Barbara Burgess, Author at The Ring Finders

Dauphin Island – Lost diamond ring

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I got a call from Todd asking if I found rings. Well, yes sir, I do my best – tell me your story.

Todd and his wife were visiting Dauphin Island from Arkansas and this was their second day here. His wife had put her wedding ring on the chair and then accidentally knocked it off. He shared with me that they had been crawling around on hands and knees for a couple of hours looking for it.  They weren’t far away from me so I was there within 15 min.

Todd met me and took me down to the beach where they had set up. Fortunately it was a beach house that wasn’t on the public beach, and it was a fairly narrow strip of sand. The chairs had already been removed, so Todd pointed me to the area they had been sifting the sand with their fingers. It was hot as blue blazes outside with an excessive heat warning that day so I uttered a quick prayer that this would be an easy recovery ! Not to mention I was also recovering from a bout with Covid and my stamina and energy was definitely not back up to normal yet.

I set out with my trusty Minelab Equinox 900, mentally mapped out an area to grid, and started swinging. I warned Todd that pull tabs sound a little like rings and told him don’t get too excited if I scooped a target. Less than a dozen swings of my coil, I got a promising signal. A few gentle shakes of my scoop and there was his wife’s ring. Thankfully one of my easiest recoveries yet and another beach vacation saved !

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Lost Diamond Ring – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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A heavy thunderstorm had just blown over the island and another round was on its way. Just as the rain slacked off between storms I got a phone call from Jeremy who was visiting from Florida. It was their anniversary and he had just given his wife Jenny a beautiful new diamond wedding set. As the storm blew in, they were frantically trying to get their beach tent and belongings off the beach and under the shelter of the house. Jenny told me she remembered wiping her hands on her pants and then realizing the slightly too big diamond ring was no longer on her finger. They had combed through the sand for about an hour before finding my Ringfinders bio and giving me a call.

Luckily, I was about 6 miles away and the rain had almost stopped so I grabbed my gear and ran out the door. I got there, listened to her story and started swinging. I silently whispered a prayer to find it before it started storming again ! Within the first 15 seconds I heard that familiar “could be a pull tab; could be a gold ring” tone in my headphones. A few gentle shakes of my scoop and there was Jenny’s new ring sparkling in the bottom.

Not all jewelry recoveries are that easy and fun, but that one sure was !

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Family heirloom diamond ring found – Orange Beach, Alabama

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          My Sunday started out with my BFF and detecting buddy Cheryl Clark of Gulf Shores and I attending church followed by a lovely fellowship lunch where we indulged in some delicious homemade goodies. Afterward, we set out for one of our favorite detecting honey holes …. Only to arrive there and realize that one of us (I’m not naming names !) had forgotten our detector. Slightly disappointed, we decided to head back home and call it a day.

          As we drove to Cheryl’s house, we decided to see what was showing at a nearby movie theater. As luck would have it, something we wanted to see was starting soon so we ran home to change clothes, grab the missing detector since it usually stayed in my car,  and head to the movies at The Wharf in Orange Beach. It was interesting that, during that drive, I was thinking out loud and shared with Cheryl that I felt that there was a reason we couldn’t detect that day and that God must have wanted us at the movies instead for some reason.

         With the movie almost over, I saw a call on my watch from an unknown number and a voice mail. Sneaking my phone out, I read a message from Jason that he believed his wife Florence had lost a very sentimental ring the day before …… At The Wharf ! I quickly texted him and let him know that we happened to already be right there and that I would call him back in about 20 minutes. The movie ended and we walked out to meet up with Jason and Florence. They relayed to us that they had attended a car show there the day before. Florence remembered that she had taken her family heirloom ring off to put lotion on her hands, and thought maybe she had it still in her lap when she got out of the car. They had searched the car and the parking lot already and had even had someone at their hotel come take the sink apart in case it had fallen in the drain.

       Looking over the vast gravel parking lot, Cheryl and I exchanged a knowing glance. This was gonna be a tough one – almost impossible in fact ! The chances of someone else having spotted it on the hard, flat ground and picking it up seemed high. Nevertheless, we set out with our detectors to search.  An hour and a couple of pocketfuls of pull tabs, bottle caps and miscellaneous metal bits and pieces later and still no ring, the disappointed couple felt like they really needed to set out on their drive back home to Louisiana. We told them we would stick around and look just a little while longer. Just as I watched them drive off, I heard an excited “whoop whoop” from Cheryl and, against all odds, there in her hand was Florence’s beautiful platinum and diamond ring !! I quickly called Jason’s number and asked if they could turn around and come back. I was trying to sound nonchalant but he could hear Cheryl’s excited voice in the background as we were ooing and aahing over the stunning ring. The look on Florence’s face was priceless as she tearfully slipped “Grandma Florence’s” ring back on her finger. She and Jason agreed that our serendipitously being at the theater that day instead of 30 miles away detecting was truly meant to be !

       Although I live in Mobile and Cheryl lives in Gulf Shores, we metal detect together often and frequently tag team or join together to look for lost jewelry for folks. So, no matter which side of Mobile Bay you’re on, Cheryl and I just might be in the right place at the right time !


