Blanca’s 14 Karat White Gold, 2 Carat Diamond, Surrounded by Accent Diamonds and Ring Wrap, Engagement Ring
Blanca’s Princess-like Diamond Enagagement Ring Finally Reunited With Her Ring Wrap After Two Weeks Gone Missing!
Blanca, Chris and Family Celebrating the Recovery of Her Beautiful Diamond Engagement Ring!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
I received an email from a couple who were at their wits end in trying to find a lost 14 karat white gold, 2 carat diamond engagement ring in their house. For two weeks, Chris and Blanca searched for the bride’s missing ring but came up with absolutely nothing. The backstory goes like this: Blanca was hanging out on the couch in the family room and was ready to take a nap. She remembered taking off all of her rings and giving them to her son who was kind enough to walk the handful of jewelry down the hall and into his parents’ bedroom. He laid the rings on Blanca’s vanity table which was located in a small sitting room adjacent to the master bathroom. Blanca fell asleep and when she woke up, she tended to some things around the house and eventually strolled into the bedroom to retrieve her rings and place them back on her fingers. This was the moment when Blanca realized that her gorgeous engagement ring was missing amongst the wedding band and her other rings that included her exquisite ring wrap that the engagement ring slips into. All were accounted for on the vanity table except the engagement ring. It didn’t make sense why all of the rings were there except that one band. She called her son over to ask him if he may have accidentally dropped the ring somewhere along his route to the master bedroom, but he swore that he made no detours and that he didn’t see anything fall to the carpet. His mother quickly moved back to the living room couch where the two of them began searching around the cushions and pillows. They looked everywhere. There was nothing found under the couch or on the area rugs nearby, either. Blanca carefully placed her fingers down into the crevices of the couch and still she could feel no pieces of jewelry wedged in any of the gaps down below. With not being able to find the luxurious keepsake anywhere in the house, they wondered if the band could have been accidentally thrown away in the trash. However, when the couple recounted their steps, there was nothing deposited in the garbage between the time that Blanca last wore the ring right up to the moment that it had gone missing. As the minutes and hours ticked by, the disappearance of this gorgeous and sentimental ring became a mystery for this family to unravel.
When all of the family’s efforts were initially expended, Blanca and her husband Chris took the bull by the horns and decided to do an extensive search in their family living room couch. Chris still kept feeling like the ring had been lost in that piece of furniture and that perhaps it had never been given to their son when he took the other rings to the vanity table. Blanca’s determined husband put his hands in the crevices of the sofa just like Blanca had done days earlier, but this time he spent a whole lot more time working through the stationary cushions, just in case the beautiful band slipped farther down into the couch. Nothing became of his energetic attempt to return the ring that he presented to his wife when he asked her to marry him many years earlier. A couple of more days went by and when nothing turned up in the house, Chris gathered a few of his friends who teamed together by picking up the couch and flipping it upside down to see if the ring had been lost in that furniture the whole time. Next, he made an incision across the bottom of the couch so that the gang could look inside the guts to see if the band had fallen deep into the hidden chambers within. Unfortunately, Chris and his helpers still had no luck in discovering the sentimental and beloved object.
At this point, Blanca and her husband had no more ideas to implement in trying to recover the lost ring. They went to the internet and began searching for alternative ways to somehow find the piece of jewelry that went MIA into thin air. With all of the attempts made, the next source of information that they obtained online may easily be considered their best chance of finding their ring yet! They pulled up a website called The Ring Finders, which is a directory made up of men and women who specialize in finding rings with their metal detectors and other sophisticated equipment. The couple searched for a local Ring Finder in their area and my name popped up. After Chris called me and shared all of the details of what had transpired since the day the ring disappeared, I encouraged him with words of hope, quite confident that the ring was still somewhere in their house. Because the couple was pretty much drained empty of any “positive power” after trying everything to find the missing ring, I became their new source of bright light to shine upon all of their doubts and discouragement!
I told Chris that I not only specialize in metal detecting, but I also specialize in recovering rings from within people’s personal located in their homes. Not all detectorists will tackle in-house searches. But, in this case, he called the right guy. On the phone that day, we scheduled a time for me to come out to their house later that evening and I assured this desperate fellow that I would do everything I could to get that ring back for him. He was extremely encouraged by my words, and we looked forward to meeting later that night.
That evening, I headed to Alexandria, Virginia to conduct the in-house search for Chris and Blanca. The moment that I arrived at the front door, the family was extremely warm and inviting towards me. I had all of my gear in hand and as they guided me into the foyer, they directed me into the family room where I organized my gear and prepared the equipment for the recovery efforts. The couple introduced me to their children and then I requested a meeting with Chris, Blanca, and their son who took mom’s rings into the other room when she had laid down for a nap that day. I then began asking all kinds of questions in order for me to get clarity about what had happened on that dreadful day when the ring disappeared.
My first request was for Blanca to show me where she was lying down on the couch when she handed the jewelry to her son. I then wanted the family to take me step-by-step through the sequence of events, from the time she rested on the sofa until she arose after her nap and realized that her diamond engagement ring was missing from her vanity table. Their young son took me from the couch where he was given the rings and led me in a straight line, passed the kitchen and down a long hallway to where the master bedroom was located. He turned right and entered through a doorway and there in front of us was a small sitting room with a vanity table in the corner. A bathroom was adjacent to that sitting room along with the master bedroom entrance to the right of it. Their son shared with me that he never took the rings into the bathroom or into the master bedroom. He said that he did exactly what his mother had told him to do, which was to take those rings and to place them on the vanity. He never stopped anywhere along the way during the time that he traveled from one side of the house to the other. While the young man was guiding me along the path from the couch to the vanity table, I searched corners and looked for any cracks where the ring may have fallen to the floor and then slip into a space larger enough to consume the object. However, there were no little cracks in the corners or slits in the hardwood floor where the beloved betrothal piece could have dropped into.
I checked the floor of the bathroom and it was clean as a whistle. I also checked outside of the entrance to the master bedroom and searched under the furniture that was nearest to the doorway that led into Chris and Blanca’s room. Still, there was no ring to be discovered. We then moved out of that room and went back into the hallway and I looked to my left and right to see if the ring may have bounced onto the floor and ended up in a closet or another room. Unfortunately, everything was clear of an engagement ring. Next, I searched the dining room floor, which was all hardwood except for the area rug located under the dining room table, but again my results came up negative for any jewelry found on the floor. It was completely clean. Quickly, I moved into the kitchen area. It only took me seconds to search that space because the floors were perfectly clean and it had no slits or openings where the ring could have bounced from the hall and into some hidden area in the floor.
After I eliminated every other possibility as to where this ring disappeared to, the only place remaining to search was the family room. I concluded that Blanca’s band could not have ever exited that living area because it was nowhere to be found anywhere else in the house. Now, my entire focus was given to searching the family room for the prized possession. If I didn’t find it in there, I would not be able to help the family any further.
Before I spent my time searching the couch, I wanted to make sure that the ring did not end up in a throw blanket or that it perhaps landed underneath the loveseat. I probably spent about five or seven minutes metal detecting all of the blankets with my handheld pinpointer before I checked every other possible spot besides the sofa. There was no ring snagged on any of the fabric, nor was there any sign of it underneath any of the furniture. I also made sure that it didn’t end up on the floor, as well. Once I eliminated all of those other possibilities, the couch was my soul center of attention and nothing else.
As I shared above, Chris kept going back to the scenario that the engagement ring had to be in the couch when the family failed to discover it anywhere else. This would mean that Blanca never actually handed her engagement ring to her son when she gave the other rings to him to take to her vanity table. Upon taking the rings off, her band would have had to slide through the diamond encased ring wrap and fall between Blanca’s fingers at the time of the transfer, and eventually slipping down into the couch without her aware of it. This was my last hunch to investigate before I had to call it a night. Chris and Blanca agreed that there were no other options remaining after checking out this piece of furniture.
With tackling the sofa, my first search action was to experiment with my handheld pinpointer and scan around the cushions to see if the ring could be located in any of the obvious crevices in the couch where there were no adjacent pieces of metal such as staples or screws. I wanted to see if the ring may have ended up in an area that was isolated without any other metal so close to it, which would make it very easy for me to discover. When I concluded that the couch staples were being picked up by the pinpointer, I knew that I would not be able to spot the ring with that method.
Next, I immediately set up my endoscope which is a fiber-optic probe that has a lens for viewing hard-to-see areas such as inside couches. I can monitor what the snake is seeing, record video of the movement of the endoscope, along with taking still photos. It’s a fantastic instrument used for searching for lost rings in automobiles, as well as for in-house recoveries. Depending on how a particular sofa is designed, the endoscope can be pushed down into spaces where it has a chance to view the internal spots where jewelry can fall into. It all depends on what limitations you are handed when dealing with a particular style of couch. Sometimes I am greatly restricted with what I actually can view because of the internal hardware of the furniture that hinders the probe from traveling farther distances within the environment that I am searching around. If the object cannot be detected with the use of the endoscope, the only last option is to make incisions in the furniture in order to confirm for certain whether or not the item was in fact buried in the sofa or not.
I set up the endoscope and synced it with my smartphone so I could view everything that the probe was looking at. Then, I had the family turn off all of the lights so that I could see the screen much more clearly. I slowly moved the endoscope down into the first crack in the sofa and carefully guided the snake over to one side and then back the other way so I could view everything in that particular section of the couch. I repeated these steps from one side of the sofa and then all the way to the other end. I still could not see anything that looked like a ring.
Once I completed that step, I requested Chris’s help to flip the couch over onto one side so that I could place the endoscope inside from the bottom section. This would help me view any possible spots where the ring may have gotten trapped on the day that it went missing, or possibly when Chris and his friends initially flipped the couch and made his first incisions. I then moved the snake around the inner parts of the piece of furniture, hoping that I might spot something that resembled a halo. However, other than a few small objects found within the inner chambers of the couch, there was nothing discovered that could be worn on a finger.
Happiness Doesn’t Describe How Blanca was Feeling Inside Now That the Ring Was Back!
Just as I neared the edge of the other side of the furniture, I finally saw something on my screen that appeared to be similar to the shape of a ring. I had seen a photo of Blanca’s huge gorgeous ring and there were in fact some similarities between the picture and what I was viewing on the monitor. From the angle that I was probing this particular item, I was not able to manipulate the snake in such a way that I could clearly identify what the item was. Therefore, the only way that I could accurately identify the mysterious object was to flip the couch back over to its original position. Then, I would reinsert the snake into the crevices of the couch on the side where I had detected something that resembled an engagement ring moments earlier. Chris wanted to help me out in my efforts, so I told him that I would take one section which was the left side of the couch, and he would take the center section. Then, we would travel across and meet at some point in the middle. If we still couldn’t find the object in question, I would lastly go to the far right section and probe that end, as well. We chose these two areas to start with because the object that I had been viewing would have been between the left side of the couch and the middle area. Obviously, Chris did not have a probe to work with. However, he still could use his long fingers to effectively push is way down into the crevice between the stationary cushions and perhaps be able to feel around for the item. As I traveled in his direction, the probe was not picking up anything that resembled what I saw on the screen earlier. Just as Chris started to move his fingers in the direction of where my probe was heading, one of his fingers felt something small and hard that was way down in one of the sections of the couch. At first he thought maybe it was something that was part of the hardware of the sofa, but then he noticed that it moved slightly when he was touching it. He said out loud, “What the (heck) is this?” Then, before I had a chance to look it over with the probe (since I was getting closer to where he was searching in the couch), he hooked the object with his finger and brought it up from within the cushion. There it was! The long lost engagement ring! Blanca’s gorgeous gold diamond engagement ring was found! Unbelievable! Chris had found his wife’s ring which had been lost within the chambers of the sofa for the last couple of weeks! His prediction as to where the ring had ended up was absolutely accurate from the beginning!
The Search Was Finally Over! Now Celebration Began!
Blanca was in complete disbelief and started to cry tears of joy as her husband showed proof that the missing band was truly in his hand! It was not only an incredible moment for the family, but also for me as well! I could not have been happier for the couple that had been so stressed out over the disappearance of this ring for so many days! What I viewed on the probe was absolutely that engagement ring, and it was there in the couch all along! I congratulated Chris for ultimately being the hero that night! The couple could not stop thanking me and the children eventually gathered around their parents and viewed the ring, almost in unbelief that it really was back in their possession after all of this time! I had prayed on the way over that the Lord would help me and guide all of us in finding this very important keepsake, and I believe He delivered! God loves the covenant of marriage and especially the betrothal process in promising oneself to another by way of giving an engagement ring! We certainly felt God’s favor with the return of this ring from the inner chambers of the family room couch! What a night it was! All of us rejoiced and thanked God and spent a little while longer reviewing all of the places that the family and I had searched in the past couple of weeks! In the end, the sofa was the last possible spot where Blanca’s band could have ended up! And that was exactly the location where it had disappeared all along!
After we took some pictures together, I packed my gear up and walked towards the front door of their house to leave. Chris and Blanca thanked me one last time for assisting in the search and recovery of what Chris had eventually found – his wife’s amazing diamond engagement ring! So much time had gone by from the day it was lost until the very evening that the couple called me into their world to help them find the ring. I was honored to be the one who pushed the search process to its final conclusion that night! I was quite humbled by their words of kindness and I will never forget how excited I was to be a part of the search and recovery of Blanca’s love keepsake! It was certainly an in-house search that I will never forget!
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
Toni’s 14 Karat White Gold, 1 Carat Diamond Family Heirloom with Surrounding Diamonds Engagement Ring
Toni’s Beautiful Family Heirloom Diamond Engagement Ring!
After Searching for Toni’s Engagement Until 1 A.M., Brian Rudolph Returns the Elegant Keepsake to Its Happy and Overjoyed Owner!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
It was a busy day on the farm for Toni and her fiancé Clay. They were working on all kinds of tasks at the homestead before having to head out to do some errands in their town near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Because Toni didn’t want to damage or even possibly lose her precious white gold, 1 carat diamond engagement ring, she gave it to her soon-to-be husband for safekeeping. Clay took the band and carefully placed it in his shirt pocket. Then, the couple partnered together to carry a few chicken coops and load them into the back of Clay’s pickup truck so that they could drop them off somewhere later that afternoon. Next, while Toni was inside doing some house work, Clay hopped on his riding lawnmower and cut the grass in the front yard and on the sides of the house.
After a few other loose ends were taken care of on the property, the engaged couple jumped into their pickup truck and headed down their long driveway towards town. As they were nearing the edge of the property to turn onto the main road, a United States Postal Service truck was coming towards them and ended up striking Clay and Toni’s vehicle. Immediately, they pulled over to the side of their farmland driveway and exchanged information with the postal driver. Then, both vehicles drove towards the farmhouse where Clay and Toni gathered some additional information for the USPS delivery man and for their insurance companies. It was around that point in time when Clay realized that the engagement ring that Toni had given him to hold was missing from his shirt pocket. Immediately a search ensued for the rest of that afternoon. Unfortunately, they could not find the ring anywhere on the property. They even checked the pickup truck just in case the ring flew out of his pocket when the collision occurred with the postal service truck. Still, nothing turned up. Eventually they left the farm to drop off the chicken coops and then returned back home to continue their search. The couple spent all of their time looking on their hands and knees across their entire lawn, searching every inch of the driveway and inside Clay’s pickup truck. They also searched everywhere in the house just in case the engagement ring came out of Clay’s pocket when he might have leaned forward to pick something up or possibly when he tied his shoes. Neither one of them had any luck finding Toni’s beloved family heirloom engagement ring in and around the farmhouse. The two of them were completely dumbfounded by the disappearance of this ring. The original purpose for giving it to Clay was for safekeeping and neither one of them thought that the ring that they were trying to secure would actually go missing! The only other place that the ring could have ended up beyond their property was the location where the couple dropped off the chicken coops later that afternoon. Clay hoped that the ring did not fall out of his truck when he opened the door to climb out. He reached out to the people who owned the property where the coops were delivered, but they didn’t find the ring upon checking their driveway. The whole ordeal was quite perplexing.
Hours of searching turned into a couple of days of the same unsuccessful attempts to find the missing gem. Still no engagement ring to be found anywhere. Clay resorted to using a metal detector to help in their search efforts, but nothing turned up except coins, soda can pull-tabs, pieces of scrap metal and miscellaneous trash. That’s about the time that Clay’s beloved fiancé, Toni, reached out to me after learning about The Ring Findersdirectory online. She read some of my success stories on the directory’s website, as well as viewed a few of my search videos. Ironically, Toni watched me recover a ring for a young lady who she went to high school with a couple of years back. What a small world! They both currently live in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I had found her friend’s ring out in the Atlantic Ocean just two weeks before she was getting married in Gettysburg, very close to where Toni and Clay resided!
Once Toni was convinced that I could provide the best service in helping the couple find their sentimental keepsake, she immediately called me and we talked on the phone for a while, reviewing all of the backstory of the ring’s disappearance. She said that if her fiancé had no luck in finding her engagement ring by the end of the day, she would call me back and we would set up a time for me to come out and try to find it for them. As it turned out, I did receive another call back from her. The next evening I was on my way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to search for her beloved diamond engagement ring!
As I drove to Gettysburg, I had plenty of warm feelings within as I reflected on my recent trips to the same area. I attended the wedding of Toni’s two classmates, Hannah and Derek Bush in the middle of August. Hannah is the one that I found her engagement ring for, 40 yards out in the Atlantic Ocean during her bachelorette party weekend in Ocean City, Maryland. After finding it for the relieved bride, the couple was kind enough to invite me to their wedding! I then returned a couple of weeks later to Gettysburg to be a part of a local television news story on channel ABC27 regarding the ring search and successful recovery. Now, I was driving back to the area for a third time, just a week after that television interview! Those were happy moments and with this new search, I was hoping to add to my successes by finding this couple’s ring for them, as well!
