Scottish Man Reunited with Wallet He Lost Over 20 Years Ago
Back in 2001, Ryan Seymour from Fife, Scotland, was enjoying a night at the pub with some friends when his wallet went missing.
By the end of the night, he and his wallet had somehow been separated after he visited the loo. The contents of his wallet — a variety of cards and £60 (around $85 the U.S.) — were gone.
Until earlier this year, on April 26, when the local police reached out to him with an unusual question.
“Hi Ryan,” the message began, according to a screenshot Seymour, now a graphic designer, posted. “I know this will seem a bit random but did you loose a black wallet with your name embossed on it years ago.
“I work at Dunfermline police station and someone has found a wallet in a hedge and handed it in this morning which may belong to you. It has a work pass and cards which expired 2004. If it is yours and you would like it back please feel free to pop down to the station where we will hold it. Thank you, Gillian.”
“Just got this message and honestly I can’t stop laughing,” Seymour tweeted. “Somebody has handed a wallet into the police that I lost 20 YEARS AGO. hahahaha.”
Too little, too late, but apparently Seymour couldn’t resist retrieving the relic full of expired cards, a sort of time capsule, and in May he had an update that went absolutely wild.
“Well ladies & gents,” he tweeted on May 29. “You might remember a few weeks ago, the police got in touch to say my wallet had been handed in, that was stolen 20 YEARS AGO. Well. Here it is…..”
Well ladies & gents. You might remember a few weeks ago, the police got in touch to say my wallet had been handed in, that was stolen 20 YEARS AGO. Well. Here it is….. pic.twitter.com/EButW5NfMG
— Ryan Seymour (@ryanseymour1983) May 29, 2021
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According to Seymour, someone had spotted his wallet “in a bush not far from where it was stolen.” The wallet, which has his name in gold, was apparently a present from his mother, based on his explanation in the comments.
It was understandably a little worse for wear after sitting for two decades and sported a variety of growths and spiderwebs, a fact the 37-year-old ran with.
“A time machine covered in cobwebs,” he wrote in one comment.
“Wild indeed,” he wrote in another. “Unfortunately all these cards have long since expired. I think a spider tried to use my bank card but didn’t know my PIN.”
My membership card for renting VHS pic.twitter.com/HfFcV75pcU
— Ryan Seymour (@ryanseymour1983) May 29, 2021
Obviously, the money was gone, but Seymour wasn’t expecting it to be there and that fact has only gone to fuel more in-jokes with the friend he’d visited the pub with on that fateful night. The other cards, including an old VHS rental card, bank card and employee card gave him a chuckle.
“It was funny to see me as fresh faced and innocent on my old employee card but the VHS rental card made me chuckle I must admit,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.
“The police sergeant said she’d never seen this in 30 years of working there,” Seymour explained in another comment. “Somebody collecting a wallet that was stolen 20 years ago.”
Total strangers seem to be enjoying the story as well, sharing the story of the prodigal wallet and sharing their own similar stories of loss and reunion.
On June 3, Seymour shared another update: The man who’d found the artifact reached out to him.
I just got a message from the guy who found my wallet! The man, the myth, the legend who started this whole crazy thing. He has revealed himself pic.twitter.com/HEShg0RIHv
— Ryan Seymour (@ryanseymour1983) June 3, 2021
“Hi I am glad you got your wallet back despite its condition,” a screenshot of the message reads. “I found your wallet in a hedge in Scobie Place and was in 2 minds about dumping it or handing it into the Police. I am certainly glad you got it back dilapidated but at least intact regards Peter.”
Seymour also said that the wallet would “never forgive” him, as it has “serious abandonment issues,” and said that for such a rare and priceless item, he’s “open to offers … Although the national museum of Scotland are said to be preparing a sizeable bid.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
