What is the most valuable item you have accidentally left in a public place

[RedAngie]

A digital camera. I THINK I left it somewhere in Chicago O'Hare Airport. I remember seeing it while rearranging my carry-on bag in the airport before the flight. When I got home it was missing.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

I honestly cannot recall leaving anything of value anywhere. DD15 on the other hand, I have a few.
We bought a fancy new camera a few years ago. Our first trip to WDW with it, I told her if she wanted to use it she was carrying it around. On our HS day we stopped first at Starring Rolls for cupcakes for breakfast before heading to TSMM. Right as we were getting in line for TS, we both realized she'd left the camera bag on her chair. I told her to run and get it! Thank goodness it was still there. Pretty sure DH would've had our heads on a platter. She said there was a nice couple that noticed it and if she hadn't gotten there when she did, they were going to take it to guest services.
My grandma gave DD a bunch of her old costume jewelry. There was one ring that she loved and wore it every where. Shortly after DG passed away, DD left the ring in the washroom at my oral surgeon's office. We were 20 minutes away before she realized it and started panicking and crying (while I was driving, nothing I could do). I got on the phone right away and they said it was still there, so I went and got it the next day.
Not so valuable, but 2 years ago at the end of our WDW vacation, we stopped at a washroom before security. DD took her sunglasses off of her head and set them on the toilet paper dispenser. As soon as we got through security she realized it. I told her they were long gone, I was not going back through security. I still give her grief about that one!

 

[nancygirl1]

I was changing in a ladies room at a hotel and putting on a pair of pantyhose. I took my rings off...channel set wedding ring w/8 diamonds, my father's wedding ring and an amethyst & diamond ring (8 diamonds around the stone) & set them on a shelf in the stall. I didn't want to run the pantyhose. I walked out of the bathroom without my rings. No more than 5 minutes later I was back in the bathroom and they were gone. No one ever came forward. You know what they say...Karma is a b*tch.

 

[SafariFan1984]

I’m losing things quite often, but usually just small, easily replaced things. Over the last year, though, I’ve lost three things of value to me:

At a restaurant in Pittsburgh I lost a cashmere Burberry scarf. I called in and went back, but they said no one turned any scarves in at all.

In Hollywood Studios last summer I lost a pair of Versace sunglasses, but no one ever turned them in even though they were old and scratched a bit by that point.

The one that was most upsetting and worth the most value to me, though, was a Toulouse pin. That one was also lost in Hollywood Studios and no one ever turned it in either. I still collect some pins occasionally, but I don’t really wear them into the parks anymore.

 

[Kellykins1218]

The one that was most upsetting and worth the most value to me, though, was a Toulouse pin. That one was also lost in Hollywood Studios and no one ever turned it in either. I still collect some pins occasionally, but I don’t really wear them into the parks anymore.

I’ve found 6 or 7 pins over the years and honestly it never even crossed my mind to turn them in to anyone. Sorry! (I never found Toulouse)

 

[lynxstch]

My husband lost his wallet at WDW, in Animal Kingdom. Someone found it and had turned it in by the time we got to someone to ask about it. Whew!

 

[leebee]

OH! I just remembered that in 1993 I left a camera in a setback pocket on a United Airlines flight. Never saw the camera again.

 

[PrincesCJM]

We just returned from a trip to Disney. I typically wear a drawstring backpack as my purse. I had taken it off because I was babywearing a sleeping baby and wanted to sit down. I put it on the handle of the stroll. A little while later, we decided to go into the Enchanted Tiki Room. We were a few minutes into the show when I realized I didn't have it and left. It was still hanging on the stroller, with my wallet (money and credit cards) still inside. I was so relieved. We flew out to go home the next day and I was so worried my wallet (with my ID) would be gone.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I have left my credit card at Walmart before, I did not even know it was missing until somebody called me and told me it was there. (we had some friends who worked there so they knew me). I left my keys at a bank before too. I had ridden with somebody else from their house. I did not even realize my keys were gone until I got ready to go home and had no keys. I have one of those Tile tracker things on my key chain and it gave the bank as their last known location. We went back to the bank, and sure enough my keys were right there. They had them behind the counter.

I also lost a minivan.

I parked in a parking garage and could not find it when I came back out. It wasn't as funny as it was on the Seinfeld TV show. I had parked in Basement, and I was running around Sub-Basement looking for it. I finally got close enough that when I was hitting the "lock" button I could hear the horn, but I could not see it anywhere. It took me probably an hour and a half to finally find it.