After traveling down old country roads and through a lot of farm country, I finally arrived at Clay and Toni’s farm. As I pulled into their long driveway, I saw the silo in the distance, along with barns and animal pens. There was a large cornfield on one end of their large property and the couple’s farmhouse was off to the other side. It was a lot of fun hearing the sounds of the cows and some other animals that were outside and tucked away in the barn for the night. What I really enjoyed was seeing all of the cats that lived on the farm! They were walking here and there, sitting and sleeping on this and on that! Every so often I heard a few sweet “meow” sounds off in the distance! Also, with my headlamp powered on, I would constantly see pairs of glowing eyes under the vehicles, by the trees, bushes, as well as a few felines peeping out of some crevices next to the farmhouse! They were adorable kitties and they kept me coming throughout the night!
Once I parked, I met the couple who were desperate to get Toni’s ring back. They showed me all of the spots where Clay had been working in the yard and the truck that he was driving on the day that Toni’s prized possession disappeared. I encouraged the couple to keep searching inside the house, pulling up couch cushions and looking under furniture just in case the ring popped out of Clay’s shirt pocket in the house on the day that it went missing. They had already spent a lot of time searching their place, but I still encouraged them to keep an open mind about continually looking around the inside of their house. Once we covered all of the possible places where the ring could have disappeared, the couple returned to the home while I went back to my car and pulled out all of my metal detecting gear to start the search.
The time was around 9:30 p.m. by the time I was ready to start detecting. With my headlamp on and my metal detector in hand, I began roaming the area of the yard where Clay and Toni were picking up the chicken coops and bringing them over to the truck. I wanted to see if the ring had fallen out of his pocket when he leaned forward to pick up the coops. Though I found some potential targets, there was no ring in that location. Next, I metal detected the backyard and side yard where Clay was mowing the lawn. I checked around the seat and the floor of the mower but there was no ring in sight. As I moved around the property, I could hear the cows and roosters in the background! It was a lot of fun knowing that I was searching for something missing right there on a genuine farm with animals and crops! Next, I began metal detecting in front of the house, conducting a grid search back and forth across the lawn. Still, I couldn’t find Toni’s ring. I was then hoping that I might discover the diamond heirloom in the pickup truck or in Clay’s work vehicle which he gave me permission to search, but they too checked out negative for the precious piece of jewelry that I was looking for.
The couple mentioned to me that after the accident took place with the USPS truck, the mail carrier once again caused a second collision. This time it happened closer to the farmhouse, next to the barn. He was reversing his truck to leave the property when he ended up smashing the rear end of his vehicle into one of the fence posts which caused it to lean off to one side. Clay had to walk over and inspect the damage. That is when the two interacted for a while before the carrier finally left the premises. I thought that it was a possibility that perhaps the ring fell to the ground during that second ordeal. I immediately detected that area, but there was no white gold ring signals showing up on my detector screen.
The warm night hours were getting later and later until it was nearing midnight. Eventually my headlamp grew dim and it was time to switch to another one to resume the search. Without using this helpful tool, I would never be able to effectively conduct the many night searches that I schedule.
I continued my detecting in areas located near the spots where the couple had generally parked their vehicles. I wanted to make sure that the ring did not bounce from the blacktop over to the grassy areas. After checking all of the surfaces on the concrete right up to the edges of the adjacent lawn sections, once again I came up empty handed. There was still no ring to be found. At that point I started scratching my head, wondering where this little one could have ended up. It was quite possible that it was lost in the house but it was too late at night to offer my services to check inside their furniture using tools like my endoscope. Also, they were pretty certain that the engagement ring was not lost in the house because they could not find it anywhere after checking their place quite thoroughly.
My only conclusion for not finding the missing family heirloom at that stage of the game, was that I must have overlooked the beloved piece of white gold and missed the signal during my earlier grid searches on the property. That was my only conclusion as to why I had not found the ring thus far. Sometimes the reason that I don’t easily find someone’s ring at first has more to do with alternative locations that the person was not thinking about when they try to recall all of the facts of where they were and what they were doing before and after the ring had disappeared. In this particular case, it should have been a no-brainer as to isolating the probable locations of where the ring fell out of Clay’s pocket. The reason that I could come to that conclusion was because Clay realized the ring was gone before they left their property for the afternoon, just after the postal service truck struck their vehicle. The ring had to be on the property or in their house.
I resolved to go back and start grid searching the places that I had already covered, beginning in one section of the yard and then moving to the next. I would slow my swings down a bit and work more carefully to observe even the lightest of signals that would register on my Equinox 800 detector. Because I was dealing with white gold, if the ring was on a particular angle in the grass, it was quite possible that the detector could have initially hit the ring signal, but perhaps I may have missed the sketchiness of the signal that the detector was showing on the screen and perhaps I continued walking passed the gold.
My first attempt to re-grid the lawn took place over by the edge of the cornfield that was adjacent to the far side of the front lawn. It turned out to be completely clear. Then, instead of detecting the backyard all over again, I decided to search the front lawn because it was a smaller section to cover. My thought was that if I did find the ring in front of the house, I would not have wasted all of my time re-gridding the larger places in the yard that had more square footage to detect. Since it was nearing 1 a.m., I resolved to make that my last attempt for the night. I had a long trip ahead of me and I knew that I needed to wrap things up soon enough.
I carefully grid-searched the front lawn, moving the coil of my detector consistently from left to right and moving it much slower this time around so that there wasn’t any doubt in my mind that I hadn’t missed the ring signal. That night, I was picking up all kinds of coins, bullet shells, aluminum pieces, little parts and gizmos that were registering similar numbers to what a gold ring would look like on my detector screen. Yet, I still was not able to find Toni’s jewel. Almost at the end of the lawn search, I had about two more passes to go before I could rule out any possibility that the ring was lost on the front lawn located in front of the farmhouse porch. When one is detecting for this many hours, your mind starts working against you and you sometimes get tempted to believe that in the final seconds of your search you’re most likely not going to find the target based on the odds. However, I have learned to never discount even an inch of property because you might find what you’re looking for in that final backstretch of your search.
Brian Finally Discovers the Lost Engagement Hiding Between the Blades of Grass, Waiting Patiently to Come Home!
And believe it or not, just as I was starting the second to last grid line, I hit a signal that was very weak, but one that resembled a possible white gold target. I moved the detector coil in a different angle over the target and to my surprise the piece of metal was still giving off possible gold numbers! At that point, I was not going to advance passed the target, but I decided to spend more time checking out this potential piece of precious metal. Next, I knelt down on the grass which was located almost directly in front of the house, adjacent to the sidewalk that led to the front steps. I pulled out my pinpointer to isolate the area of where the small object was being detected and I focused in on the very spot where the handheld detector was telling me where the object was located. All of a sudden, I saw what appeared to be the band of a ring that was leaning on its side in between blades of grass!
Brian Rudolph Showing Off His Excitement After Finding Toni’s Beautiful Diamond Engagement Ring!
I looked a bit closer and there it was! The very piece of jewelry that I had been looking for during the past 5 hours was finally discovered right there in front of the house! I found the ring! Yes, there it was, buried in the grass! I had obviously detected right passed the ring earlier that evening. I concluded that with the combination of the ring being white gold, resting on a certain angle in the grass, and moving the coil too quickly over the ring, caused me to miss the target all together!
Though I was regretful that I had wasted quite a bit of time because of overlooking the weak signal that the ring was giving off, I was just happy that I had successfully completed my search and that I was able to soon return this gorgeous white gold and diamond engagement ring back to its proper owner! This find would also prove to be helpful in freeing Clay from “being in the doghouse” for losing what his fiancé had entrusted him with when she gave him the ring for safekeeping!
Toni and Brian Celebrating the Discovery of the Bride-To-Be’s Stunning Engagement Ring!
If you would like to view the search video and the moment that I revealed the ring to Toni late that night, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel and you will be notified when the video is uploaded in the next few months.
I could not have been happier for the couple that evening! I was exhausted and almost ready to pack up my gear as I was nearing the end of my search when the beloved ring was discovered! I was nearly out of search area at that closing moment of the night! And yet, the ring was there – found almost on my last grid pass! What a fantastic finish! I got all excited about soon presenting the ring back to Toni that night! After packing up my things and taking some pictures of the ring, I prepared to share the happy news with the bride-to-be! She was beyond surprised! What an incredible moment! The look on her face was worth all of the hours of searching and persevering in order to bring this very special family heirloom back to the finger that it was meant to be secured upon!
What a wonderful feeling I had saying goodbye to Toni that night! I told her to congratulate Clay for me when he would arise from his sleep later that morning! It was like living a dream knowing that I had found what was so very difficult to detect! As I walked to my car in order to prepare for departure, I heard some of the farm animals in the background, including a couple of friendly cats that had kept me company during my search. It was almost as if they were congratulating me on a job well done and wishing me well as I started down the driveway to the main road and then headed off on my long journey towards home!
“Thank you again Brian for everything! I can’t thank you enough for finding the ring for us. My heart is just pounding with enjoyment. Thank you again!!!! Clay and I are very grateful to have found a guy like you to come out in the night looking for my engagement ring. Brian you have a positive outlook especially bringing some positivity and commitment on finding my ring. I would highly recommend you to anyone who would be in need of the services that you do. Thank you for everything!”
– Toni and Clay of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
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Taine’s 9 Karat Gold, 925 Sterling Silver Family Heirloom Ring
Taine’s Family Heirloom Ring Ascends Above the Ocean City Sand Once Again!
An Elated New Zealander Celebrates the Return of His Missing Ring!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
I received a voicemail message from a young lady named Emily, whose boyfriend lost his gold and silver family heirloom ring on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. The young man’s name was Taine and he was visiting the United States from New Zealand. The two of them met online while playing a particular video game from across the world. They eventually fell in love with each other from afar and scheduled Taine’s first visit to the U.S. to meet his newfound girlfriend for the very first time in person. Unfortunately, Taine’s inaugural visit to a North American beach ended up being a bit more stressful than fun when his very special ring went missing in the sand.
When I called Emily back to discuss what happened to her boyfriend’s ring, I assumed that she and her boyfriend had searched online to find a metal detectorist who could help Taine recover his lost ring. It turned out that neither one of them had found my contact information on the internet. Instead, it was actually Taine’s father down in New Zealand who had coincidentally learned about The Ring Finders directory a week before his son’s ring disappeared on the beach of Ocean City, Maryland. I learned of this when Taine’s father contacted me from New Zealand. And just like Emily’s call to me, he desperately requested my help to recover the ring that had been passed down from his own father to him, and then he passed it down again to his son Taine.
Taine’s father ironically was listening to a podcast in New Zealand and the subject matter that was being discussed was all about The Ring Finders directory and its creator, Chris Turner. The guest that was being interviewed on the podcast shared that he had been extremely skeptical about this directory of metal detectorists who were passionate about finding people’s lost items. It wasn’t until this skeptic from England lost one of his own precious rings off the coast of Great Britain that he ended up becoming a true supporter of the directory. It turned out that he contacted one of The Ring Finder’s members in his area and the detectorist ended up successfully recovering the gentleman’s ring! This caused him to share his happy experience and much praise for Chris Turner and his wonderful Ring Finders directory! He said that without this particular ring finder, he was confident that he would have never seen his prized band ever again!
When Taine lost his ring earlier that afternoon, he called his father in New Zealand to share the disappointment that he had lost his family’s heirloom. It was at that moment that his father gave his son the perfect solution to his discouraging problem. Because of his knowledge about The Ring Finders from listening to the podcast a week earlier, Taine’s dad went to the directory’s website and searched for a ring finder in Ocean City, Maryland. My profile popped up on his computer screen and immediately Taine’s father contacted me, as well as his son in order to give my information to Emily, who in turn would call me to plan a search for the missing ring. The entire situation turned out brilliantly, all because of Taine’s dad coincidentally listening to that online broadcast (all the way around the world in New Zealand!) regarding men and women who are specialized in recovering rings for people just like Taine!
When Emily and I finally touched base that evening, she shared with me all of the details about the disappearance of her boyfriend’s ring. Emily, her father and boyfriend Taine were all hanging out on the beach for the day. When it was time to pack their things up and head back to the hotel, Taine brushed off the sand from his bathing suit that he was wearing and did the same with his pants that he wore over his trunks. Once they finished gathering up all of their things, they began to walk back towards the hotel which was directly off of the beach. It was at that moment when Taine realized that his ring was not on his finger. He knew that he had it on when he was hanging out on the sand, but somehow it had slipped off his finger and went missing. The three of them returned to the spot where they were all hanging out for the afternoon and they searched valiantly for Taine’s special heirloom. It was quite upsetting to him that he had lost his father and grandfather’s ring, and at some point he thought that he would never be able to get this special keepsake back on his finger ever again. In a matter of hours, the sand sweepers would come through that section of the beach and clean up any garbage and small items left on the sand. It was quite possible that Taine’s ring would get caught up in the machine, as well. Or at the least, it could have been pushed many yards away from the spot where he was laying out that day, and as a result, there would be no way of knowing where the ring ended up in case he wanted to metal detect the beach. It was not a good situation. They searched hard for the band, but unfortunately, all of their efforts led to no avail. The gold and silver ring could not be recovered. That was about the time when Taine called his dad and let him know the bad news.
I couldn’t have been more excited to help Emily’s boyfriend recover his missing ring. I was just as excited to bless Taine’s father with a successful recovery attempt, knowing that he reached out to me all the way from New Zealand for his son’s sake! It was pretty cool! This type of story illustrates just how powerful The Ring Finders directory is and how important our members are for people like Taine and his family!
It was late in the day and by the time Emily and I finished our talk on the phone, I was able to commit to arriving in Ocean City some time very late in the evening, possibly after midnight. There were some powerful storm systems that were blowing through the Maryland area, and the Eastern shore was getting hit the hardest. It would possibly take me a couple of extra hours to finally arrive at the beach, so I told Emily to anticipate a very late arrival. The three of them would be leaving the East Coast sometime later that morning, so it was imperative that we met that night. I believe that Taine would be leaving for New Zealand sometime the next day, as well. The couple expressed their great appreciation for how I was able to work them into my schedule and to meet up with Emily, her father and Taine later that night.
As I predicted, the weather was a great obstacle in my ability to arrive on time. Later that evening, there were very strong winds that reached 40 miles per hour in some spots along the way and the rain came down in buckets, making visibility almost impossible for me to drive at various times throughout the night. I wasn’t stressed out about it, as I took my time in getting to Ocean City. It was more important that I remained safe than to fall under the pressure of any time restraints. Sometime around 1 a.m., I arrived in Ocean City and drove to the street where Taine, Emily and her father were waiting for me. They remained in the hotel room until I called them to let them know that I had parked and that I was getting my metal detecting equipment out of the car. In a matter of minutes, I saw the three of them standing close to the entrance to the beach. The wind was still very strong and the rain fell heavily at periodic moments, but that did not deter any of them from waiting outside in the extreme weather conditions that night. I literally had to push myself against the wind and rain to reach the sand where the three of them had been waiting for me.
We quickly introduced ourselves and then I followed them out towards the ocean where they had all been hanging out during the first half of the day. Emily’s father knew the exact location of where they laid their beach towels down because when Taine had realized that his ring was gone, he was diligent to take note of what landmarks lined up with where they were that afternoon. The trio had set-up their things just a few feet away from the top of the slope and they also remembered where they actually sat because there was a particular sign in the sand that was directly in line with where all of them hung out. Having these landmarks made it much easier for me to effectively search the beach for the ring.
With my headlamp on and my metal detector ready to go, I asked Taine where he remembered standing when he brushed the sand off of his clothes. Though we didn’t know for sure if that was the time period when he lost his ring, it was the most likely of moments because he remembered having his ring on when he came out of the water. Pointing with his hand, he showed me the exact area where he picked up his pants. Next, I explained to them my methods in searching the sand for lost rings and then I began to swing my detector over the area where Taine had pointed to a moment earlier.
A Special Family Keepsake Found by Ring Finder, Brian Rudolph! Call Brian to Help You Recover Your Lost Property at (301) 466-8644!
Had I not had my headphones on, it would have been impossible to hear any of the tones coming from the detector because of how intense the wind was blowing. I was looking for a gold and sterling silver ring, so I set the detector to search both types of metal that I was searching for. Within a minute (if not less than), I hit the exact target signal that I was looking for. It was a hot signal and it was definitely in the range of a sterling silver band. I then quickly dropped to my knees on the sand and used my handheld detector to pinpoint the exact location of the target. Next, I pushed my Xtreme brand scoop into the sand, far enough down that I believed that I would capture the object in the cage and then brought it up for me to take a look inside. I sifted the remaining sand out of the scoop and as I looked towards the bottom, I immediately concluded that the search which had just begun had already come to its conclusion! I saw it in the cage! There it was! I found Taine’s handsome sterling silver and gold accented men’s ring! I was able to recover his family heirloom from the Maryland beach and he would be able to return back to his country wearing that very special keepsake! The three of them were pleasantly surprised at how fast I was able to recover the ring, especially after all of the hours that they had spent looking for it late in the afternoon when they first realized that it was gone from Taine’s finger! I was so happy for them, and frankly I was quite happy for myself because the weather conditions outside were not pleasant to work in at all!
