Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 6843

Abu Wa'il Shaqiq bin Salamah narrates: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) bought a slave girl from a man for six hundred, or perhaps seven hundred, dirhams. Then he kept announcing for a year, but he did not find that owner. Then he took the slave girl out to al-Shiddah and gave it in charity, one or two dirhams at a time, on behalf of its owner, (saying that) if its owner came, he would give him the choice: if he chose the reward, he would have it, and if he chose the wealth, he would receive the wealth. Then Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "This is how you should deal with a found item!" (It is mentioned in this way in the printed Arabic text as well, but perhaps the copyist or scribe made an error, because the report is not complete and coherent.)
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its chain contains a narrator, Amir bin Shaqiq, whom Ibn Hibban and al-Nasa'i (may Allah have mercy on him) declared thiqah (trustworthy), while Yahya bin Ma'in and others declared him da'if (weak).