 

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Lost gold pendant – Fairhope, AL

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)
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I got a call from Brad earlier this week about a small pendant that was lost in his yard a couple days prior. He was in Fairhope which is only about 20 miles away from me on Dauphin Island as the crow flies, but is over an hour drive because it’s “across the bay” as we like to say here. Because of the distance, we mutually agreed that an afternoon later in the week would work best for both of us.
The day finally arrived and I talked my hubby into a nice little afternoon drive. After running into an unmarked detour and a street that was so new it wasn’t on my car’s GPS, we finally found his house. After carefully listening to the details of how it was lost, we both sectioned off a portion of the yard and started gridding. Almost an hour later just as we were almost about to give up, I heard a shallow target with a promising tone on my Nox 800. I simultaneously looked down and there was the tiny 18K gold pendant with a stone nestled in the grass ! Yay !! I happily knocked on the door and dropped the little pendant into Brad’s hand. I always love the surprised look I get. Brad stepped out and quickly pulled a very generous monetary reward out of his pocket which, as always, I just as quickly turned down. Karma is always my best reward ! Brad declined my request for a picture of him, but he did let me take a picture of his two adorable little girls who looked very happy that Mommy and Daddy were happy.

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Lost ring – Dauphin Island, AL

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)
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I got a text from Luke saying that his friend Delilah had lost a ring at the beach on Dauphin Island while visiting for the day. He couldn’t give me a lot of detail, so he had Delilah text me. She had taken off the ring and put it on her chair before going into the water, but it somehow got moved. She didn’t even realize it was missing until later that night. Fortunately for both of us, she was able to send me a picture of the exact location where their chairs had been set up. After waiting for a passing thunderstorm to end, I set it out to find it. Within 15 minutes it was in my beach scoop. I  gave Delilah, who was already headed back home to Missouri, a call as soon as I was back  in my car and we both shed a few happy tears. It was just a simple sterling silver claddagh ring – not monetarily worth much. What I didn’t know until after I had  recovered it, was that it had belonged to her great grandmother and had been passed down to each first born daughter on their 16th birthday. I’m happy to say that, hopefully, it can continue to be passed down to the next first born daughter ! As always – reward refused because karma and seeing happy smiles is always the best reward !

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Lost Diamond earring – Dauphin Island, AL

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)
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I got a message from Roberta one evening about a gold and diamond earring she lost in the sand on Dauphin Island. In talking to her, she told me it was lost on the biggest beach area there – one where I dread looking for lost items because it’s soooo big with very few landmarks. Fortunately, she was smart enough to stick a big stick where she felt it come off, so I felt pretty good about going down to look.

It wasn’t five minutes into the hunt and the third target before her earring was shining in my scoop and soon back in her ear ! As always, reward declined ….. karma works for me. 

 

 

 

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Lost ring – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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Have I mentioned lately that jewelry recoveries are my favorite part of my metal detecting obsession ??

I saw a Facebook post yesterday evening by someone saying his buddy had lost a wedding band “somewhere between the pool and down by the beach”. It sounded like a long shot but I’m always up for a challenge ! I went down this morning and spoke with Ryan, who had lost the ring, and he wasn’t exactly sure where it had slipped off his finger. He walked me down to the water at one of my favorite detecting spots where, coincidentally,  I had just spent about 2 hours detecting yesterday. Ryan explained that he had waded out about waste deep and the sat in the water to watch the sunset Friday night. He was VERY sure about where he had put his bag down and waded out, but that was about it.

I waded in with not a whole lot of confidence…… more like a wing and a prayer. Ok, LOTS of prayer. I then quickly realized I had not brought my waterproof headphones, I didn’t have my long pants on and there was jellyfish and mucky water, and I had even forgotten to ask if the ring was silver, gold, tungsten or stainless. 😳 Ryan was busy at work at a nearby breakfast buffet so I didn’t want to go bother him again.

Much to my suprise, and probably even more to Ryan’s, it wasn’t 30 min later when I came walking back in to the restaurant holding his beautiful ring.  I had to scoop 4 fishing weights, 14 pull tabs, 2 bottle caps and a penny first, but there was no mistaking the sweet sound of that shallow gold signal when I hit it about 10 or so yards to the right of where he thought he had been, and just at the edge of how deep I could go in without my waterproof headphones.

As always, the generous reward offered was declined. Doing what I love and seeing the look on Ryan’s face was reward enough !

#karmaismyreward

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Class ring found – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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It was quite some time ago when Brittnee’s mom asked if I could find her daughter’s lost class ring. It was very sentimental to her as it had been bought for her by her now deceased grandmother.  The only problem was that she gave me a very large search area on the beach – everywhere from up by the dunes playing volleyball to swimming all the way out to some sea wall rocks. I went and searched with no luck. Because it’s a beach where I detect frequently, I looked again. And again. And again ! It took me 18 months to get that smile, but persistence pays off !!

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Lost Charm bracelet found – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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Night before last I got a call from Lacey asking if I could come find her sister Nichole’s lost James Avery charm bracelet in the sand at the beach. She had placed it in her chair cup holder, but apparently forgot and dumped it out when picking it up to put it away. It was very sentimental to her, as she told me she had been adding charms to it for several years. It was rather late and I was 45 minutes away so I promised I would come early the next morning. I arrived and was relieved to see that they were renting a vacation house directly on a small private beach. They had marked off a square where they thought it might be so I set off carefully gridding the area with my Equinox 800. Within minutes, I got a signal that was much deeper than I expected a fresh drop to be and definitely not as loud as I would have thought. First scoop – nothing. Second scoop – nothing. Third scoop – and there was her shiny silver bracelet sparkling in the dry sand. Nichole happily placed it back on her wrist and gave me a hug. I (as always !) turned down her offered reward and asked only for a picture of her smiling – the best reward ever !

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Another lost ring found ! Dauphin Island, Alabama

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)
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I saw a post this morning on our local beach page – someone had also tagged my ringfinders page. I had to run a quick errand and then headed to Dauphin Island, Alabama to see if I could help out. Thankfully it was a smallish area – her husband had felt his wedding ring slip off his finger as he made a hand motion while standing on the porch. It only took a quick 15 minute hunt with my Equinox and 15” coil to retrieve the band from the sand where it fell last night. Success ! successful recovery !

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