Smiles are Evident Again Following the Successful Recovery of Taine’s Ring by Brian Rudolph
I could tell that Emily’s father was very pleased with my performance in being able to return this very special ring to his daughter’s boyfriend! Taine gave me a huge hug and profusely thanked me for rescuing this important object from the sand! Emily was just as grateful! It was a special feeling, knowing that I was able to recover a ring that would be going back on Taine’s finger as he returned to New Zealand later that day! He would be going all the way around the world, back to his country, and I had something to do with being able to keep that ring on his finger and help preserve the sentimentality of its history in Taine’s family line! What a thrill!
The four of us stayed out on the sand long enough to take some pictures and then we quickly moved away from the ocean’s roar and the intensity of the wind out by the surf. Before I exited the sand, I looked back out onto the water and I saw the enormous waves pushing its agenda farther and farther up onto the shore. I was quite pleased that I was able to rescue the ring from the hands of the Atlantic Ocean which might have carried that special keepsake out to sea, never to be found again.
Being a part of The Ring Finders directory allows metal detectorists to meet some extraordinary people and others who are connected with extraordinary individuals. While talking a bit with Taine on the beach before we all walked towards the side street adjacent to their hotel, I learned that his uncle (who also lives in New Zealand), was responsible for creating many of the movie sets for The Lord of the Rings movies! Some of those original structures still remain standing in New Zealand today and are huge tourist attractions for people to enjoy checking out! I thought that was quite intriguing!
When we got back to the street, Emily’s father shook my hand and thanked me for recovering Taine’s ring and for taking all of the time to travel to the beach to help find the young man’s ring. Emily was also quite grateful that I could recover the band to her boyfriend before Taine had to leave the country and return home. It was a great moment for all of us to celebrate and rejoice that the intensity of their day was finally over! Next, we said our warm goodbyes to one another, and with smiles on our faces we all headed off into separate directions, quite satisfied with how everything had turned out!
In the days following the ring recovery, I had the pleasure of talking with Taine’s father who called me from New Zealand just to thank me for my successful efforts in finding his son’s ring. He was beyond delighted to hear that I was able to recover the heirloom so quickly and that I was able to return it to Taine before he headed back to New Zealand. We talked a little bit more about the podcast that he had been listening to which gave him the idea to tell his son and girlfriend to contact me directly. Taine’s father said that when he was listening to the podcast, he was quite impressed with what he heard from the testimony of the man who got his ring back. However, now that one of his own was able to witness a Ring Finder search for his son’s lost possession, Taine’s father was even more impressed as a result of what I was able to return to his son on that windy and rainy night on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland!
« So grateful to Brian for being such a good sport. He drove all the way out to Ocean City in the pouring rain and had nothing but a positive attitude the whole time. He found my ring in no time at all, took a couple photos, had a quick chat and was on his way. A (hopefully) once in a lifetime experience with an amazing guy. Thanks again Brian! It means the world to me! »
– Taine of New Zealand
« Thank you so much Brian! I’ll definitely be recommending you to anyone who needs their ring found! We really do appreciate everything you did for us! »
– Emily of Baltimore, Maryland
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
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Kristie’s 14 Karat White Gold, 2 Carat Diamond Solitaire Ring with Surrounding Diamonds Engagement Ring
Kristie’s Gorgeous Diamond Ring Discovered Under a Flower by The Ring Finder, Brian Rudolph. Call Brian at (301) 466-8644 to Help You With Your Recovery Efforts!
Brian Holding the Beautiful Engagement Ring that He Had Once Held While Proposing to His Bride-To-Be, Kristie! Now Back in His Care After a Long Night Gone Missing!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
It was after midnight when I received a call from Brian who lived in Ocean City, Maryland. He was completely stressed out because his fiancé’s 2 carat diamond engagement ring went missing somewhere in front of The Bonfire Restaurant located at Coastal Highway and 70th Street in Ocean City, Maryland. The first question that I generally ask my clients is whether or not there was any tension at the time of the ring’s disappearance. I can’t tell you how many times that inquiry alone helps the other person relax and eventually open up about what actually took place when the ring went “MIA” (missing in action). They realize that I can identify with their intense situation based on other similar cases that involve arguments or outright fights. Many of my searches have to do with rings that are thrown in a state of frustration, anger and / or hurt. This story is no different. Brian appreciated what I asked him and he answered with complete honesty.
The story goes like this: Brian and his fiancé were driving down Coastal Highway (which is the main drag in Ocean City, Maryland), located a block inland from the ocean. The thoroughfare is parallel with the coastline. While at a traffic light, just out front of The Bonfire, the couple got into a heated argument which led to the launching of Kristie’s beautiful engagement ring (I won’t share who threw the ring) straight out of the front passenger seat window and onto the property of the restaurant adjacent to the street. Immediately, they came to their senses and Brian pulled the car around the corner and into the restaurant parking lot. Though the love birds were not reconciled at that point, they both realized that a very special, sentimental and extremely expensive ring was left unprotected in a high-traffic area. People of all ages were constantly walking along the sidewalk where the ring was thrown. Pedestrians were coming to and from the parking lot of the restaurant and to and from other surrounding shops nearby. The search for the disappearing ring immediately ensued.
The two of them believed that they saw the ring fly into a flower bed which was adjacent to the sidewalk in front of the parking lot of The Bonfire. However, they searched everywhere within that section of landscaping and they still could not find the classic white gold band surrounded by ice. A few other bystanders who watched the couple search around the street joined in to see if they could help find Kristie’s precious jewel. Unfortunately, they too could not recover the beautiful keepsake of promise.
A couple of hours had passed by, and at that point Brian and Kristie resolved to rent a metal detector and attempt to find the ring with a Garrett 150 machine. Unfortunately, using the metal detector was completely ineffective as they weren’t sure how to use the electronic device, and in the end they were still not able to recover the ring. More time marched on and it was getting later in the evening. The engaged couple started getting nervous that the ring could end up in someone else’s pocket if they didn’t figure out some other plan to find the engagement ring. This is where I fit into the story.
Brian and Kristie tried to take another approach by looking online to see if there were any other ideas of how to find their missing ring. The Ring Finders directory popped up on their Google search and that’s when they looked up the metal detectorist who covers the Ocean City, Maryland area. Brian and Kristie read my profile and immediately called me to seek my assistance.
I could hear the desperation in Brian’s voice when I answered the phone in bed at that midnight hour. Brian explained to me everything that had happened and I responded by asking him some additional questions about the disappearance of the ring. Once I got the entire story from the tired and worn out fiancé, Brian begged for my immediate help that night. He knew that I had already settled into bed for the night and that it would be a three-hour drive to the coast if I were to immediately take on this task. I gave it a quick thought, knowing within that it was a strong possibility that Kristie’s ring would never be recovered if they waited until daylight for me to search for the ring. I could not bear to think that such a precious object in their lives might end up in the wrong hands. I told Brian that I was on my way to the beach! I pulled the covers back, slowly got out of bed, put my clothes on, grabbed my gear and headed out into the middle of the night towards the coast.
Brian was so grateful that I was willing to drive the three hour journey through the night to the beach, well aware that it was possible that the ring had already been picked up by someone else. Though Brian was pretty confident that the two of them saw the ring fly into the flower bed, I explained to him that I have encountered plenty of situations where the ring was initially seen flying towards one place, however, it ended up bouncing into an area where it became visible to pedestrians walking by. Unfortunately, those rings are rarely ever recovered.
I agreed with Brian that we would stand on the theory that Kristie’s ring was still lost in the strip of landscaping along side Coastal Highway and that nobody yet had plucked it from the street! I was kind of surprised to find out that the couple was so confident that the ring was greatly hidden in the plant life in front of the restaurant that they both felt comfortable enough leaving the scene and returning back to their place until help arrived. That showed me their level of conviction in believing that nobody would be able to spot the diamond engagement ring so easily since none of them had found it either! At some point I prayed with Brian and asked the Lord for guidance and for His favor in this extremely vulnerable situation. He appreciated my team efforts through faith and prayer.
The 180 mile trip to the East Coast was not even close to being a burden for me. I love what I do, and I have such a passion for helping people in need, especially when it comes to situations like this one. There was enough tension between the couple before the disappearance of the ring, and then the unthinkable happened on top of their dispute in the car. Therefore, my wholehearted desire was to bring closure to at least one of Brian and Kristie’s tense situations by recovering their lost symbol of love.
On my way to the beach, I traditionally stop and fuel up not only the gas tank but also my body with a large cup of High’s Dairy Store coffee. It’s a tradition of mine and I love stopping by the childhood convenience store in Annapolis, Maryland as I drive towards the shore. I kept myself busy in the car by talking with fellow Ring Finders on the West Coast since their clock is three hours earlier than our eastern time zone. The hours quickly went by, and before I knew it, I saw the sign welcoming me to Ocean City, Maryland. At 3:30 a.m., I called Brian to let him know that I would be at 70th Street and Coastal Highway in just a few minutes. He got out of bed and headed for the restaurant. No more than a few minutes after I arrived at the The Bonfire, Brian pulled into the parking lot and we met out by my car.
From the moment we shook hands, Brian expressed his sincere thankfulness for having me come out at such an early hour in the middle of the night. I told him that I was delighted to help he and his fiancé resolve this mystery as to where Kristie’s engagement ring ended up.
Once I got my metal detecting gear out of my car, I calibrated the machine and asked Brian to show me where all of the events took place earlier in the evening. He walked me over to the long flower bed that stretched across the front of the parking lot that was facing out towards the highway. Pointing to all of the spots where all of the people were searching and where the couple had been metal detecting, Brian explained that he truly believed that the ring was still hidden within the landscaped areas. Yet, for some reason, nobody could find where it ended up. He also said that he didn’t think that the ring flew beyond the flower bed and into the parking lot. Nor did they see the ring bounce off of the curb or sidewalk and land towards the street.
The two of us stood on the sidewalk that was adjacent to Coastal Highway and I continued to set up my detector to search specifically for a lady’s white gold ring, discriminating out all other types of metals that I was not interested in searching for. Because of how much trash gets thrown into the bushes and flowerbeds near most streets, I did not want to have any distractions from various types of aluminum that rested on the surface of the flower bed. I then began swinging my detector from left to right over various portions of the landscaped hill, carefully trying not to step on the pretty flowers that were everywhere in that section of the flower bed. I continued to move the metal detector coil in all of the probable places where the ring may have ended up.
Brian and Brian Basking in the Excitment of Finding the Missing Engagement Ring!
For the first minute, I didn’t get any signals that would indicate that I hit a possible ring target. However, no more than a minute later, I did get the exact signal that I was looking for! The metal detector started sounding off a tone that was in the range of white gold! It was a very bouncy kind of signal, very sharp and definitely a target that was above the ground or at least close to it. I looked at the VDI numbers on my Equinox 800 detector screen and it was telling me that a piece of metal was coming in at a number: four, five, seven, nine, and eleven. In my experience, those numbers are exactly the numbers I look for in discovering a white gold engagement ring like the size and weight that Kristie possessed. I explained to Brian what was happening and what procedures I would take next. I immediately grabbed my pinpointer (a handheld detector) to isolate the particular area where the signal was coming from. I could then determine the exact location where that metal was resting. I placed it down on the wood chips and followed the signal until the handheld detector sounded off. It told me that the metal that I had detected was under one of the flowers that grew just inches away from the edge of the sidewalk. I then carefully moved part of the plant over to the side without breaking off its stem or tearing any of its pretty white pedals, and to my happy surprise, I saw one of the most beautiful engagement rings lying right beside the bottom of that flower! There it was, snuggled up against the stock of that precious little creation of God! The diamonds were sparkling like the reflection of the sun! It was breathtaking! I immediately leaned down and showed Brian what I had found! He could not have been more pleasantly shocked! I picked up the ring and presented it to the man who was beyond relieved that I had found Kristie’s beloved prize! He was beside himself! He could not have been happier and more grateful for what I was able to discover in mere minutes! I don’t think I could have counted the amount of hugs he gave me at that moment! Brian told me how happy I made him and how thankful his wife-to-be would be feeling shortly upon hearing the news that the ring was coming home!
While we were standing there on the sidewalk basking in all of the excitement, I shared with Brian that it was quite possible that this ring could have permanently disappeared by morning based on the location of where it was resting. Had one brief tropical rain storm travel through the area at any point in time during the night or morning hours, it could have potentially washed the ring onto the sidewalk and be exposed to any pedestrian walking by. The ring was only inches away from being lost forever! This made me feel so glad that I traveled through the night to help Brian and Kristie recover this gorgeous piece of jewelry!
What a fabulous time we had out on the sidewalk, celebrating the discovery of this ring! Just as we were about to start walking back to our cars, a police officer walked over to us and asked what was going on. He saw all of this equipment that I had in my hand and I’m sure he wondered what was taking place. Brian explained that I was a metal detectorist who had just found his fiancé’s 2 karat diamond white gold engagement ring! The officer immediately took interest in my abilities and then proceeded to ask me if I could assist the police with a case involving a couple that got into an argument on the beach just a few hours earlier. A young lady threw her rings into the sand and when the couple tried to find the rings, neither one of them could recover them. I looked at Brian with a smile and he looked back at me with an expression that said, “it all sounds way too familiar”!
The officer went on to share further that when the argument began to get heated, the police were called in and that’s when they took note of the need for a metal detectorist when the couple requested help in recovering their rings. The officer asked if I could check out the scene and see if I could find the missing rings for the couple. I told him I would be happy to give it a shot and he gave me the necessary information to start another search later that morning.
After the officer left us, Brian and I headed back to the parking lot where we took a couple of pictures, shared more words of excitement, thanked the Lord for helping me find Kristie’s ring, gave each other a couple more celebratory hugs, and then eventually called it a night and parted ways.
Brian was so grateful for what I had done for the couple that he invited me to his restaurant which he managed and bartended throughout the week. I told him that I would definitely take him up on his offer to have a meal and a drink “on the house” the next time that I would be coming in town. I couldn’t have felt more happiness for Brian and Kristie that night! It was a mission that ended up completely successful and I felt such gratification for driving so far into the early hours of the morning to help a desperate man find something so important as his fiancé’s engagement ring! It was truly a happily-ever-after story in recovering the ring that night! What an experience it was! I packed up the car with my gear and headed over to the beach where the other couple had lost their rings.
After an unsuccessful search on the beach for the two lost rings (I was convinced that they had already been discovered), I watched our magnificent sun rise over the ocean and then headed for home. During my journey westbound, I received a special phone call from Brian. He called just to tell me that he couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done for the couple in coming out in the middle the night to help them find their missing ring! He said he felt this overwhelming feeling of gratitude every time he thought about the fact that the ring was back in their hands. Brian went on to share that he felt the need to call me and thank me once again. I told him how amazing that was for him to do that and that I would never forget his heart of gratitude! It was well worth all of the lack of sleep and long hours of driving just to help another person out! The whole rest of the way home I had the biggest smile on my face! Certainly finding Kristie’s lost ring was a huge help in patching things up between the couple. They could move forward and focus more on their relationship issues, plans to move into their new house just a few miles from where they were currently living, as well as get excited for the big day approaching when the love knot would finally be tied!
It was a fun ring search and recovery mission in helping to bring smiles back to the faces of those who needed it most that night! I was so glad that I could be there for Brian and Kristie!
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
Abdul’s Palladium Ring Recovered from a Baseball Field! Call Brian Rudolph at (301) 466-8644 to Help You Get Back What Has Been Lost!
Happiness Shines All Over Abdul’s Face Now That His Wedding Band is Safely Back on His Finger!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
I received an email from a woman who desperately wanted to find her husband’s missing palladium wedding band which was lost on a baseball field the day before. Abdul’s wife went online to research possible methods in recovering lost rings on sport fields. The Ring Finders directory popped up on her phone and she began to search for a local metal detectorist in the Gaithersburg, Maryland area. My name came up on her Google search and she quickly reached out to me.
As soon as I read the email description of how Abdul’s wedding band disappeared off of his finger while playing baseball, I quickly called the couple to ask questions and to set up a time when I could go out looking for the ring. Abdul told me that he was playing various positions during a baseball game at Gaithersburg High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He didn’t know when the ring slipped off of his finger but he did recognize that it was missing before he left the field that day. After the game, he searched everywhere and yet he still couldn’t find it anywhere. That’s when other players got involved and looked in every position where Abdul was playing the game, but they too came up empty-handed. He eventually had to leave the baseball diamond that afternoon knowing that the very ring that was presented to him by his beloved wife on their wedding day would be left behind somewhere on the baseball field. He told me on the phone that it was quite a disheartening feeling to wonder whether he would ever be able to get the ring back or not. Because there was another team that was supposed to play after his group completed their game, he worried that the ring might have already been found by someone else.
During the entire time on the phone, I tried to give some hope to the couple that if the ring was still out there on the field, I would be able to find it and return it to Abdul. It just so happened that he got sick overnight and so he was not in any position to go out and meet me on the baseball diamond to recount where he was positioned during the game when he lost the ring. Instead, he sent me a diagram of the baseball field and where he was positioned at different times, including the areas where he practiced and warmed up before playing the game. This was extremely helpful and it would provide just what I needed to search the various places where he stood and played ball. Before we got off the phone, I told Abdul and his wife that I would update them as soon as I finished with my search later that evening.
By the time I got to the search site at Gaithersburg High School, the sun was descending behind the trees that encased the baseball field where I would be conducting my search. I gathered all of my gear out of the car and walked to the field that Abdul so perfectly diagrammed earlier that morning. There was no game going on that evening, so I had the baseball diamond to myself, including the outfield.
The first thing I did was say a prayer and I asked the Lord for help during the search. I then started metal detecting over by the batting cage which Abdul also illustrated for me. There were a lot of potential signals, but every time I checked the ground in that area, there was no ring to be found. Bottle caps and aluminum can pull tabs were scattered all over the place. This made my search a little bit slower than anticipated.
