Bangor man finds ring that was meant to be lost

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - “It was a beautiful day off. It was I was early; you know, I’ll spend you know all day down on the Penobscot, you know, it was low tide, nice and early, the sun was shining,” said metal detectorist Scott Mannke.

That day Scott Mannke would dig up a tungsten ring.

He didn’t think too much of it initially.

Months later he would clean it up in hopes of selling it.

“I’m like, ‘You know what I’m gonna try to find the owner,’ so I dunked it in mineral oil bought a magnifying glass. Well, I threw it on buy swap and trade sites and I got a couple comments like one guy’s like, ‘That’s a generic ring. Why would anyone want that?’ you know. So, I had a few trolls at first, told them to mind their own business and then this lady actually messaged me and she’s like, ‘Wait, I think that’s my ring.’ and I’m like, no way! There’s no way!” exclaimed Mannke.

Mannke, clearly shocked that he found the ring’s owner, wanted to be sure of it.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, give me the initials for the heck of it.’ Two seconds later she tells me the initials. Cause I’m laying in bed, I’m like there’s no way, come on! So, I sit up, because I don’t believe this and I’m like throw me out a date and she throws up the day and it must be the day when they got married back in, I think ‘06 or something,” explained Mannke.

Mannke was eager to return the ring to the couple after all those years of love, but he would soon find out that was not quite the case.

“I go ‘When do you wanna meet up? I’ll return it.’ and no response. I go so I mean, ‘I’d like to return this.’ and no response. So, then she finally tells me she’s like, well, it’s my ex-husband’s and he tossed in the river apparently. So, she goes, ‘It’s nice to know he tossed it in the river.’ Yeah, I was laughing,” added Mannke.

His efforts were appreciated, but the ring may likely be for sale again.

“She was like ‘Thank you for being a good Samaritan trying to do the right thing.’ She goes ‘Thank you for that’, but honestly, you know, it’s the ex-husband. She hates him. She’s like ‘you can either toss it, keep it, or sell it.’ So, there’s a ring for sale I guess,” stated Manke.

In the end, Mannke is glad he could find the story behind the ring, even if it didn’t have a storybook ending.

“We’re a good group us metal detectors, and we just try to do the right thing and try to return stuff, you know, but yeah, it’s kind of not the heart felt story, but kind of a comical one. She wasn’t too happy the ex threw it in the river though I don’t think,” concluded Mannke.