Man’s Gold Wedding Band Lost, Found and Returned Sunset Beach, NC

On Wednesday, Sept 22^nd, I got the following text message, in part, from Ben saying, “Hi Jim. I found your site after I lost my gold ring. I lost the ring about an hour and a half ago in a wading pool near the ocean. Would you be able to come see if you can find it asap before the tide change? Thank you.” Knowing the tide table, he lost it right at low tide. I knew by the time I would have gotten there, his ring would be underwater, with an incoming tide and out of reach of me trying to find it. I called him and got some additional details. Luckily, other than losing his ring, he did everything right as far as knowing exactly where he lost it. Unfortunately, he had to leave town for a work meeting, but we agreed I’d meet his wife, Katie, on the beach today at 3 p.m. and she could show me the exact spot. The last thing I asked him to do was pace off the distance from a stationary object at the top of the beach to where he lost his ring and text me the steps. A short time later, he sent me the paces and the starting point.

Today, I text Katie saying that I was going to be there a little early. I also told her that with all the information Ben had given me that there was no need for her to meet me. Ben had mentioned that he and Katie had an 11 month old, so I didn’t want her to have to worry about the baby just to point something out to me. I paced off the distance Ben had given me and started a west to east perpendicular grid search from the beach to the surf. I met a couple of ladies that had been there to help Ben and Katie search for his ring the day before and thought that they were east of where I was searching. Within about 10 minutes, Katie, her baby, and her mother showed up. Katie also thought they were a little more east than I was searching. So I moved east and changed my west to east search to a east to west search. After about 45 minutes, I got the tone and numbers I was looking for on my Equinox 800 for a man’s gold wedding band. As soon as I got the signal I looked over at Katie, who was standing about 20 yards away with her mother and baby and gave her the “I got it” look. I think she froze where she stood and didn’t take her eyes off me. After 2 scoops, Ben’s ring was lying on top of the sand. I picked it up, washed off the sand and turned around to face Katie, holding the ring up for her to see. She was overwhelmed and her excitement alerted the entire beach that something was going on. She ran over to me, wiping the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. Being just a small part of that kind of excitement is exactly why I do this, there’s nothing better. I took the attached picture and sent it to Ben, with no text. He immediately responds saying, “Hey Jim, I am on a plane and get texts but no pics. Did you find it??” Katie and I agreed that I’d just send him “Wait till u land!” It was kind of mean, but he seeing his wife holding his ring would make it all worth it. It wasn’t long before he sent “Yesssss!”

Ben and Katie – Thank you so much for trusting me and The Ring Finders to help find and return your precious treasure. Your ring now has one more chapter to add to its story. Best of luck to you two!

Jim