As soon as I completed my search around the cage area, I headed over to the baseball diamond. Because Abdul played various positions, I needed to first check all of the hotspots. If I didn’t find the ring in those places, I would start doing a grid search over the entire field. I metal detected around all of the bases and to the left and right of the baselines by several feet. I wanted to see if the ring may have come off while he was running the bases or in the process of getting tagged out.
Once I completed my detecting in those places, I was convinced that the wedding band was not lost in those locations. Then, I went into the outfield and began to grid search beyond first, second and third bases. Still there was nothing to be found. By that time I may have completed about an hour and a half of detecting. I was certain that the ring was not in the outfield unless somebody had found the ring just by chance when looking down at the ground. The odds of that were very slim because the field was completely covered with thick, healthy grass. Most likely the wedding band would have settled between the “blades of green” and would not have been seen by anybody.
My next search area focused on the grassy area behind the backstop. I also metal detected both dugouts and still came up with nothing. Abdul had walked behind the dugouts and took a couple breaks by walking closer to the tree line, so I checked those areas behind the backstop, as well. My last area to check without having to re-grid the entire field, was to metal detect all of the area inside the baseball diamond. Most of the grass within the parameter of all of the bases was very dry and much of it was dead. There were also a lot of spaces that were simply dirt spots with absolutely no vegetation. I presumed that if the ring was initially lost in the dirt-filled areas in the diamond section of the field, it would have most likely been picked up by someone between the time of Abdul’s game and the other games that followed after his team left for the day. The reason for this was because there were so few places for the ring to hide. There were also summer programs going on earlier in the day, which could have caused a young one to eyeball the handsome palladium band and walk off with it. I was hoping that this was not the case and that it was still out there, waiting to be found. I put my doubts aside and focused on eliminating all possibilities as to where that ring could have ended up.
Abdul’s Ring Found At Last! The Wedding Band Resting Amongst the Dead Grass and Weeds on the Baseball Diamond!
Starting at home plate, I moved my way to third base and then started a grid search back towards home. I kept moving my way across the playing field for a few more passes before I stopped briefly to grab my headlamp that was in my backpack nearby. It was starting to get dark outside and I needed the field to be fully illuminated as I traveled in straight lines across the diamond.
The Ring Slipped Off of Abdul’s Finger Just 8 Feet From the Pitcher’s Plate!
I then resumed my search and continued to move across the infield, back and forth, swinging the coil of the detector with steady movements, hoping that I would get the target signal that I was looking for.
I was getting random target signals here and there, but each time that I put the pinpointer (which is a handheld detector) down to the ground to investigate the potential target, I would discover that it was a coin, pull tab or something else that was below the surface.
Finally, as I neared the pitcher’s mound, approximately 8 feet away from it, I got the perfect signal. It was a bouncy kind of target signal that indicated that the object was above the surface and it came into the range of a palladium wedding band. Just as I looked down to investigate what the detector was picking up in the midst of the dead grass, my eyes zeroed in on the very object that I had been searching for in the past two hours or so! I had found Abdul’s ring! I was so very happy! What a great feeling it was to see the one and only object that I had been hunting for! Because of the location where the band had been resting, I presumed that Abdul must have been pitching at the time when the ring slipped off his finger.
Brian Rudolph Ending Another Successful Search!
I was getting random target signals here and there, but each time that I put the pinpointer (which is a handheld detector) down to the ground to investigate the potential target, I would discover that it was a coin, pull tab or something else that was below the surface. Finally, as I neared the pitcher’s mound, approximately 8 feet away from it, I got the perfect signal. It was a bouncy kind of target signal that indicated that the object was above the surface and it came into the range of a palladium wedding band. Just as I looked down to investigate what the detector was picking up in the midst of the dead grass, my eyes zeroed in on the very object that I had been searching for in the past two hours or so! I had found Abdul’s ring! I was so very happy! What a great feeling it was to see the one and only object that I had been hunting for! Because of the location where the band had been resting, I presumed that Abdul must have been pitching at the time when the ring slipped off his finger.
The other possibility was that he had been taking off his glove while switching sides with the opponent and it came off at that point.
Brian Checking Out the Palladium Wedding Band Up Close!
Whichever the case may have been, I was so delighted that I would soon be able to return the wedding band back to Abdul! That night I rejoiced for his sake and it made me so happy that I could find his ring after no one else on his team could recover it! I also thanked the Lord for giving me the ability to search and recover what Abdul and his wife hoped to get back in their possession! I couldn’t wait to share the good news with its rightful owner!
After taking some photographs and a bit more video, I packed up my gear and left the baseball field with a big smile on my face!
If you would like to view the search video and the ring reveal, please avail yourself to subscribe to my YouTube channel and I will notify you when the video is uploaded in the next few months.
Abdul and Brian Celebrating the Ring Returned to it’s Owner!
There’s nothing like it in the world to be able to return something that means so much to someone else! My gratitude goes out to Chris Turner, CEO of The Ring Findersand for his marvelous vision to save the sentimental from extinction by providing a directory of metal detectorists that connects people like me to people in need like Abdul!
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
Emily’s 14 Karat White Gold Engagement Ring with Opal Stone and Diamonds
Emily’s 14 Karat White Gold Nesting Band with Diamonds
After a Week at the Bottom of Frederick Maryand’s Monocacy River, Emily’s Beloved Engagement Ring Set was Found and Returned to the Bride-To-Be by Metal Detectorist and Ring Finder, Brian Rudolph!
Emily and Mark Excitedly Show Off the Bride-To-Be’s Beloved Engagement Ring Set That Was Thought to Be Lost in the Monocacy River Forever!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
Emily and Mark got together with a bunch of their friends and headed off to a fun swimming hole near Frederick, Maryland on the Monocacy River, located not far from Monocacy National Battlefield. It was a hot summer day outside, perfect for couples to hang out, take a plunge in the river and make a fun-filled day outside. Unfortunately, their plans started to fall apart quite quickly when Emily’s two rings went missing some time while they were all out by the water. She was pretty convinced that she lost the rings during the 30 minutes of play time in the river with her fiancé. Mark was holding her up while she was lying in his arms in the river, and she believed it was probably at that point when the rings slipped off her finger. Emily didn’t feel the jewelry come off of her finger, but she believed that it was the most probable scenario that the water had something to do with how the rings fell off of her finger.
In Emily’s moment of panic, as she came out of the water, the young lady told the rest of the group what had happened. Immediately a search began to look for the rings out on the riverbank and in the shallow parts of the water where they could see all the way to the bottom. One of the rings that went missing was Emily’s engagement ring. It was made of 14 karat white gold, centered with a lovely opal stone and accompanied by several diamonds surrounding it. The other ring was part of the engagement ring set, a 14 karat white gold nesting band, very petite in size which held three small diamonds along the top of the ring. The sad part of the whole ordeal was that Emily had just received these precious keepsakes on the day that she was proposed to only a month or so earlier (Her wedding date is scheduled for September 2020!).
The fact that the bride-to-be lost both of her rings was very difficult for her to deal with and you can imagine how upset she was for the rest of that day (and for the next week, as well). Everyone kept searching in the water to see if they could spot the rings, but nothing was found. As the group made their way into the deeper area of the river, there was just no way to see that far down in the water where Emily believed the rings may have come off. Besides the loss of her jewelry, the worst part of her afternoon came when she had to leave the river empty-handed.
The couple was desperate to see what they could do to get the newly engaged lady’s rings back. Emily was not about to give up hope yet, and that hope was about to be called by Mark’s future bride! They looked online to find tips on how to pull a ring from a river, and The Ring Finders directory popped up on Google. Emily immediately contacted me and before long we were talking on the phone to make plans for a recovery effort.
I put Emily at ease by telling her that I had successful recovery stories dealing with finding rings in water. Some people told her that the rings most likely had been washed down river which would make it impossible for them to ever be found again. However, I assured her that those rings did not go anywhere after they fell to the bottom of the water. She was relieved at my words.
Once I received all of the details about the missing engagement band set, I asked her additional questions to help me get the entire picture of what we were dealing with. Because she lost the rings at a state park, I told her that I would need to pursue special permissions from the park service in order for me to conduct a recovery mission. She had lost the rings on a Friday, I believe, and then she first contacted me the following day or so. Therefore, I would have to wait another 24 hours before I could contact the park service to request a permit to search the river on Emily and Mark’s behalf. When we got off the phone, we had a plan in place to begin the process of getting me in the Monocacy River as fast as possible!
Monday came and I was on the phone calling various departments connected to Maryland’s state park service. I was initially bounced around between the county of Frederick and the Maryland park service. But, eventually I was able to talk to the right people who set me up with a top administrator who could affirm that I was talking to the correct people to pursue a permit for Emily and Mark. One employee at the park service referred me to a website where I could apply for special permissions to search the water. Metal detectors are strictly prohibited at this particular park as most state parks prohibit the use of any detector. What was supposed to take possibly up to two weeks or more to “hopefully” get a permit request approved, I was able to get an official permit in hand within three days of filling out the paperwork! I was granted full access to the river! Thanks to the hard work of a couple of top administrators at the park service, they were able to push the paper and “cut the red tape” a whole lot faster than the usual process! I was quite excited with the news that I was free to search the water much sooner than later! Though I was only given a specific period of time that I could search the river and after that I would not be able to continue any futures searches, I felt I had a large enough window to get the job done (if the rings were not already plucked out of the water by other metal detectorists).
Every day leading up to when I received the approval to search the river, I kept giving updates to Emily who greatly appreciated all of my efforts. I was delighted to help the couple in every way possible! The next step was to schedule a time to meet Emily and Mark over by the park where the rings went missing the week before. I looked at my calendar and set up the next possible timeslot when I could conduct the search. I needed them to show me where everyone was hanging out on that dreadful afternoon when the rings left Emily’s finger. Then, I could search all of the probable locations where the engagement ring and nesting band fell to the bottom of the Monocacy. We agreed on meeting that Friday, which was the Friday following Mark and Emily’s excursion when the initial happy and fun afternoon suddenly turned so very sad and disappointing for the couple.
Friday arrived and I headed to the Monocacy River to meet Emily in the park where the rings went missing. Mark was not able to join us due to his work schedule. We met in the park parking lot and then Emily walked me to the spot where the group of friends were all hanging out the week earlier. It was a considerable journey through the woods alongside the riverbank before we got to the place where she lost the rings. When we got to the spot where everyone went swimming that day, we walked down onto the riverbank where there were lots of stones and pebbles – perfect for keeping my gear dry above the water.
Frederick Maryland’s Monocacy River
Emily then showed me where she played in the water and where she and Mark drifted downriver approximately 50 yards or so. She had an idea of where she thought she may have held onto some rocks as the water current was taking Mark and Emily downriver. She thought that maybe the rings slipped off when she was trying to brace herself at that time. Emily couldn’t be certain of her predictions because there were times when she was just floating in the water and the rings could have slipped off at any of those moments. In any case, I was given a very good picture of how things looked on the day that the rings disappeared and I then had all of the parameters to work with as to where the rings may have settled to the bottom of the river.
The water depth was probably around two and a half feet to three feet deep closer to the middle of the river and maybe higher in a few other spots. It was very shallow due to the fact that we had gotten so little rain in the weeks leading up to the search. Though most of my body was above the water, the current was quite swift so I did have some opposition from the speed by which the water was traveling. The terrain at the bottom of the river also made the search more complicated because of how difficult it was to move about without tripping over a rock or small boulder.
My search grid would involve a 50 yard area from left to right (down river) and 30 yards from one side of the river to the other side (though Emily and I agreed that I only needed to search 20 yards from our side of the Monocacy riverbed out towards the middle of the river because she didn’t float close to the opposite end of the riverbank). Once we finished going over all of the details, I headed back to the car to put on the rest of my wetsuit and gather all of my gear so I could soon begin the search for Emily’s missing rings!
Emily wasn’t sure if she would ever get her rings back, but I kept telling her that all things are possible if she would keep believing the positive and not doubt. I shared with her that in life, we must doubt our feelings of doubt and believe the impossible can happen. The Bible says, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Yes, it was a large area to search. Yes, it is hard enough to metal detect that amount of space on land, let alone the degree of difficulty in searching a moving body of water like the Monocacy. Yet, I was determined to find Emily’s lost rings. And I didn’t just want to return to her the opal engagement ring, but also the other white gold band, as well! Before I headed out into the water, I prayed that the Lord would favor my search and to give Emily some hope inside to believe for the impossible! God loves the covenant of marriage, as He created it, and her engagement ring was a symbol of promise (betrothal) unto marriage! Therefore, I always know that I have favor from above when searching for lost engagement rings and wedding bands!
Emily’s Rings Lost Somewhere in the Historical Monocacy River
As Emily hung out on the shore, reading and doing some work on her tablet, I began my hunt for the missing rings. Because the items were very petite in size and made of 14 karat white gold, picking up the target signals on the detector would not be easy. Having a small, white gold object lost at the bottom of a body of water is not a good combination. The signals are light and very difficult to hit effectively, especially if you swing the metal detector coil too fast. Every step taken and every decision made out in the river had to be slow and very methodical in the way that I conducted this search.
My first grid was about 20 yards downstream, starting where Emily pointed out the first hotspot to investigate. There were rocks of various sizes covering the bottom of the river and there was nothing but stones in between the larger formations. Not only did I have to metal detect over and around and underneath all of those obstacles, but I would have to deal with many pieces of garbage that were discarded in the water over a long period of time. I found old beer can pop tops along with torn up cans, miscellaneous pieces of aluminum and much more throw-away items of trash. I would end up using two of my Equinox 800 machines with two different size coils. I used a 6 inch coil and an 11 inch coil as well. The smaller coil was helpful to get around some of the larger rocks and downed trees. The larger one was helpful to cover more territory in the river, as long as I wasn’t slowed down by metal trash that was settled close to other pieces of garbage at the bottom of the water.
I believe Emily hung out for a couple of hours before she needed to pack up her things and head on out. She kept a great attitude even though I had not yet found her rings. By the time she started walking back to the car. I told her from the water that I would be relentless in my search in finding what had been lost. Just before she took off, I asked Emily where Mark proposed to her with the rings.I wanted to get the whole story behind these precious pieces of jewelry that became extremely sentimental on the day of the proposal! Everything about the location of where Mark popped the question and how he proposed to Mark was absolutely beautiful and so fairytale like. This only propelled me even more to do whatever necessary to get these rings back on her finger! We said our goodbyes and I assured her that I would give Emily an update upon leaving the park.
If one were to observe the amount of territory that I had to search in this historical river, it would only emit stress on that person and bring lots of second-guessing to the mind based on the difficulty of finding such petite pieces of white gold at the bottom of the water. There were so many places that the bands could have ended up. There weren’t any clues to go by as to whether the rings came off at the same time, or if one came off in one location and then the other slipped off sometime later. Honestly, I loved the challenge and I was just so happy to give it my all in attempting to return these sentimental pieces back to Emily.
The main strategy that I implemented was to continue searching all of the hotspot locations where Emily may have lost the rings and focus my efforts on gridding each pass, heading downriver and then back up the river, approximately a distance of 20 feet for each pass. The width of the grid parameter was probably around 20 yards left to right.
While I was out there in the middle of the river, I couldn’t help but be so grateful for the beautiful weather that I was experiencing. It was warm outside, with no chance of rain in the forecast. To be surrounded by such amazing creations of God, there was just nothing like it! Then, add to the experience the whole idea of searching for lost items that mean so very much to another human being, it makes life so fulfilling and fun!
I had given myself a good five or six hour window to search the river that day. Afterwards, I would need to head north to Pennsylvania, near historical Gettysburg for a wedding that I was attending. I had been invited by a grateful couple that I helped in recovering the bride-to-be’s engagement ring that was lost 40 yards out in the Atlantic Ocean just two weeks before the wedding! She lost the ring on her bachelorette party weekend! I was quite honored to be a part of the festivities! It was kind of special that at one point in the day I was searching for a bride-to-be’s engagement ring set, and then later that night I would be celebrating the wedding of a bride who would be wearing the ring that I was able to return to her from the depths of the ocean! I thought that it would make an even more enchanting story if I was able to recover Emily’s rings before having to continue north towards Pennsylvania that afternoon!
Four hours passed by and I continued my detecting efforts in the water for the missing rings. Each time I covered a section of the river, I was only encouraged that I had eliminated more possibilities as to where the jewelry could have ended up. I had not lost any of my drive and enthusiasm for finding Emily’s rings. I kept swinging my detector in straight lines going up and down the river and then side to side. I was continuing to cover a distance of about 20 yards wide and search in 20 yard sections of the entire 50 yards, up and down the river.
