If you think about it, if someone helps CF Kane get the sled back earlier, a lot of people lead much better lives. So who is that hero?

October 14, 2009 3:53 PM

Say that Citizen Kane really wanted to find Rosebud - who would he call? Is there a kind of specific person who tracks down these personal lost things?

So I’m doing research for a project and I’m wondering if there is a specific class of person of searcher, or researcher or private investigator who goes looking for objects that are lost. Kind of like art provenance people but more general if that helps.

If there’s a name or kind that exists and you can tell me, that would help. And if there really is some sort of expert out there you can name that I could then try to reach out to and ask some questions that would help more.

posted by rileyray3000 to Grab Bag (3 answers total)

SPOILER IN THE QUESTION TITLE!!!!!11

I'm kidding. I think this is a very typical use of private detectives. At worst, calling a few will give you a kick in the right direction.
posted by rokusan at 4:59 PM on October 14, 2009

Yeah, I think this would be done by private detectives, if anyone. I'm guessing the people that do this kind of work most often (outside of law enforcement) are the investigators employed by insurance companies.

Of course, that would be for things that are insured for a whole lot of money. It kind of sounds like you're talking about things that are of great personal importance but not really worth a lot. I don't know if there exists a specialist in that, because it seems like there wouldn't be enough paying customers to make it worthwhile.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:40 PM on October 14, 2009

Someone as wealthy as Kane, and who is such a prodigious collector, probably has someone (or a team of someones) to catalog his acquisitions and property. A curator?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:02 AM on October 15, 2009