 

[dollarmite]

1. My video camera fell out of my jacket on a bus trip from NYC to Washington DC. I noticed this about five minutes after sitting down. It took a while, but I did find it when another passenger held it up when I went up and down the bus asking if anyone had seen it. I still wonder whether they would have handed it in to the driver had I not asked about it, as why not make an announcement to the bus asking if anyone owned the video camera that had suddenly appeared between their seats?

2. Auckland Airport NZ - whilst showing one of the customs officials stuff that was in one (hand luggage) bag, we put down our other hand luggage bag and walked off without it. The forgotten bag was a plastic bag of stuff we'd only bought in duty free at our last departure point so we weren't used to having to account for it. Didn't realise until I went to try and video something in the airport about half an hour later that the new bag was missing. The new bag contained a brand new camera, a new watch, some other item I've since forgotten and our (old) video camera that I'd just slipped in there as we went through customs. We went straight to the airport police, but they couldn't have cared less. It was eventually located in some obscure outer building about an hour later after being handed in.

3. London Heathrow Airport - five minutes after walking out into the arrivals section, I went into a nearby shop and paid for some stuff with my pre-paid travel cared. Only realised it was missing when I went into a second shop and went to pay for the goods and discovered I didn't have my card. Made a mad dash back to the first shop, where I luckily retrieved my card from the cashier.

4. A hotel in Cardiff, Wales. Only noticed I'd left my purse in the hotel as we were driving out of the carpark and I went to check how much cash I had that day. Thankfully retrieved from reception a few minutes later.

All these things happened on overseas holidays. Maybe I should just stay home.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My truck - dropped the keys in the parking lot. Anyone who would have picked them up & punched the lock button would have had a free truck. Thankfully, I found them on my way out of the store before (a) anyone else did and (b) before they were run over.

 

[RangerPooh]

Two summers ago DD#1 was attending a girls coding camp and left her cell phone somewhere on the college campus that the camp was being held. During the school year this would have been a non issue as the campus is incredibly safe (security gates to enter campus, the general public isn't going to enter without being scrutinized) where students leave laptops, expensive bikes, phones, backpacks, etc out without the fear of it being stolen. During the summer the campus hosts local youth for sports camps, campus tours, etc. A local kid pocketed daughters phone. DH used the tracking feature so it was pinging. The kids counselor had to encourage the child to not continue hiding the phone which he had taken, as he was denying having it even though it was pinging and DH was right there with the tracking feature. We got the phone back, but served as a reminder that even at places deemed safe your things can be stolen.

 

[aristocatz]

My backpack (filled with wallet, shoes, house keys, and all of my essential belongings) in a field at a music festival. I recovered most of it the next day.

 

[bcla]

Cell phone. It was subsidized, but I had to pay tax on the full retail value, which was $700. I forgot an iPad once at a restaurant. I got it back, but they wanted me to prove it was mine.

 

[PollyannaMom]

It's good to hear so many stories in which the things were found!

I left my backpack (with phone, wallet, etc.) in a pizza place last summer. Thankfully, I had only made it to the shop across the street when I noticed. - I went right back, and it was at the counter waiting for me.

DS once left his Kindle on an airplane. He was sure it was gone for good, but we contacted lost and found anyway, and got it back! (Thankfully, he had an ID sticker inside the case - just one of those address labels charities always send with donation requests.)

 

[keri125]

When I was a teenager I flew out to visit my dad in St. Louis. Had a late flight and on the way to his apartment stopped in a "not-so-nice" neighborhood to grab a quick late dinner at Taco Bell. Got to his apartment (which was about 45 minutes away) and realized I had left my purse at the Taco Bell - which contained my pre-printed flight tickets home, ALL of my spending money, all my makeup, and every bit of ID I owned. My dad called the Taco Bell as they were just getting ready to close and they had found it and said they would put it in the safe overnight and we could pick it up tomorrow. We drove there first thing the next morning and not only did they have it.... every single item I had in there, down to the last dollar bill, was still there. We were amazed as I had about $300 in cash in there; we thought for sure that at least the cash would be gone (not necessarily from the workers, but just from whoever found it and turned it in). Restored my faith in humanity. My mom lost her digital camera in Spokane, WA one time, and someone turned it in. My son left his phone in our local Fred Meyer's Grocery Store and someone turned it in (a few weeks later - he was so happy he had tears in his eyes!). Every time this has happened to me and it has been turned in my faith in humanity has been restored.

 

[Rockette]

Ballroom dance dress (I'm a ballroom dancer), that my sponsor let me wear for a competition. I left it in the hotel lobby instead of taking it with me when I went to the airport. Funny thing this was actually at the Disney Swan hotel...

When we finally got it back, he sold it for just shy of 8000 dollars.