At some point, I was finishing one of my grid passes when I hit a signal that was in the range of Emily’s lost rings. This was not the first time that day that I had gotten other potential targets to check out. In fact, I had plenty of them. In those first many hours of searching, I consistently pulled pieces of trash out of the water, but no rings had been found. This current signal was yet another one that I needed to check out. I knew the exact range of VDI numbers (these are numbers that help to identify the type of metal the target could potentially be) to look for on my machine and this piece of metal was showing the kind of target that got me curious! The numbers on my Equinox 800 detector screen were dancing around a number: four, five, seven, nine, and I believe eleven, as well. I was looking for such low numbers on the scale of my detector and I knew that the signal that I wanted was not going to pound hard in the headphones. Rather, it was going to be light and questionable. These rings were very petite, and therefore there wasn’t a lot of white gold on them at all to be detected easily. Like I did with many other potential signals that day, I reached down into the water, right over the spot where my metal detector had picked up the signal, and I surveyed the metal object with my Garrett handheld detector called a “pinpointer” in order to isolate the location where the object was resting. Once I was confident of the exact area where I knew the object was hiding, I placed the handheld detector off to the side (which was attached to a cord and clipped to my harness belt), grabbed a cluster of stones and sediment in the vicinity of where the buried object was and brought it all up to the surface for review. I have to use this type of method in rivers because it is impossible to use a scoop in this type of environment due to the quantity of stones and rocks that are stuck to the bottom of the water. Therefore, I have to use my hands to bring up the objects that I am potentially looking for. Next, I grabbed my pinpointer again and scanned over the contents that were in my hand to see if I found the metal object that I had detected moments earlier. To my great surprise, my eyes first focused in on the loveliest opal stone, then some small diamonds surrounding it came into view, and finally I saw the white gold band! Indeed, I had found the engagement ring! It was a fantastic moment! In this vast area of water, I had recovered this small precious keepsake! Like a needle in a haystack!
Though I had nobody around to share the excitement with, I expressed all of my joy and happiness into my GoPro video camera that I had been using to document the entire search up to that point! I gave thanks to the Lord for giving me the ability to find the ring and bring it up from the river where it had been resting at the bottom for over a week! I was thrilled at finding the band! Between the two rings, this one was the most important one to Emily because it was her engagement ring. Yet, I was not going to stop at that point. I would continue searching for the nesting band once I secured the recently found item in my zipped up case attached to my metal detector harness. I made sure that Emily’s opal ring was not going to be lost again in that river!
Discovering one of the sought-after pieces that went missing was such a boost of encouragement to me! My search methods that day were working effectively! So far, I had not believed that I had overlooked either target that I was after! Could I have missed the other ring due to it consisting of a thin band of white gold? It was possible. But, I kept my mindset on believing that I was thorough and accurate in my grid moves. When one is detecting in water, there are no cones or tape to keep you walking in a straight line! You have to be extremely careful not to move too far to the right or to the left, or sweep too short on either side of your body as you move forward with the detector.
Once I found the first of the two lovely rings, I was back at it again, searching for the second one, which was even thinner than the engagement ring. I had barely gotten a decent signal off of the last ring and so I was confident that this one would be even harder to recover. I believe I had another 30 minutes or so for me to try to strike gold, but at the conclusion of that search day I was unable to walk out of the river with both rings. I had no time left and it was imperative that I got on the road and start heading towards Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the wedding that would take place later that evening.
Before I made my way out of the river, I took note of where I had found the first ring and I would resume my search the following day. How could I have not been pleased with the results so far? I was able to recover half of what I was sent out to help with and there was still more work to be done! I walked out of the water and gathered up my gear and returned back to the parking lot, packed my things in the car, changed out of my wetsuit and then headed north.
During the whole drive to the hotel, I couldn’t stop thinking about how blessed I was to recover the engagement ring! I couldn’t wait to get back in the water and search for the nesting band! In keeping my word to Emily, I called her but I had to leave a voicemail message. I was vague about my search, hoping I could surprise her the next day with the news that I had found both rings, and not just the opal engagement ring. That was my hope!
The next morning, I left the hotel and drove south to Washington D.C.. I had received an urgent call from a desperate husband who shared that the day before his wife had lost her wedding band at the National Zoo. I immediately headed to the Nation’s Capital to help the couple out. Once I completed the search in D.C., I drove back north again, which was 45 minutes in the direction towards the Monocacy River.
Upon arrival, I once again setup all of my gear along the river bank and quickly made my way over to where I had found the engagement ring the day before. I knew the location because there was a particular formation of rocks along the side of the river, and I had lined up that formation with the place that I had found the first ring in the middle of the river. I knew that if I started walking from those rocks straight out into the middle of the river, I would end up at the location where I found the first ring. Secondly, I could feel a certain rock with my dive boots that was below the surface of the water and it was near that rock that I had found the engagement ring very close to that particular formation. From that point, I counted approximately 30 feet down the river and that was where I had finished my search the day before. I was now ready to begin the second chapter of my recovery efforts
For me, I love the thrill of the challenge to find what is not easily obtainable, especially out in the middle of a river. The current was much faster than the day before, so I needed to work smart and place my feet in certain positions where I would not lose my balance from the swift movement of the water. It was another lovely day outside and once again I could not ask for better weather conditions.
My strategy of the day was to not change anything with the way I searched the day before. I kept doing my grid lines with the same method that I had implemented on Friday and I worked my way farther down the river and then back up again, pushing my way against the stubborn water flow. Then, I would move back down the river and continued to do this in straight lines. Not knowing when the two rings came off of Emily’s finger, it led me to tighten up my mental focus. I had to tell myself that finding the other ring was obtainable just as I found the first one, even though it was a lot more petite and the gold was even thinner than the band of the first ring. I had no idea what the distance was between the first ring falling off and when the second one hit the bottom of the river. However, I wasn’t going to be intimidated by how much more territory needed to be detected!
Approximately 45 minutes into my second search that day, I had searched approximately 20 square yards of river from where I found the engagement ring. Like before, I moved the metal detector slowly so that I would not miss any potential signals that I might swing across. So far, all of the targets that I pulled out of the water that afternoon were small pieces of aluminum – still no ring to be found. At some point, as I continued down the river, slightly detecting to the right side of the water, I hit a signal that was extremely light and almost unrecognizable on my detector. I moved the coil back and forth a little bit more and I was still picking up this particular target that matched white gold. From certain angles I was not getting any reading on my detector screen, so I had to move the detector coil at different positions just to see if I was getting a false reading or not. The signal still showed up and that’s when I started getting more curious. Most detectorists would have moved right across that target because it really didn’t appear to contain much of any metal to consider pulling it up. Someone else would have mistaken it as a small piece of aluminum foil. Because I knew better with white gold targets, I was not about to pass it up. I took my pinpointer and placed it down into the water right over the spot where my detector coil was resting. Then, I removed the coil from the area and immediately the pinpointer found the metal object. The target was obviously just inches from where my hand was positioned! Also, I could tell that it was a small target by the way the tip of the pinpointer was sounding off. Next, I removed the pinpointer out of the way and quickly grabbed a handful of sediment and rocks where the target was resting. Bringing my handful of stones and sand up to the surface, I immediately scanned the contents for the mysterious metal object. I believe that my first attempt came up with nothing and so I repeated the steps over again until I was certain that this time I hadn’t left the item at the bottom of the river.
I once again used my pinpointer to detect the clump of stones and sediment that was in my hand, and finally the piece of metal was detected by the pinpointer! Whatever it was, I now had it inside my grip! I knew the object was very small because it was surprisingly hidden in the midst of all of the river stones and sediment. I moved my finger through the items and it was then that I saw it! It wasn’t a scrap piece of aluminum from a drinking can, nor was it part of an old used ketchup packet or flimsy milk peel top! Not at all! It was a petite, white gold ring with a very thin band holding 3 small diamonds that were spread out along the top of the precious metal! I immediately knew that I had found the second missing ring because I recognized the details from a photo that Emily had previously provided for me! I did it! I found the nesting band that was part of the original engagement ring set! I could not have been more surprised by my findings based on how weak the target signal was! What an awesome moment!
Unless you are a ring finder like those found in The Ring Finders directory, it’s hard to describe the feeling inside when you discover the very object that you were on a mission to recover. When you find the sought-after keepsake that means so much to someone else, there’s almost a feeling of electricity that works through you! There’s such a rush within that excites all of one’s senses when the missing item is found and then returned to its owner! With search and recovery missions like this one, the degree of difficulty is so large that when one finds the lost property (like in the case of these two missing rings), there is just no greater feeling in the world! Taking on a challenge like this and being able to deliver to the distraught owner, not just one ring, but to find both rings in separate areas in the river, 20 yards apart, there are few words to accurately describe the entire experience!
Metal Detectorist, Brian Rudolph, Successfully Returned Both Rings to Emily and Mark! Call Brian Rudolph to Help You Find Your Lost Keepsakes at (301) 466-8644
I was so thrilled and overjoyed to find this second ring! I held up the nesting band and kissed it, yelling out loud, “Yes! I did it! I found it! Yes!” All kinds of words of excitement and relief flowed from within me, realizing at that moment that I was able to successfully fulfill this mission! I remember just standing there in the middle of the river, holding Emily’s ring in my hand, knowing at that point in time that there was nothing left to recover from the water! My search was over! It was extremely gratifying for me to leave the riverbank with my equipment in one hand and the recently discovered gold band that was zipped up in my harness case! I couldn’t wait to surprise Emily and her fiancé Mark with the good news! As I walked through the woods along the path leading back to the parking lot, I could see the river through the tree line, and I thought to myself, “I did it! I conquered the Monocacy!” At that moment I could only give thanks to the Lord for something as extraordinary as what had just taken place in the last 24 hours!
If you would like to see the video of me revealing the rings to Emily and Mark, please subscribe to the YouTube channel link provided below, and you will receive a notification when the video is uploaded in the next few months. It is worth waiting for! I promise!
Emily Couldn’t Have Been More Happy to Hold Her Missing Rings Once Again!
Emily and Mark were beyond excited to receive the missing rings back in their possession! My efforts to recover the special keepsakes in the Monocacy River were 100% successful and the couple was pleasantly shocked with surprise at the outcome! The look on their faces when I returned both rings will always be fixed in my mind! They were so happy and relieved at the sight of those beautiful bands that had disappeared below the water over a week earlier and located 45 minutes away from where Emily and Mark resided! Now, the engagement set was returned home for good! Emily’s finger was finally reunited with its newly found friends (the ring set), and together they now await the arrival of yet another ring this autumn…the wedding band!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
U.S. Air Force Officer, Paul, Beyond Excited to be Reunited With His Palladium Wedding Band!
Paul’s Palladium Wedding Band Still Showing Chocolate Cream Pie on the Rim!
Just after I finished a search for a missing ring in Annapolis, Maryland, I received a call from an Air Force officer who lost his palladium wedding band at a military fundraiser earlier that day which was hosted by his battalion at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Paul is a high ranking officer who had participated in a pie fight during the afternoon festivities. He went on to explain that the peaceful picnic ended up with the officers throwing pies at one another and he went on the rampage to take revenge on some of his men for smacking him good with a creamy pie to the face! As the battle ensued out by the picnic tables located under a park pavilion, the messy chocolate and cherry cream antics extended out towards an open grassy area. These men had the time of their lives while the family members were watching, laughing, clapping and getting quite entertained by the childlike behavior of these Air Force officers. Paul was throwing one of the pies at another guy when he noticed his wedding band fly off of his finger and land somewhere in the grass approximately 15 or 20 feet from where the pie crust and filling was being smothered all over the men. When the game finally came to a conclusion, it was all about hunting for Paul’s handsome palladium wedding band. Eight officers including other family members joined in the search but no one could find the ring. Even after everybody had left the park area, Paul and his wife continued to search for the missing ring for another few hours, but all of their efforts led to no avail.
This is where THE RING FINDERS directory came into play. Paul looked online to see if he could find any tips on how to recover a lost ring. THE RING FINDERS website came up on his Google search which led this desperate military officer to contact me.
I assured Paul that I would do everything in my ability to recover his missing wedding band and I told him that I could meet him out at the air base the following day since it was already late in the evening. He was quite happy that I could fit his need into my schedule and that I was so positive regarding the recovery of his ring (if it in fact was still there in the grass).
The next day, Paul and I agreed to meet at a restaurant nearby to the air base so that I could follow him to the entrance of Andrews. There was very tight security, and I had to provide all kinds of identification to be granted approval to enter the base. Paul had to explain to the guards what my purpose was for entering and eventually I was given access after they did a search of my vehicle and checked out all of my credentials and paperwork.
Once I was through the gate. I continued following Paul and his family over to the picnic pavilion where the big party was held the day before. Lots of people were out playing ball and eating lunch at picnic tables. It was such a beautiful day with sun shining so happily above the perfect blue sky. As I observed all of the military families enjoying their time of recreation, I had to feel so grateful for all the sacrifices that these people have made for civilians like myself. This feeling within led me to thank Paul and his family for their awesome service for our country!
Before Paul took me over to the area where he believed he saw the ring fly off his finger, I got all of my gear out of the car and set up my metal detector so that I would be ready to start the search once we observed the grassy area where the pie fight had eventually reached its conclusion. Paul introduced me to his wife Marie and their son who were both carrying their picnic basket of lunch and plenty of other things to keep them preoccupied since they thought that the search could take a few hours to find the ring (as she experienced the day before but without a happy ending).
In recounting the story of how Paul’s ring slid off his finger, we both concluded that the chocolate mousse pie filling most likely lubricated his finger enough to cause the palladium wedding band to slide off and “fly away” in the midst of the action-packed moments during the pie fight.
Once he finished showing me the basic area that I needed to search, I put the headphones on and began my grid, swinging the detector back and forth in a straight line and then moving back in the opposite direction. At some point I felt that I had covered the suspected area well enough to conclude that the ring was clearly not in that section of the grass. I did have a few potential targets but none of them were directly on the surface of the grass, so I had to eliminate those possibilities. As soon as I moved away from the parameter where Paul thought the ring must have settled on the ground, I went outside of that area (as I commonly find rings beyond the places where people think the item ended up), and I began searching perhaps 10 yards past the suspected hot zone. It took no more than a minute before my detector sounded off a signal that was in the range of Paul’s type of ring. The numbers that were coming up on my machine were exactly what I was looking for. Almost at the same time that the target signal could be heard in my headphones, I looked down and saw something circular and silver-like in the midst of the grass! The wedding band was still there, patiently waiting for me to find it and have it returned to this very kind military man! I couldn’t have been happier for Paul and Marie and they could not have been more surprised when I revealed the good news that the search was over! Believe it or not, there was still some chocolate cream residue leftover from the pie fight, still stuck to the rim of the handsome palladium band!
If you would like to see the video of this search and the ring revealed to the family, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking on the link below and you will receive a notification when the video is uploaded.
The moment that I unveiled the ring to Paul, the couple was simply overjoyed with happiness and relief that Paul’s wedding band had been found! He gave me a hug, a handshake and thanked me over and over again right up to the time that I started packing up my gear! I was so honored to help such a patriotic family. Marie was quite surprised that I had found the ring within five minutes of starting the search! She had just settled down when I returned the wedding band back to its rightful owner! And like I said above, because so many people had been searching for such a long time the day prior, she didn’t think this would be such an easy find! The biggest decision of their day was no longer how to go about discovering the missing ring, but rather whether or not they would stay at the park or head back to their house located somewhere on the base!
Once my things were packed up and I was ready to head off to my next search site, the four of us said our goodbyes and the family thanked me again for my successful efforts. It meant a great deal to me that I could help such great Americans! There’s nothing like leaving a military family with smiles on their faces, knowing that every day they are making sacrifices for people like me. I would never be able to help others recover their missing items if we did not have men, women and children like this family supporting America’s efforts to preserve our freedom and democracy!
May God bless Paul and his family and may God continue to bless our great United States of America!
Revealing the ring to Paul and his family was a blast! If you would like to view the RING REVEAL and the reaction that followed, feel free to subscribe to my YOUTUBE VIDEO CHANNEL to see all of the latest and previous ring recoveries. This story and more will be posted over the next couple of months and you will be notified when it’s uploaded to the video channel!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
Hoard of Sixty 1 Ounce, 22 Karat Gold South African Krugerrand Coins
60 Gold Krugerrand Coins Unearthed from the Ground After 35 Years!
Brian Rudolph Recovers a Hoard of Gold Treasure! Call Brian Today at (301) 466-8644 to Help Recover Your Lost Keepsake or Buried Treasure!
MORE PHOTOS BELOW
When I was a young boy I found buried treasure deep beneath the sand in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Inside an old suitcase I discovered many items made of silver, such as trays and other serving pieces. It was that magical experience that always kept me dreaming of perhaps another day when I might discover a hoard of gold buried in the ground just waiting for me to unearth it and display its beauty once more. Most of us have this childlike wish to experience something so amazing as that, but few ever walk away from a field or yard with such contents. So many of us wish to have such an exciting fairytale moment, but few ever end up seeing that story come true. The story that you are about to read is that very fairytale adventure story that I dreamed of experiencing and one that in fact did come true in my life! I will forever be grateful to God for THE RING FINDERS directory and its CEO/Founder, Chris Turner, for creating and providing a directory that connects people in need with metal detecting experts that can help recover lost treasure that would have otherwise been missing forever.
I believe that the Bible Scripture, Psalm 37:4, rings true in my life when it says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” As I take pleasure in my relationship with my Heavenly Father, I know God hands me these “once in a lifetime” moments, such as the one that I am about to share!
I will never forget that evening when I was getting out of my car to do an errand at the local REI store in Rockville, Maryland. I received a phone call from an older gentleman named Bob who explained that he received my contact information from an owner of a metal detector supply store who was aware of my affiliation with THE RING FINDERS directory. This led the man to review some of my recovery articles on THE RING FINDERS website. From there, he clicked on some of my search videos found on YouTube. The elderly man was looking for a metal detectorist who was full of integrity and honesty and one who lives with the fear of God in him. After reviewing only a few samples of my searches on THE RING FINDERS directory and the video links that were attached to the articles, Bob felt that I was the one to help him search and recover his father’s lost buried treasure.
