Boy on quest for owner of ring found in bay SAN FRANCISCO

Joe Carter, 12 of Alameda, Calif. shows the engagement ring he retrieved from San Francisco Bay on Sunday, May 4, 2008. He is photographed during an interview in his parents Alameda home on Tuesday, May 6, 2008. Photo by Kim Komenich / San Francisco Chronicle less Joe Carter, 12 of Alameda, Calif. shows the engagement ring he retrieved from San Francisco Bay on Sunday, May 4, 2008. He is photographed during an interview in his parents Alameda home on Tuesday, May 6, ... more Photo: Kim Komenich Photo: Kim Komenich Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Boy on quest for owner of ring found in bay 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It looked like a small charcoal briquette, floating on San Francisco Bay, but it was just a little bit too square to be a charcoal briquette.

Twelve-year-old Joe Carter, who was boating with his father Sunday off Crissy Field, figured he might as well reach over the side of their dinghy and pick it up.

It wasn't a charcoal briquette after all, Joe realized, because charcoal briquettes do not have hinges on them.

It was a jewelry box.

"What if there's a diamond ring inside?" Joe remembers wondering to himself. So he opened the small black box.

And inside was something round and golden, with a sparkling stone on it.

"It's a real diamond ring," Joe said. "With a real diamond."

Joe took the ring out of the box and inspected a small tag, which was still attached to it.

"Romance Princess. One-quarter carat. Diamond Wedding Ring. $499," the tag said.

Joe, being several years shy of the time of life when a diamond ring in a black box comes in handy, huddled up with his father, Matt. The two of them are honorable, and they figured the thing to do was to call Macy's department store and find out if anyone had lost a ring. The small box had "Macy's" printed on the inside.

But the jewelry sales clerk said there was nothing he could do. Macy's sells a lot of rings, and they don't come with serial numbers.

So the Carters, who live in Alameda, posted a "lost and found" ad on an online bulletin board.

"Ring found floating in SF Bay," the ad said. "We would love to return it. Please contact me with a description."

And for four days, they have sat back and waited for developments. Perhaps the unfortunate owner would come forward. Perhaps several different people, all claiming to be the unfortunate owner, would come forward. Gold and diamonds have a way of making people do things they otherwise wouldn't.

But, so far, no one at all has come forward.

While the Carters wait, they try to imagine how the diamond ring ended up in San Francisco Bay. Did a would-be husband fling it into the water after his proposal was rejected? Did a would-be bride toss it aside because it weighed only one-quarter carat?

"I knew a girl in high school who did that when her boyfriend proposed," said Joe's mom, Laura, filling in her son on the ways of women and quarter-carat diamond rings.

Did it fall from the promenade deck of a cruise ship? Did someone drop it into the water on purpose, as the old lady did at the end of "Titanic?"

Every hour or so, Joe takes the ring out of the black box and stares at it. It was a remarkable thing to find, he realizes, but it would have been even better to find something that a 12-year-old boy can really use.

"Like a flat-screen plasma TV," Joe said.

Besides, a quarter-carat diamond ring is worth only $150 or so, according to experts, despite what the price tag says, and the reward Joe is likely to receive from the owner for finding something worth $150 is bound to be a lot less than that. Might be enough to pay for a video game, he said - a used one.

On the other hand, Joe knows he is doing the right thing, and that's worth something more than $150.

"I think it would be pretty sad to be someone reaching into your pocket for a diamond ring and find out it's not there," Joe said. "I hope I can find whoever that person is. That would be great."