“I am about to build a new mixed-use building in a suburb of a major city,” a real estate developer asked us recently. “But before I build, I have to knock down an older wooden Victorian house on the site. Should I knock the house down and then sift through the rubble looking for hidden treasure and valuables, or would it be better to look through the house while it is still standing? Which approach makes it easier to find any treasures that previous owners might have hidden or left behind?”

What Will You Find Closer to Home?

Metal detector enthusiasts have recently found astonishing treasures buried in the British Isles. Last December, a retired police officer who was exploring on the Isle of Man found a cache of Viking-era jewelry that contained a gold arm ring, a silver brooch and other items that were apparently hidden 1,000 years ago.

In today’s post, let’s explore a question that is a bit more complicated than it seems . . .

If you find something, does it belong to you?

It’s a question that comes up more often than you might think, because people lose personal items every day and presumably, the things they lose are found by other people. If you don’t think people lose and find things frequently, just visit the Lost & Found section on the Craigslist in your area. You’ll quickly see that people lose keys, rings, dogs, cats, parrots, cellphones, and all sorts of personal items. You’ll also see that lots of honest people post “found” notices on Craigslist. They found your key or your parrot, and they would like to return it to you.

Findings are small, pre-manufactured metal items that are used in jewelry production. Chances are pretty good that as you read this post, some of them are right there in the room with you. If you bought a nice silver chain to give your niece for a present, for example, open the box and take a look at it. You’ll see that there is a small ring attached to one end, and some kind of clasp to the other. Those add-on pieces are findings.