If you could have only seen me stop in my tracks out there in the parking lot when this gentleman started to share the background of this unusual story and what measures he and his son had already taken in their attempts to unearth the treasure that they were looking for in the past several months leading up to this conversation. The entire time that Bob was sharing, I continued to pace back and forth alongside my car in the dark, holding on to every detail that was being shared with me. This is what I was told:
35 years ago, back in 1984, Bob and his wife Brenda were hosting a family get-together at their home (the city and state where they reside will remain undisclosed out of respect for the family’s request for privacy). While Bob was still commuting home from his workplace, Brenda was entertaining their two teenage boys, her two in-laws and both of Bob’s sisters who were also present that afternoon. At some point during Brenda’s meal preparation in the kitchen, Bob’s father mysteriously left the house without mentioning where he was going or what he was planning to do. All of the other family members remained in the house at that time. After a long time had passed, with much curiosity, the two sisters walked out of Bob and Brenda’s house in search of their father. According to their account, the two of them saw their dad on the right side of the house, digging a hole in the ground with a shovel in hand. Their father explained that he was burying something that he would later reveal to the family once his son Bob returned home from work. At some point the ladies returned inside the house to let their father finish his mission and then Bob arrived back at his 155 acre estate just in time for the evening supper.
There was nothing unusual about that particular family gathering that night other than the fact that the patriarch of the family requested his wife, children and grandchildren to gather together in Bob and Brenda’s living room after finishing the meal that Brenda had provided that evening. Bob’s dad shared with his children that for many years he had been saving up his money and purchasing 1 ounce South African Gold Krugerrand coins dating back to over a decade. He had been accumulating this collection of coins for the sole purpose of providing for his children’s needs. The exact amount of krugerrand coins was not remembered, but Bob thought that his father mentioned that he had buried around 20 to 40 gold coins. In case any of the kids experienced difficult financial times in the future, he wanted his children to be taken care of by leaving this gold for them to cash the coins in and have immediate access to quick money. This man loved his children with all of his heart. So much so that he was afraid that if something should happen to him and if their mother did not have the means by which to help one of their kids in need, he wanted there to be provisions available at any time to assist any of their children. Because Bob was not present when his father buried the gold in Bob’s own yard, his dad told him that he buried the gold about a shovel’s distance from the house and that the coins were sealed in a two liter glass sparkling grape juice container. Bob had asked more questions but over the years the story became fuzzier and fuzzier until he forgot many of the specific details that were laid out for him on that very special evening in his living room. His two sisters were the only witnesses that saw their father digging that hole in Bob’s yard. However, they never actually saw their father placing anything in the ground because he was still digging the hole at the time that they were outside that day. There in that living room back in the year 1984, the children huddled around their father and thanked him and their mother for such love and thoughtfulness. Bob and his sisters were probably in their late 40’s at that time.
Many years drifted by, one after another, and then one decade after another. When Bob’s father grabbed his son’s shovel from the shed and started to dig in Bob’s yard, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States. Several wars would be fought and several more presidents would take office. The Cold War would end and new governments would be formed throughout the world. Bob and Brenda’s two boys would end up getting married and have children of their own. Sadly, Bob’s father and mother would pass away, leaving their love behind along with the lone rumor of the buried treasure in the minds of those who missed them so very much. Over the next 35 years little was ever spoken of or even thought about regarding Bob’s father’s words about the buried treasure in his yard. It almost became more like myth than actual reality. The calendar pages kept turning over and over again ever since the time that Bob’s dad spoke of what he had buried on Bob’s property back in 1984. Time marched on and the details of what was told about the gold coins had faded along with the changes of hairstyles, music and clothing. Blockbuster Video was the biggest thing in the mid 80’s, and now VHS tapes are gone and online internet movie channels rule the flat screen television viewing world! It was only until recently that Bob and Brenda thought that it was time to search for dad’s buried treasure because they were getting up there in years and they thought it was best to recover the gold (if the hoard was truly buried in the yard) just in case their health began to fail them. Thankfully, none of the family members ever had any financial needs great enough to consider searching for the gold. In addition to the couple’s concern about their health, they also weren’t sure how long they would be living on the property in the coming years.
So, this is where my role comes into the story. Over a month before I received Bob’s phone call, he and his son started their search for the hidden treasure. He told me on the phone that they tried everything to recover the gold but they couldn’t find it anywhere. They rented a metal detector from a local hardware store, however, they were not able to use it effectively because they had no idea what all of the tones meant and they couldn’t determine whether or not they were hitting signals that pertained to the hidden gold. When they thought they had a legitimate target, they would use their elaborate digging equipment (including a backhoe) to excavate those potential sites but no treasure was found during any of the attempts that were made. Over and over again the signals turned out to be nothing more than scrap metal or electrical interference. Eventually they returned the rented detector and started blindly using their digging equipment to lift significant amounts of dirt from the yard, hoping that they would hit the motherlode just by chance. Because so many years had passed since Bob’s father told the family what he had done in the yard, Bob’s sisters’ recollections contradicted one another. They had two different stories as to where they remembered their father digging a hole in the ground near the house. One sister recalled the hole being dug on the right side of the house, in the center position approximately 15 feet or so away from its siding. The other one recalled the hole being made on the right side of the house, but closer towards the bushes, which were only feet from the siding. Bob figured that the women were probably accurate regarding the basic positioning of where the hole was made even though there was a discrepancy with the number of feet from the house. Also, he kept reminding himself of his father’s words that he buried the gold a shovel’s distance from the house. Even with all of that information, none of his digs were successful. He traveled along the side of the house towards the right back corner and dug a fairly large trench that was approximately 15 feet in length, and still no gold treasure was recovered. Bob and Brenda’s son diligently helped his father search for the treasure, traveling long distances from his home to be there for the digs. As time went on, Bob was doing more of the searching by himself and each time that he tried to uncover the gold, he kept coming up empty handed over and over again. When the father and son team had exhausted all of their efforts, Bob decided it was time to take a different direction from the way they had been handling things. He started searching for a competent metal detectorist who would come to the site and use his expertise to search for the missing gold. His greatest concern was that if they hired someone who didn’t walk with the highest of integrity in mind and heart, the person might locate the treasure, not report the discovery to the family and then return some other time when the couple would be away from the estate and steal their father’s gold coins. Bob did his research to find someone that he could trust and someone who had similar spiritual values as he did. That someone turned out to be me. On the phone, he shared that he was still going to make a few more attempts to locate the treasure and if those searches failed, he would call me back and set up a time for me to come out to his home and allow me the opportunity to search and recover the buried treasure. His initial call was intended to find out whether or not I would be up for the challenge if their last attempts completely failed once again. I excitedly told Bob that I would be thrilled to participate in this possibly once-in-a-lifetime treasure hunt to recover his father’s treasure. I told him that this was the kind of search that I dreamed of participating in! I also assured the gentleman that he could trust me and that just as he read articles and viewed some of my search videos about my personal ethics and spiritual walk with the Lord, he would have nothing to worry about with regards to this search.
Bob and his son were quite happy to hear that I would accept the challenge to search for their treasure if they needed to call me back. In all honesty, I really did not think that I was going to hear back from Bob because I figured that the two of them would either recover the gold or that they would come to the conclusion that there was nothing ever buried, or that it was uprooted and stolen sometime in the past without Bob knowing it. This might involve another family member that knew about the buried hoard or that construction or landscaping was done in the territory where the treasure was buried and somebody pulled it from the earth without the family knowing about it. Again, I really didn’t think that I would end up being called in for an actual search for lost treasure; it just sounded way too good to be true. In the past, I had heard from several other metal detectorists that they had similar searches where people were told that family members had hidden gold in the yard, out in the field or even in the house and nothing was ever recovered. I did not think that this scenario was going to play out any differently.
Three weeks went by and though I thought about Bob’s initial phone call to me, I really didn’t give it much thought that I would be invited to be a part of his search efforts. But to my pleasant surprise, I received a second call from him one evening and he asked once more if I was still willing to come out and give it my best to find the treasure. I was beyond excited by his follow-up phone call! I thought, ‘I may have just gotten a chance of a lifetime by being a part of such a search for lost treasure!’ All my life I waited for something as fun as this, and it was now brought to my doorstep! We immediately set up a search date and time and I took down all of the information that I needed to prepare for this magnificent hunt! Just before I got off the phone with Bob, I once again reassured him that he could trust me and that I was delighted to be a part of this recovery effort. He reemphasized the fact that he would not have called me a second time if he wasn’t confident that I could find the treasure and that I could be fully trusted. When we got off the phone, I smiled and did some more daydreaming in my car before I continued heading down the road. I kept thinking about what it would be like to be a part of such a treasure hunt. I couldn’t wait to pack up the car with my search gear and head off to Bob and Brenda’s home, located an hour and a half away from where I live. I knew that this treasure hunt was something that was so unique and special, and for some reason, I had a confident feeling that this recovery effort was not going to be a waste of time. Bob gave no indication that he doubted his father’s word and he had no thoughts that one of his family members or hired contractors had already beaten him to the treasure. This information gave me much hope that I had a decent chance at finding the gold.
It was a week after our second phone conversation and I was ready to go to Bob’s property and search for the buried gold. I loaded up the car with all of my metal detecting equipment and I went through my checklist just to make sure that I was not missing anything for this mission. As I shared above, I had a 90 minute drive to Bob and Brenda’s residence and I didn’t want to forget anything. It was truly a memorable commute, traveling way up into the mountains, passing old cornfields and dairy farms on my left and on my right. I couldn’t stop daydreaming about pulling gold from the earth! It was like being a kid in the candy store, savoring the moment to behold such incomparable sweetness in the jar! May the reader not misunderstand my heart. I first and foremost wanted this cache of coins to be safely returned to the owner to bring Bob and his family much happiness and relief. I wanted to see the smiles on their faces the moment that the gold would come out of the ground after being in the earth for three and a half decades! Next to that priority, I so wanted to fulfill my childhood dream of chasing after treasure and finding it from beneath the ground! As I drove to their house, I admit that there were countering thoughts that crept into my mind which kept whispering in my brain, ‘Perhaps the treasure never was laid in the hole’ or ‘perhaps it was discovered by someone else or taken by other family members, and therefore I will never get a shot at bringing the hoard of gold coins out of the ground’. Regardless, I stayed positive and was just extremely giddy about getting to the top of this particular mountain and begin this very unique kind of search.
The time was around eleven-thirty in the morning by the time I drove up the winding gravel path that led up to the couple’s 155 acre estate. The house was built sometime back in the 1960s and it was quite modest in size in comparison to the old barns and other large storage buildings that the family built over the past many decades. Some of the structures dated back to the 1800’s. The countryside was absolutely breathtaking. Just as I took the key out of the ignition of the car, Bob walked out to greet me. The elderly gentleman had a warm and kind countenance upon his face. He extended his hand over to mine for a kind shake and I immediately noticed how weathered it was from all of the farm work that such a property had required of him over the many years. Moments later, his wife Brenda came out of the house wearing a country apron and the three of us spent a little time getting better acquainted. At some point, Bob’s wife returned into the house to start cooking a meal for him. Meanwhile, the two of us remained out by my car and we ended up talking for over three hours about a recent tragedy that changed Bob and Brenda’s life forever. He shared with me that a year earlier he had lost his forty-eight year old son when he was tragically killed by an oncoming car as his son was jogging across an intersection. Bob said that nothing in the world could bring back his happiness or normality ever since this happened. Not even the gold that he was trying to uncover could bring him any sense of thrill to help fill in all of the empty spaces in his heart due to the loss of his son. Because we shared the same faith in the Lord, I spent those three hours listening to him, encouraging him with Bible Scriptures and sharing similar stories that others told me about in regards to how they were able to cope with life after enduring such devastation in their families. We truly had a heart-to-heart moment that lasted those several hours and it seemed that the whole idea of digging up treasure, (though romantic in its story), clearly became secondary and less important to the reality that no kind of suffering on this level could ever be healed with possessing silver or gold, and that no one could ever buy back another man’s son. Bob’s precious child was his true gold; he was the treasure that Bob wanted back and he expressed that he could care less about what was presumed to be in the ground, that which his father had left for him and his family. By the time we wrapped up our talk with a prayer for my newfound friend, Brenda called Bob inside for some lunch. They invited me to join them, but instead I used that time to prepare my equipment and organize my gear.
When Bob and Brenda finished eating their meal, the two of them were ready for me to begin metal detecting. They led me to the right side of their home and showed me all of the possible locations as to where their father may have buried the gold. I could see where Bob and his son had broken up the earth in search of the gold because there were piles of dirt in different places in the yard. He showed me the large area that was dug up with his backhoe located towards the rear of the right side of the house. Along the side of the house were bushes that were probably about 4.5 to 5 feet tall. According to Bob and Brenda, 35 years ago those bushes were just little plants. It would have been unlikely that their father would have hidden the coins so close to the bushes based on the root system below the surface. Also, Bob’s sisters did not make any mention that the treasure was buried near the bushes. Another clue was the fact that his father said he buried the coins approximately a shovel distance from the house. That would mean that the treasure was buried beyond the line of bushes. It was possible that it was buried close to the bushes but not so close up to the house because the bushes would have been in the way of one trying to dig a hole.
It didn’t take long before I started metal detecting the property, gridding back and forth along the side of the house. There were quite a few signals that were coming from the ground and it was difficult to discern which ones were more likely to be the cache of gold and which ones were not. Every time there was a legitimate target to search, Bob took his shovel and started digging. I would help him at times with a secondary digger and the two of us partnered in breaking open the earth to see if that was the spot that we were looking for. One target after another, we searched the ground and kept coming up empty-handed. Various types of scrap metal was pulled up along with bullet shells and a coin or two here and there. The biggest obstacle that I encountered was the interference that I was picking up along the line of bushes and around the corner, parallel with the back of the house. The aluminum siding made it impossible for me to discriminate between legitimate targets and ones that were just part of the house itself. Most of the areas that we concentrated on were just beyond the line of bushes on the side of the house extending out to around 15 feet or so. This was clearly beyond the measurement of one shovel’s distance, but Bob started to second-guess whether his dad ever said that or not, though he was pretty certain he did say that quote 35 years ago. I told him that this kind of search can take hours and possibly days to uncover the treasure if it in fact existed. There were so many possibilities that needed to be explored one by one, which meant that each legitimate target would have to be dug up to make sure that we covered every possibility in his yard. While we searched for the gold, Bob admitted to me that he didn’t think it would take long at all for me to find the treasure, even though I told him on the phone that it could take a very long time, especially if we were dealing with a lot of signals coming from the house or around the property. He added by saying that he thought it would only take 15 minutes to uncover the treasure and then he could get on with his life. I laughed and put my hand on his shoulder as we checked out another potential signal.
We must have dug up around 30 or more targets that afternoon and into the evening. We started at around 3:30 p.m. and ended the search at around 8:30 p.m. with no gold to account for. I felt bad for the man because I could tell that he was a bit perplexed as to why I was not able to pull the treasure from the ground. By the time we wrapped things up for the night, we had moved the search completely towards the backside of the house and then over to the left side of the property. Bob started thinking that perhaps he recounted the story incorrectly regarding where his father actually planted the gold, so we looked beyond his sisters’ recollections. I kept detecting one target after another, placing markers and orange colored cones in spots where there were potential signals for us to dig up. Many of those possible hits would have to be checked out during my next search attempt.
I know how disappointed Bob was that I was not able to find the gold that day, but thankfully he had a certain amount of resilience which I could hear in his voice. Bob truly believed that his father did in fact bury the gold coins and that he saw no reason to suspect that anyone with knowledge of the gold would have made their way over to their property and pull the treasure from the ground. By the time we wrapped up the final minutes of metal detecting, the headlamp that I had been using in the dark began to grow dim, perhaps it was an indirect sign for us that it was time to wrap things up and resume the hunt on another day. I packed up all of my equipment and said goodbye to Bob and Brenda there out by my car. Brenda was so sweet to pack up some baked goodies for me to take home and share with my family. I must admit that I didn’t promise her that even a crumb would make it safely all of the way home! My last words to them before leaving was that I assured them that if the treasure was in fact buried on the property and that the coins remained hidden in the earth ever since Bob’s father placed them in the ground, I would indeed find the gold without fail. There was no lack of confidence in me and Bob seemed very sure of my abilities to bring his search to a happy conclusion. The stars were brightly shining above me as I headed down the long and winding driveway and then making my way back to my house.
The next day, Bob and I touched base on the phone and we set up our next scheduled search time, which would end up being two weeks later. He and his wife would be heading out of town so we would have to wait for the following week for me to return to their property. I couldn’t wait to get back to the search site and continue my efforts in revealing the hidden treasure. Of course, those wretched thoughts of doubt kept coming into my mind and then exiting out at some point regarding whether or not the treasure really was there and if it had it ever been removed. This was completely normal to have such counter thoughts drifting in my mind, but I also knew better to not let those doubts stay at the forefront of my determination to complete this search successfully. Focusing on preparing for a positive end result was my main objective. Like I shared before, so many stories had been told to me about hunts like this that ended up being unsuccessful, but I believed that this one was handed to me to bring about complete success for this couple.
I used the next two weeks to prepare myself for the second search attempt. Being a part of The Ring Finders directory allows for all of our metal detectorists to connect with one another and get feedback from other experts to help with current searches. I talked to people like our directory CEO, Chris Turner, and metal detectorist Stan Ross, and both of them encouraged me in various ways, suggesting fabulous tips that would prove to be important in renewing my confidence about what methods I had already tried and what techniques that I still needed to implement in pulling the treasure from the earth. I did some tests with tin and aluminum lids along with silver dollars to see how those signals might react to my detector just to see how the test targets would ring out if they were a foot or so below the ground. I knew that it didn’t mean that I would necessarily come up with those similar signals, but I still wanted to know how my detectors would react to those scenarios.
