Family cleaning Duluth coastline finds 84-year-old class ring from Wayzata High School

DULUTH, Minn. -- A mystery at a marina has captivated people from Duluth to the Twin Cities. The unique discovery was made at Spirit Lake Marina Wednesday.

A Wisconsin family's need to keep the coastline clean led to a new more perplexing task. Giving boats a well-needed shine was what drew Liz Emmer and her boys to Spirit Lake Marina this week.

A glimmer along the shore had them beaming with curiosity.

"We were picking up trash throughout the day. We generally pick up trash wherever we see it," Emmer said. "You find lots of fishing lures, which is very appealing to little boys."

What ended up luring in her son Martial was far from fishing gear.

"Turned around and I saw this box, and I picked it up, opened it up, and saw it was a ring," Martial Emmer said.

It was a class ring, still in the original box, from Wayzata High School, with the year 1939 engraved.

"This ring's old. I mean this is 84 years old. The owner would be, could be (dead)," Liz Emmer said.

She decided to join a Facebook group based in Plymouth, sharing pictures of her son's discovery along with every detail possible. It quickly sparked interest from internet detectives hoping to get the ring to the original owner. After cleaning it up, Liz Emmer noticed some initials -- G.R.T.

How the ring ended up on shore is another question, but Martial Emmer has a few clues.

"At some other boat launch, they're doing dredging and they're finding like a lot of older artifacts, government money and stuff. So there might have been a chance the ring floated up or something," he said.

He's now eager to search for more lakeside treasure as their family trip-turned-mystery continues.