Barbara Burgess, Author at The Ring Finders

Lost gold pendant – Fairhope, AL

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)

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.

Lost ring – Dauphin Island, AL

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)

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 !

Lost Diamond earring – Dauphin Island, AL

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)

 

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. 

 

 

 

Lost ring – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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

Class ring found – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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 !!

Lost Charm bracelet found – Dauphin Island, Alabama

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 !

Another lost ring found ! Dauphin Island, Alabama

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)

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 !

Lost ring – Gulf Shores, Alabama

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)

I saw a Facebook post yesterday about a lost University of Alabama class ring. Being an avid Alabama fan as well as a relative of former championship quarterback AJ McCarron, I knew I had to go look for it !

Dylan thought he had put the ring on top of one of the beach chairs boxes and a friend had knocked it off. A friend of mine and I spent about an hour carefully searching that area with no luck.

We set out for the water since the tide was going out and we had planned on detecting there this afternoon. Much to my surprise a couple of hours later, there was Dylan’s Alabama ring !! A quick phone call to Dylan who had just landed at DFW airport on his way home confirmed it was his ring. I will be mailing it out tomorrow morning. Roll Tide !

Lost earring – Gulf Shores, Alabama

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)


I love it when I’m detecting along the beach and someone approaches me asking, “Can you please help me ?”  I was swinging this morning with a friend in the Perdido area when Brandon came up and asked for help. They had been taking some pictures a couple of days ago when his wife lost one of her mother’s earrings in the sand. He didn’t seem to be very confident that we would find it but we set out swinging. As often happens, the location was rather vague. “We stood over here, then we walked over that way”. It only took about 15 minutes before I heard the sweet sound of jewelry pinging around in my scoop as I shook the sand out. Brandon and his mother in law  seemed both surprised and happy !  While the earring didn’t appear to be exceptionally valuable, it had a sentimental value to her and she was thankful.

Lost ring Mobile, Alabama…..found

  • from Mobile (Alabama, United States)

Hi ! My name is Barbara Burgess and I would love to help you find your lost items. I specialize in lost jewelry, but have also found car keys, cell phones, property markers, etc. My specialty is the beach but can search in dirt, grass, yards, playgrounds, and parks equally well.