As the search date was approaching closer and closer, I grew more impatient, waiting for the day when I could try again and hopefully bring the search to a close. For Bob and family, it had been months of searching and scratching their heads, wondering why they couldn’t find the treasure. I was greatly looking forward to my return to their property. Every night in bed, before drifting off to sleep, I reviewed in my head all of the facts regarding the search and I couldn’t have been more prepared to give it my all on the second go-around.
My return date finally arrived. I woke up early that morning ahead of my clock alarm because I couldn’t contain my excitement to get on the road. My mind was racing with thoughts and much anticipation to resume the treasure hunt later that morning. Just like the first time that I traveled to the search site, I gave myself the entire day to drive up into the mountains to Bob and Brenda’s lovely estate and give myself another 8 to 10 hours of searching, if need be. I had in my mind all of the strategies that I would be implementing in order to find the buried treasure. I headed off to Bob and Brenda’s sometime after ten in the morning and arrived at the couple’s house sometime after noon. Once I parked the car, I didn’t waste any time getting my gear set up for the search. Bob came out of the house reminded me that he needed to go to a doctor’s appointment just a few miles in town and that he would only be gone for a short while. Brenda would stick around with me and watch my search while Bob was away. As he headed for his car, I shook his hand and I looked into his eyes and I said to him, “Bob, if I should find the gold while you are gone, I promise you that I will not pull anything from the ground. I will let you do the honors. Your father would have wanted it that way. You can trust me.” I could tell how moved he was when I initiated that promise to him. He answered, “Brian, thank you so very much. This is why I sought after you to do this search because I knew I could trust you. Thank you so much for this. Good luck.” I prayed with Bob for my success in finding the gold coins and then he got into his car and headed into town.
Brenda and I walked to the right side of the house and I began asking her for any more clues about where Bob’s dad may have hidden the treasure. She responded by saying that she remembered her father-in-law say that he buried the gold in a 2 liter grape juice container. She also thought that he hid the treasure somewhere near the right corner of the house towards the rear. She couldn’t confirm that fact one hundred percent, but she always seemed to remember that bit of information. I thought it was extremely helpful because I had been thinking that it was quite probable that Bob’s dad may have hid the gold towards the back side of the property as opposed to the side of the house where the two sisters believed they saw him dig a hole in the ground. Now, Bob had already dug a large trench from the corner of the house extending outward, about 15 feet, so there wasn’t much left to dig in that region. However, there were other places closer to that corner on the backside of the house that still needed to be searched. I had already detected those potential spots the last time I was there at their home, but it was hard to make any sense of what could be a legitimate signal because the metal coming from the house itself produced one solid wall of signals in my detector. This made it nearly impossible to discriminate out the types of metal that I was not interested in digging. This was the same problem with the wall of signals that I was getting along the line of bushes on the right side of the house. At the rear, there was another line of bushes and a fairly large space that was created when a tree and a couple of bushes were removed from the ground sometime in the past year or so. I could not make any sense out of the signals heard in those areas that were up against the house leading outward 3 feet or so because there was just sheets of metal that were masking any potential targets if they so existed. I determined in advance of arriving at their property that I would search out all of that space closer to the house, even though the signals could not easily be identified due to the probable masking that was taking place from the metal coming from the siding and reinforcement metal of the house.
Brenda kept me company for a few minutes while I was setting up my detector. She then needed to go into the house to tend to her shoofly pie and banana bread that she was making for the three of us. I thought that was so sweet of her. Meanwhile, I began to detect several feet from the right rear corner of the house, but closer to the back of the house and not where Bob had been previously using the backhoe. This area was reviewed the last time I was at the house, but because of the interference from the siding, it would have taken up most of my time trying to decipher the massive signals coming from the house versus what might be buried feet away from the actual building. As a result, my metal detecting of this section was less of a priority the last time I was at the house. This time around I would give this location more of my attention just in case the treasure was being masked by the metal of the house. Everything sounded the same, and there was no differentiation between a particular signal that the house was giving off and what a potential gold target in a container would be giving off. I would have to spend more time moving the coil slowly across the areas near the house and see if there was any separation of signals that would give me a clue as to whether or not I should start a dig.
Just before placing the metal detector coil on the ground to start searching for the gold, I prayed to the Lord and asked for favor and guidance as to where I should start looking. I was not going to focus on what failed the last time I was at Bob and Brenda’s house. I was only aiming at target areas that could potentially take me to the gold. I laid the detector coil on the surface of the earth and began to move it just about three feet or more from the edge of the house and I immediately got that wall of sound coming from the metal of the house. I anticipated this to happen because of what I encountered during my last search attempt. This time around I would study the signals more carefully. While making sure that the gold was not being masked by the amount of metal coming from the house, I kept moving my 15 inch coil back and forth slowly over the area, hoping to find some kind of cut or difference in the overall signal. I looked for various VDI numbers on my detector screen that might alert me to the possibility that there were more than just one kind of metal near or in the ground where I was detecting. There would most likely be rust on the lid of the glass jar where the gold was placed within. However, I did study different types of grape juice jars that were made in the mid 1980’s by various companies and aluminum was also used to seal grape juice at that time, as well. Because we did not know the exact type of jar lid used to cover the gold, I could not be certain whether the lid would be infested with rust or not. Even so, I was still looking for target signals that would point me in the direction of either a rusted top or an aluminum one, just in case. I kept my eyes on the Minelab 800 detector screen to see if there were any numbers that would jump up and down between iron and aluminum which might be an indication that two different types of metal were being picked up on my machine. As it turned out, I did pick up some peculiar changes in the numbers as I studied that first spot that I was detecting. Unless a detectorist is very familiar with their equipment and extremely comfortable with reading the various VDI numbers on the display, what I was reading on the screen would not have impacted or influenced a detectorist to stop and investigate those signals. I came back to the house this day very prepared in my mind as to what VDI numbers could appear on the detector and I was determined to take my time and analyze the most difficult of places to search due to all of the interference I was picking up. If the house was masking the iron signals coming from the jar lid and the gold coins themselves, then I had to move slowly and test everything.
I moved my coil away from the first signal that I was detecting in order to observe what consistent signals were coming from a long side the back of the house as I moved the coil parallel with the building. Once I finished taking note of the consistent numbers on my VDI screen, I went back to that original target signal that I started with and I analyzed what numbers were coming from that first location. I discovered that the signals were very similar to what I was getting a long side the house except for the fact that there were also additional numbers that were occasionally coming up on the screen. This told me that while I was picking up the house metal, there was also the potential for additional iron and possibly precious metal buried beneath the ground very close to the house itself. I immediately switched metal detectors and set up my other Equinox 800 which had a 6 inch coil attached to it. I wanted to do further testing with a smaller coil so that I could confirm what I observed moments earlier with my other machine. Having a smaller coil gave me the flexibility to move the detector over parts of the targeted area to find clear separation between signals that potentially existed. Everything that I took note of prior to switching machines matched up perfectly with the current results. This convinced me that the targeted area was worth investigating further by starting my first dig of the day.
I didn’t waste a moment of time as I went and picked up Bob’s shovel that was leaning up against something nearby. I made up my mind that I would start the first dig with that first target area where I was getting those mixed signals. This was my very first attempt of the day to recover the gold. Though I had a good reason to start the dig, I really thought I was most likely going to discover that the signals were simply groups of interference from the house or I would find some scrap metal lodged deep below the surface. If I told you that I thought I would find the hoard of gold upon digging up the first target that I was searching for, I would have had to confess my dishonesty with you. I planned to spend all day searching for the gold if necessary and I thought that this would be the first of many attempts in searching for the treasure. Regardless of what was going through my mind at the time, I brought the shovel down and kicked it into the earth with my right foot and began displacing the dirt over and over again. I shoveling until I hoped to at least find some object that was giving off that unique signal in addition to what I was consistently hearing when I moved the detector parallel with the house.
A Shovel’s Distance Just As Bob’s Father Hinted!
After digging about a foot deep, I looked once again into the hole and this time I saw something black coming out of the side of the plug. It did not look like a solid object, but rather something plastic like a piece of a garbage bag. My immediate thought was that it was material left over from a landscaping company when they once lowered the young bushes into the ground many years back. Then, another thought occurred to me, ‘Could it be the buried treasure? Could the jar have been buried in something plastic to protect it from the elements?’ I continued to dig a little closer to the material that I had discovered, and the more that I dug around that area, the more I was growing convinced that I had found a garbage bag that was purposely buried in the ground for some other purpose than to plant bushes or small trees! I was more confident of this when all of a sudden I felt the shovel hit something hard which was located deeper in the dirt where the black plastic still laid mostly hidden. I started getting more curious and a bit more excited within me!
The Black Trash Bag Emerges from the Earth
I was all alone in the backyard. Brenda was still in the kitchen and she had only left perhaps 10 minutes before I put the shovel to the ground. Bob had not returned home from his appointment and I was not about to continue any further with my recovery efforts without having Bob and Brenda present for the unveiling of whatever this was that was stuck in the earth. Without ripping the bag wide open or pulling it too far out of the earth, I pressed my finger up against the material and it was then that I was quite convinced that I may have indeed found what we had all been searching for! I touched several objects in the plastic that matched what felt like shards of glass! I further concluded that I may have discovered the very pieces of glass from the jar that contained the gold coins! I dropped the shovel and began talking into my GoPro video camera, analyzing the situation and having fun daydreaming around the idea that I may have just hit the right spot on my very first attempt of the day! It was just too good to be true, but I was still hoping that what I had just dug up was in fact the buried treasure!
Bob Had Been Searching on the Wrong Side of the Same Corner of the House
Though Bob had not requested me to wait for him to bring up any potential targets that might be the gold coins, I was the one that gave him my word that I would wait for him to return home if I should find the gold. I wanted him to see the cache unveiled before his very eyes. I was certain that Bob’s father would have wanted this for his son when he supposedly buried the contents 35 years ago. The kind man trusted me with this dig and I was going to make sure he knew that there was not even a question that all of his property was safe with me, if in fact I had found the gold. What I do in private is always seen by my Heavenly Father and so I was only going to show the highest level of integrity and honesty before the Lord and towards these very kind people who entrusted me with their possessions.
I was just getting so giddy and excited as I thought more about what I may have just discovered! I took off my gear and headed to the front of the house where I knocked on the door hoping that Brenda would come out and see what I was looking at in the ground. I don’t think she expected that I would potentially find the buried gold this soon after just starting the search, especially with how many hours I was searching the last time I was at the premises. I will never forget the expression on Brenda’s face when she came to the door and I told her that I may have found what they had been looking for all these months! I encouraged her to come out immediately and take a look at what I had found in the hole! Brenda walked out of the house so excited that she forgot that she was still carrying the broken egg shells and banana peels from her banana bread recipe and she quickly threw the rubbish in the woods to fertilize the ground before walking with me to the hole that I had dug.
Bob Reaches Into the Mysterious Plastic Bag for the First Time
I pointed to the plastic bag and shared why I thought that I had found the gold coins. I explained to her t
Bob Confirms that Brian Did In Fact Find the Lost Gold Treasure!
The Hoard of Gold Revealed!
hat I hit a bag and there appeared to be broken glass inside of it. This would line up with the account that Brenda remembered from 35 years earlier regarding the 2 liter grape juice container that her father-in-law used to bury the gold in! She didn’t want to wait for Bob to return to reveal what was inside, but I reminded her that I gave Bob my word. So instead of pulling the bag farther out of the ground, Brenda reached inside the plastic material and carefully pulled out a piece of broken glass. It was that moment when she brought the shard closer up to our eyes to study, that we grew almost completely certain that the gold that the family had been searching for was indeed finally found beneath the earth! The very piece that she pulled out of the bag was the bottom part of a 2 liter glass container! This is what convinced both of us that I had found the lost gold! We were beyond excited and in a way I was still in disbelief that I may have found the gold on my first try that day! Incredible! Absolutely fantastic!
Just as we were about to call Bob on the phone to let him know that I may have discovered the gold, he appeared on the side of the house, walking towards us without a clue in the world of the news that he was about ready to have reported to him! The man was so very encouraged when I told him that the very first target that I was focusing on did in fact match up with the description of the glass container that we were seeking after! He had such a happy grin on his face upon hearing the search update! Bob was trying to keep himself reserved just in case it was a false alarm. However, he also seemed to be pretty convinced that I did in fact find what they were looking for all this time based on the location of where the broken glass was uncovered and the type of vessel that was discovered in the plastic. I just cannot describe with words just how excited I was at this entire experience! I couldn’t wait to see if I had struck gold! I thought to myself, ‘This would be absolutely thrilling if my very first hit of the day ended up being the gold hoard that we were looking for!’ It just seemed too easy this second go-around, and yet, everything seemed to line up perfectly thus far!
Bob Touches His Father’s Gift of Gold for the First Time in 35 Years!
It was time for the unveiling! The three of us walked a few feet over to the hole that I had dug earlier. At first, Bob got down on one knee to take a first peek at the old black plastic bag that was sticking out of the ground. Again, he expressed how appreciative he was of me waiting for him to return before the contents were removed from the earth. Could this be the very bag that Bob’s father selected with his own hands thirty-five years earlier to cover up the glass jar of gold coins? If so, it would be his son that would fully bring the treasure out into the open, seeing the light of day for the first time in three-and-a-half decades!
The Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice Gold Label
A Beautiful Sight!
I stood off to the side where Brenda was and gave room for Bob to unveil what was buried in the ground. He took a hold of the plastic and pulled it farther and farther out into the open until it was completely exposed before our eyes. Apparently, the plastic was exactly what I thought it was. It was in fact a trash bag. As the black material was moved farther out into the open, we could hear the broken glass moving around inside of the bag. All three of us were pretty certain that I had found the cache! My heart raced, and the anticipation was just unbearable! The excited son proceeded to rip the bag open with his two hands until we all saw it! That beautiful sight! The color of orange and yellow was shining in the midst of the dirt and glass! There it was! I had found the buried treasure! With our very eyes we were looking at what had been buried in the ground all of those years earlier by Bob’s father! I had done it! I truly did strike gold! It was one of the most exciting moments in my life! One after another, gold coins that had been hiding amongst the glass shards and clumps of dirt, began to appear all over the inside of the black plastic! We concluded later on that I most likely broke the glass container that held the coins when the shovel reached a certain depth where the jar had been buried. It was an amazing sight to behold! Most of the coins were still resting inside the white coin holders which kept the gold coins stacked one on top of the other. I looked at the first gold coin that Bob took in his hand and it was clearly marked as a South African Krugerrand! I looked at another one and another one and another one and they all were South African, 1 ounce, 22 karat gold coins! The whole experience was absolutely fantastic! Bob’s face could easily be read at that moment! He was filled with extreme elation and full of relief! Brenda was so happy for her man! Dad’s gift to his loved ones was finally unearthed and revealed for the surviving family to receive!
For me, it was like I had been transported back to 1976, back to being that seven year old child again in Virginia Beach when I had found that other treasure full of silver! I remembered my mother, brother and I studying the contents in that old beat up suitcase and learning that the silver had been stolen from a nearby hotel located near the beach. There was nothing like returning the property to the manager of that hotel and seeing the look on his face! There was nothing like it…until now! After all of those years, again I was able to help recover and return treasure to its rightful owner! This time it was a hoard of precious gold coins! Another dream came true! Something like this is so very rare and extremely special to experience! I felt humbled and honored to be a part of such a hunt and to be the one to find the gold treasure!
The 2 Liter Glass Container Lid Which Brian Detected Which Led Him to Discover the Gold
Holding a Beautiful Gift Left Behind By a Caring Father!
All of the Gold Coins Returned to Their Original Holders
Bob’s Father’s Fingerprints Still Remained on Some of the Coin Holders!
As Bob pulled the coins out of the ground, he placed each one of them back in their original coin holders, the very white plastic rolls that his father had slowly filled up during the time that he had been purchasing the coins in the 1970’s through the mid 1980’s. Those containers still had Bob’s father’s fingerprints marked on them! At some point during the recovery, Bob found in the ground the piece of glass that had a gold colored grape juice label on it and it was clearly marked “Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice”! Also, by reading the label, we were able to verify once again that the container was in fact a 2 liter container – just as Brenda had remembered after all of those years! All of the details checked out perfectly!
Before long, Bob had recovered all of the coins that were buried in the ground. The search and recovery of the beloved gold treasure was complete! The embraces that I received from both of them at that moment truly meant the world to me! The mission that they embarked on several months ago had finally come to a close. The couple was so very grateful for my help in recovering the lost gold which they had spent so much time searching for! I told Bob and Brenda that I was just as grateful for being a part of such an exciting hunt!
An Amazing Treasure Hunt Brings Golden Results! Brian is Beyond Thrilled at His Discovery!
That moment that the three of us were experiencing was so very surreal. It really was a fairytale moment that I will never forget! It may sound strange to read this, but in a special way, I felt very connected to Bob’s father even though I had never met him. By discovering the gold, it was like I was helping his father bring that treasure back to the very ones that he wanted it disbursed to so many decades earlier. I was also showing the deceased gentleman my greatest respect by having Bob do the honors of pulling the contents out of the ground. Nothing could prepare me for such elation and thrill that I was feeling and experiencing at that moment! I saw that countenance of relief upon Bob’s face.
A Dream Comes True for This Treasure Hunter and Recovery Specialist!
After a while of celebrating this marvelous discovery, Bob began to ask me questions as to how I found the treasure so quickly after so many hours of not finding it during the last visit. I explained to him how difficult it was to follow the signal that we were looking for based on how the house metal was masking the signal that was needed to lead us to the buried treasure. I did a reenactment for him so that he could see what I was trying to decipher on my detector. I also pulled out my handheld metal detector (a pinpointer) and demonstrated how all of the metal that was coming from the house was being picked up on the handheld detector and a long with the Equinox 800 metal detector as far away as three to four feet from the house siding. This made it almost impossible to determine if there was any treasure buried in the spot that I decided to investigate.
