Morsul, your 9,9,9 comment was very interesting, I obviously didn't think of that.
The only reason I wouldn't say Elrond or Gandalf is because I would think they wouldn't want anybody, including themselves to handle the ring. I think it had to be someone who visited Frodo, who knew about the ring, and who changed it without Gandalf or Elrond knowing. I wouldn't think Elrond or Gandalf would allow anyone to change it, unless it was under there own supervision, and if this is true then why wasn't it written in the story? I believe it wasn't written because no body witnessed it happen except the person who did it, so therefor it was never known who did it.
I do agree with Morsul's 9,9,9 statement I think the most likely answer would be Sam. Maybe "bearing" the ring is too strong of a term. We can go with "handle."
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