they bought before that was really cool. It's much like the Brady Bunch house - giant living room/dining room, but small bathrooms and closets for sure. When they bought it, all the beautiful hardwoods were covered by carpet and all the bedroom doors had deadbolts and chain locks from inside from the master or from outside to the hallway if someone got into the other bedrooms. The privacy fence was topped with barbwire, she had steel bars on all the windows, in a very, very nice suburban subdivision. It was crazy.

Yes, there were some trends in decorating that have reversed back, like painting beautiful wood molding and doors, and putting carpeting over hardwood floors. Though I don't recall barbed wire being part of it all!

 

[OhMari]

I found a $1500 IRS check and $20 in a shopping cart outside at Walmart. I was putting away my cart and the cart in front of me had paper laying on the cart seat. I hesitated, but then grabbed it last minute.
The power of Facebook, helped me find the owner.
And Walmart wanted nothing to do with anything. I took it inside and they told me it was my problem.

 

[DLgal]

I found a waitress's folder in the ladies room at a Buffalo Wild Wings that I went into just to use the bathroom. It had ALL her shift's receipts and what appeared to be her cash tips. It had several hundred dollars. I handed it to the hostess on my way out. Her eyes got HUGE and she said "Oh my God thank you for turning this in." I imagine the waitress didn't even realize she was missing it yet.

 

[NFLDERS]

When we were kids about 8 and 10 my brother and I, found coins in mason jars in our toilet's tank. We kept it OUR secret, as we occasionally spent some.

Turned out they were our dad's coins. One of the times my brother and I were in big trouble.

To this day neither of us can recall what we were doing looking in there in the first place!