DEUT1096 As important as this mitzvah is, and as strict as the Jewish laws are about returning lost objects, not all objects need to be returned. If the lost object is very common (such as a dollar bill) and has no specific identification marks and is found in a public area, then the finder may pick up the object and keep it immediately, as it is assumed that the owner, when realizing the object has been lost, will give up hope of ever retrieving the object due its unidentifiable nature. How does the finder ago about returning the object in Jewish law? Based on [this] verse "Until thy brother require it." The Midrash (Midrash, Mechilta Mishpatim 20) says this verse means that the finder of the object must publicly announce its finding. Thus, the finder must announce that he has found an object and wait for the owner to identify it with specific signs unique to that object, or by the specific amount, weight, number, or place lost (Maimonides, Hilchot Gezeilah Ve'aveidah 13:5). How does the finder specifically announce the object? ... Today, a person would announce by advertising the found object in the general area or neighborhood that the object was found. Of course, the cost of the advertisement would have to be repaid by the owner, once identified. How long would a finder have to keep announcing the found object before he would be allowed to "give up" and fulfill his obligation? ... After the destruction of the Temple, no set time limit was officially established, although sources list a thirty-day maximum for announcing (Tosefta, Bava Metzia 2:6). What happens if no one claims the object after it has been sufficiently announced or no one claiming to be the owner sufficiently identifies it as his or her own? In most societies today, the police will eventually let the finder keep the object if no one comes to claim it (even if not announced), usually after thirty days. In Judaism, a finder cannot ever take the object for himself or herself if it is identifiable and must leave it forever or until Elijah comes and returns it to the "rightful owner" (Maimonides, Hilchot Gezeilah Ve'aveidah 13:8).