I bought a class ring. This was a rather extravagant gesture. It wasn’t gold or silver, and it had a “yellow stone” that was supposed to look like a real gem but wasn’t. It had my name and birthday engraved inside it. Given the fact that we were not wealthy, the dollars spent on that ring required some thought. But we did it.
Like an idiot, I lost it less than a year later. I had no idea where. I just realized one day it was gone. I looked for it for a while, but no luck, and let’s face it – after college, a high school ring isn’t such a big deal. So… it was gone.
Last Thursday, I get a phone call. “Are you Bricker?”
I allowed as how I was.
“Did you attend F----- F---- High School and graduate in 19xx?”
“Yes…”
“I think I have your class ring.”
Some very nice lady had bought a bag of jewelry at an estate sale, and in it, for some bizarre and never-to-be-known reason, was my class ring. She refused any reward, and put the ring into a padded envelope addressed to me – an address she already had.
It came today.
It’s very unreal, seeing this thing after so many years.
So shout-out to my benefactor, and – I have a class ring again!
That is so cool! I lost my class ring the year I got it, sophomore year I think. I didn’t know where. Then senior year a guy was doing exercises for football practice and felt something in the ground under his hand, and I got my class ring back. A couple years of being mowed over had not even nicked it.
Lost it again about 30 years later. I wasn’t wearing it so I used it as a piece of treasure in my fish tank, and lost it in a nasty divorce. Long story, don’t ask…
I took a call one time from a little old lady who had filed a homeowner’s claim for a lost sapphire engagement ring. It turned up several months later in a jar of cold cream and she wanted to return the money we had paid out. I thought that was nice, most people would have just kept the cash.
I have a college class ring from Loyola in New Orleans from the early 1970’s. Someone found it while digging a hole in 1995. It is in great condition and has markings on it. I contacted the school about trying to figure out who it belonged to but no one could figure it out as of a few years ago. I might try again. It has fraternity letters, initials, and class year engraved.
Bricker, that’s a really sweet story. Isn’t life fun sometimes? I lost my class ring to my then-fiancee, later husband, even later ex-husband. He took it with him when he went to Colorado to start his new job, six weeks or so before our wedding. He said he lost it, but I think it wound up in a pawn shop somewhere.
I have a High School class ring. I think my mother put it away to parts unknown. She would not allow me to give it to a girl which was a common thing to do. Since the ring was too big for their finger, they taped it up to fit.
I bought my son’s class ring this year and one of the things included in the price was three year’s worth of insurance against loss. Looks like the class ring industry finally wised up to the number of mothers crying out as if with a single voice, “We’re not spending that much money on something you’re just going to lose!”
Bricker, thanks for sharing. That is a cool story, and very nice of the lady that found it. What kind of condition was it in after all these years?
Hubby and I still have ours, and it’s funny looking at them how similar they are. I can wear his, and sometimes do. Mine was made to fit the ring finger on my left hand, and it still fits that finger: but since my wedding band is there, I can’t wear it. It’s too small for my right hand.
BTW, because of this, I found a cool website where you can register a lost or found class ring. You can also sign up to be a class ring detective, if you’d like to help research and reunite lost rings with their owners. Looks interesting.
I see no one’s found mine yet. Last time I saw it was only about ten years ago, in the bathroom used exclusively by my ex-husband. If he still had it when he died, I imagine the people who cleaned out the house got it. A shame it was worth nothing.
I keep on hoping someone had found my mother’s class ring, but I lost it way back in the early 80’s. She let me wear it, and I left it on a sink at the stadium. Oh, she let me have it, too. Funniest thing is, she didn’t graduate: she quit after she flunked 9th grade and got married.
My HS sold them too. Josten’s? Jensen’s? The metal was called " Argentus".
Have to ask, without trying to find out who you are- how in the world did she already have your name and address when the ring was an anonymous bauble in a pile in an estate sale?? Was the ring in an envelope with all of your info? Do you still live in the same house with the same phone number as you did in HS?
I gave away my HS ring-foolishly. Never got one from college. Didn’t think I’d wear a clunky ring. Now my wedding band- which is a thick stainless steel band with cable running through it- is about as bulky as that old HS ring !