The next preoccupation that Bob was dealing with was the fact that I found the gold just feet from where he had been digging in the past couple of months. He was so close, but he was looking in the wrong place. He was focusing on one side of the right corner of the house when he needed to be looking at the other side of that same corner! He just couldn’t believe how close he was! The couple also realized upon seeing where the gold was buried that there was a strong chance that their father’s treasure could have been stolen right from underneath their noses within the past year! This was concluded because they had hired workers to come out and pull a tree out of the ground, which was literally a foot or two from where the gold coins were buried. There were also bushes that were pulled out of the ground alongside that area in recent years, and any of those hired hands could have stumbled upon a piece of that plastic and eventually pull the treasure right out of the ground and into their pockets! Bob shook his head and realized that my conclusions were quite accurate, and it was quite possible that someone could have stolen his family treasure without him ever knowing about it.
The Buried Gold Treasure Returns to Family Hands After 35 Years!
What a special moment! I indeed found the lost gold treasure! In total, I had unearthed 60 South African, 1 ounce, 22 karat gold Kruggerands, worth an estimated $100,000. The dates that were on the coins ranged from the 1970s up through the early 1980s. It was an extraordinary find! After I made sure that there were no more coins left in the hiding place, Bob called their son to inform him of the exciting news! He was just as happy and relieved as his parents and I so greatly appreciated his kind words of encouragement for successfully completing the mission!
A Beautiful Sight! A Fantastic Search! A Treasure of 60 Gold Coins Worth Over $100,000 Uncovered from the Earth after Three-And-A-Half Decades in the Ground!
Next, the three of us went inside the house and had a time of celebration. As Brenda prepared to cut her homemade shoofly pie and banana bread for all of us to indulge in, Bob placed all of the coins onto a plate and set it on the stove for the meantime. I had the time of my life sitting at their kitchen table and eating the best baked goodies along with recounting the whole search story from two weeks ago up until the present hour! It was simply fantastic for all of us! I was still pinching myself within, almost not believing that I had really found the gold and that it was in fact my very first target that afternoon! Incredible! I felt so honored to be a part of this story, and I kept thanking the couple for calling me and entrusting me with this search!
When we finished eating the pie and bread that tasted so heavenly, it was time to pack up the rest of my gear and head down the mountain towards home. I took a look at the pile of gold there on that plate one last time and I wondered if I would ever have such an amazing search and recovery ever again. Many have tried to recover lost gold for family members and it’s rare that the story concludes the way this one did. Therefore, I was beyond grateful for what I was able to be a part of that day! The three of us held each other, praying for my safe trip home, giving many thanks to the Lord for allowing for such a successful day and for giving us the privilege of intersecting our lives in the way that we had. I also prayed for the healing of their hearts regarding the endless suffering that they were experiencing with the loss of their beloved son.
We would probably never see one another again until our reunion in Heaven, so we expressed our warm feelings for each other with several hugs and handshakes before I got inside my vehicle. Just as I was about to put the key into the car ignition, Brenda extended her hand towards me and gave me several pieces of paper that contained her shoofly pie and banana bread recipes! She wrote them down for me inside the house. I was so touched by Brenda’s kind gesture of taking all of that time to gift me some of her family food secrets! She hoped that my wife would find a chance to bake these scrumptious recipes at some point. I couldn’t thank her enough! Along with the recipes came a bag of dessert that was left over from earlier that afternoon! I was truly in « sweets » heaven! Lastly, I couldn’t have been more grateful for the very kind and generous reward that the couple blessed me with just prior to me leaving their beloved estate. Over and over again I expressed my sincere appreciation for their thoughtfulness. Into the night I traveled down their long driveway until I could no longer see the precious couple that had been standing in the same yard that had finally given up the hoard of gold earlier that day. Once again, down the mountain I went, but this time…I was leaving with “golden” memories that I would cherish for the rest of my life.
I will never forget this amazing adventure in helping this family recover their lost gold treasure. I am so grateful to THE RING FINDERS and the directory’s CEO, Chris Turner, who started this incredible directory over a decade ago to provide a way for people like Bob and Brenda to make contact with metal detectorists like myself who could help them find what they could not. If it wasn’t for Mr. Turner, there may have never been stories like this one and the many thousands of other recovery stories that are documented by other detectorists on the directory website! My gratitude is greatly extended to Mr. Turner for providing such an incredible service for people like Bob and Brenda and also for making dreams come true for recovery experts like myself who waited all my life to experience something as awesome as this gold treasure recovery! Furthermore, I give God all of the praise and thanks for allowing me to bring this story to a successful and happy ending! The experience that I was afforded was truly as fantastic as the gold coins themselves that I helped to recover. I will never forget this story, nor will I ever stop sharing just how amazing it was to help the sweet, elderly couple in need and the electricity of excitement that was felt the moment that I saw the lost gold bullion rise once again from the forgotten earth!
EPILOGUE
As the reader finishes the account above, I hope that one comes away with the same feelings and observations that I experienced throughout the amazing search. It is clear from the many past events that led up to the recovery of the gold treasure that this was all about a family love story. The patriarch (Bob’s father) spent almost a decade-and-a-half of his life purchasing gold coins for the single purpose of providing for the needs of his children. He loved his family so much that he thought ahead, looking into the future, way past those current moments of time back in the early 1970’s through the mid 1980’s in order to preserve an investment that would one day flourish in the hands of his children and grandchildren. His love was so pure that in his spending, savings and burying of the gold, the man knew from the very beginning that he would not be alive to witness the unforgettable elation and gratitude felt by the beneficiaries. There was nothing in it for him other than the reassurance that the ones he loved the most would be cared for with these coins if they in fact encountered difficult seasons in their lives. Reflecting back, something made me feel that Bob’s loving father was watching over us happily as his beloved son pulled out the bag of gold from the ground! The man who left his loving investment behind for the well-being of his children, truly showed himself to be the most beautiful treasure of all!
FUN FACTS
Do you have any idea what Bob’s father paid for a 1 ounce gold coin back in 1970?
Ready for this?… $35.00 per coin!
Then, by 1980, Bob’s father was spending an average of $650.00 per coin!
In 1984, when the 60 gold coins were buried in the earth, each coin dropped its worth to $400.00, making the grand total worth of the cache at $24,000.00.
Now, jump 35 years into the future! At the end of 2019, each gold coin sold between $1600.00 and $1700.00, establishing the grand total worth of Bob’s treasure at an amazing amount of $102,000.00!
If you would like to view the gold charts showing the changes in the gold market over the past many decades, feel free to click on this link:
What a “love-filled » return on Bob’s father’s investment!
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CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
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Erin’s 14 Karat White Gold, 2 Carat Diamond with 2 Baguette Diamonds Engagement Ring
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH AT (301) 466-8644 TO HELP YOU SEARCH AND RECOVER YOUR LOST VALUABLE AS HE DID FOR ERIN!
I believe in miracles. There is no question that what I experience and observe through metal detecting, gives me an idea of when the impossible becomes possible through abilities that I have acquired through experience, prayer and with the belief that something extraordinary can happen for someone who lost something so precious to them.
I had just scooped someone’s ring out of the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean City, Maryland when another call came through from a couple that was desperately seeking help in recovering a lost engagement ring from the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland. Erin and Josh were spending the day out at a public beach with their daughter when Erin realized that she had lost her precious ring.
Here is what their voicemail message said:
“Hi Brian, we saw THE RING FINDERS website and we just lost my wife’s engagement ring at (a beach) just about an hour ago right by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I don’t know if you think there’s any chance in finding it or if you have any availability in coming out here, but if you do, please call us. Thank you.”
I immediately got in touch with Josh who had just left the beach with his family. When I called, the couple was pretty upset to have to leave Erin’s engagement ring out in the Chesapeake Bay. They gave me the rundown of what happened earlier that afternoon. Erin had gone into the deeper part of the bay’s swimming area to wash her bathing suit free of sand. Because there were so many people, she wanted to go farther out to have some privacy. When she was done, she then walked towards the shore and got back onto the sand, and it was then that she realized that her 14 karat white gold, 2 carat diamond engagement ring with two beautiful baguette diamonds on either side was missing from her finger. She was in a state of panic, of course. They looked around and realized that the ring was gone. Their conclusion was that it must have fallen off when she was rinsing off in the deep area of the water. This ring was extremely sentimental, for not only was it the ring that she was proposed with, but it was a family heirloom on Josh’s side of the family that dated back to the 1940s.
Josh and Erin had no idea whether it could be recovered or not. Because of the search that I had just come from where I was able to pull a beautiful engagement ring out of the Atlantic Ocean 40 yards out from shore, I was able to give a bit of encouragement to this couple who truly did not seem to have much hope other than the phone call they made to me to seek assistance. I was thrilled to take on this new challenge because I was still floating on a huge high from the ring that I had just found in the ocean. So, just imagine how excited I was to go on this new mission to recover Erin’s lost ring from the depths below!
I explained to the couple that I would not be able to get to their beach before it closed that evening. We would have to wait until the next morning (which was Sunday) before I could get myself in the Chesapeake Bay to start my search. I was approximately two hours and twenty minutes from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (which was near the beach where they were hanging out that afternoon). My plan was to leave Ocean City, Maryland sometime after nine or ten in the evening and then make a stop somewhere in between my travels to take a night rest and then resume my drive in the early morning hours. My goal was to get to the beach just as the park was opening. My primary concern was that other detectorists might stumble upon the ring before I could get on the sand or in the water.
Though the couple was pretty certain that Erin had lost the ring in the water, there still was a possibility that it was lost on the shore. I was not going to take a chance at getting to the beach any later than the moment that the gates opened at the state park.
I instructed the couple to give me an accurate layout of where they were on the beach and approximately where Erin was in the water when she rinsed off her bathing suit. Because they had already left the beach, they ended up returning to the spot where they were laying out and the two of them worked together to re-create where Erin had walked in the water. They took video and photos, marking off the location of where their beach blanket was and they counted how many feet over from the lifeguard chair they were settled with their belongings at the time of their family beach experience. Erin and Josh did a great job providing the necessary footage with their phone, taking plenty of pictures that were extremely helpful in orienting me when I arrived at the search site the next morning.
My time schedule to arrive at the beach early Sunday morning worked out perfectly. I was extremely prepared. There was no time to waste once I entered the park. I knew that if there were other metal detectorists waiting to get on the beach, I needed to make sure that my wetsuit was on, my gear was charged up and all of the rest of my search accessories were pre-assembled and packed. All of this was taken care of before the sun had even raised its head over the horizon.
As soon as I reached the parking lot nearest to the beach area, I noticed four other cars pulling in behind me and each one of the drivers started taking out metal detecting equipment to do their own personal searches for the morning. I realized that what I was concerned about regarding competition in the water (even though none of them knew that Erin’s beloved ring was lost somewhere out there), was completely justified and it confirmed that it was imperative that I needed to get there at that moment so that I could hopefully protect the location of where the couple believed they lost the engagement ring. I even called them up to give them the update as to what I was dealing with in regards to these other metal detectorists who were doing their treasure hunting for the day. They became just as concerned as I was, and I promised them that I would do all that I could to protect what was theirs and hopefully I would find the ring before anyone else did.
One positive thing in this search scenario was that the ring was presumably lost in deeper water, and my hope was that the other guys would not be scouting that section at the beginning of their hunt if we were able to stand in that section of the swimming area due to the high tide conditions. As soon as I brought all of my equipment onto the sand, I looked at the video and photos that were sent to me and I positioned myself right next to where the lifeguard chair was resting. I made sure that the other landmarks that were provided to me by Erin and Josh lined up with my current position and to my excitement everything was a perfect match! Nothing had changed from the time they shot their media the day before. I was then ready to begin my search.
While watching the other hunters take to the water and to the dry sand, I had to decide whether or not I would detect on land or in the water at first. Once I got in the bay and walked as close to one of the buoys as possible, I determined that it would be impossible for the others to find the ring in the deep section of the water due to the current tide height that morning. No one would be able to stand and search at the critical spot indicated to me by the couple at that time of day. Therefore, it was more important to protect the area where the family was sitting and walking around on the dry sand, just in case the ring fell off on shore and not in the water. There was one fellow who was gridding back and forth very close to where Josh and Erin’s belongings once rested, so it was my top priority to make sure that that section of the beach was searched before anyone else had a chance to stumble upon the ring.
Since I knew the exact location of where the couple’s blanket was once located, I was able to detect all of the metal around the most important spots on the sand, including over to where the bathrooms were located. There was a chance that the ring might have fallen off in the sand while Erin had walked to the restrooms. During this part of my search, I had to be very discreet about what I was doing without letting anyone know that my metal detecting hunt was not random. I did not want anyone to suspect that I was searching for a specific item that was lost somewhere out there on the beach.
After I was quite certain that the ring was not in the dry sand, I prepared my water detecting equipment and headed for the bay again. I looked out at the two buoys that were farthest to the left of the swimming area and so I knew where I would begin my grid search in the water, lining up with the parameters from left to right as to where Erin believed she had lost the ring the day before. I reviewed the couple’s video which showed Josh standing out in the water in the particular location of where Erin once stood when she believed the ring had fallen off. I observed the left buoy in relationship to where Erin was and I could see where the Bay Bridge towered over the water and I followed its position to where you could see it in the background on the video provided to me by the couple. I knew exactly where to look even though the tide would make it impossible for me to stand that far out on that particular morning.
The water current was extremely strong that morning. I was very surprised at how forceful it was in pushing me in a direction that I did not want to go. Every time I tried to plant my feet in a particular spot so that I could do my grid search, I was pushed farther away from my original search location and so I had to keep retracing my past steps over and over again.
I went out as far as I could to the approximate location of where Erin most likely lost her ring, but because of the high tide conditions I was not able to keep my neck above the waterline. Therefore, I had to move slightly closer to shore where my head was just outside of the water. This frustrated me because I wasn’t able to stand quite where I needed to be to conduct the search effectively. Another problem was that I was not able to view my detector screen and observe the various types of metals that I was picking up while I was in that deep part of the water because the detector was completely submerged underwater. I could only rely upon listening to various tones that would match the type of metal that I was looking for. I had my scoop in my left hand and my metal detector in my right. All of the other detectorists that were in the water were using floatable sifters so they could take all of the sediment that they scooped up and place it on their sifters to see if there was any treasure that they pulled up from the water. I did not have that luxury. So, I had to pull up the potential targets and check what was at the bottom of the scoop each time that I got something worth checking out. This process sometimes took quite a long time. Just being able to maneuver the scoop and place it in position to effectively get the targets in the scoop was a tremendous task in itself! It’s a completely different type of metal detecting than in the ocean. Though I was not dealing with waves continuously coming up on me, I would deal with more water depth than usual and a very fast current. The type of shells, stones and sediment at the bottom of the Bay was quite different than what the ocean provides. This made it much harder to position my equipment and find accuracy in my scoop attempts. It took me a good while to get used to the process and to learn what I was feeling with my water shoes and the positioning of the scoop and the metal detector coil below me.
While I was in the section where presumably the ring had been lost, two other metal detectorists were roaming the area very close to where I was, but far enough away that I didn’t think they would find the ring. They started grid searching back-and-forth, left to right, parallel with the beach shore and they were very methodical about their treasure hunting. I found out later that all five detectorists that were there that day all knew each other, but they hunted independently. They were all in black wetsuits and were well equipped with the same equipment that I was using (some of the finest equipment on the market). They looked militant in the way they were searching for treasure. I could tell they were all very familiar with this beach and were extremely experienced with their detecting methods. I sent pictures over to Josh and Erin showing my competition, just to keep them abreast of what I was up against that morning.
I searched as much territory as I possibly could, but only coins and other items ended up in my scoop from time to time – not the precious piece of jewelry that I came all the way out there to attempt to recover.
I thought that I had unlimited time to detect the water, but I found out from someone on the beach that he thought that there was a time limitation for metal detecting. I did not hear this information from park officials, nor was there anything online that indicated this restriction. So, this was a huge blow to me when I found out this information because I knew that unless I had domain over that section of the beach to continuously detect inch by inch, another detectorist would definitely find the ring at some point if I didn’t. I would need to be there at the site each and every moment that detectorists were allowed to be in the water. I didn’t know how many times I could keep up with everyone else because most of the detectorists who there were retired. I found out that all summer long they hunted every day during the week, so they had unlimited opportunities to pull valuable targets out of the water and from within the sand. This was a great disadvantage to me unless I could keep up with them each morning that the park opened. I lived an hour from there and so it would be nearly impossible for me to make those trips every morning until one of us found the ring. Also, I was not at a place where I felt comfortable sharing the information with the other detectorists about the search for the missing ring because I did not know what type of integrity these people had if they were given such information. Would they pocket the ring or would they return it back to the rightful owners? Many of the hunters that I meet generally believe that the finder becomes the keeper even if they are aware that the rightful owner is looking for that particular item. I didn’t know these gentlemen or what they might end up doing if they found the ring, so I was not about to give my cards away at this point in the game. I realized that this search could continue for a very long time. There was no way to know whether or not someone else had found it, and if so, whether or not they would be willing to give it back. There was no telling how long this search could go on for if I didn’t find the ring sooner than later. It would require many trips to the beach and there was no telling how many of these trips would be necessary to take before finding it or learning of its discovery. It was a bit overwhelming when I thought about it.
I was searching approximately 20 yards out from the shore. If the ring was not located in the search zone that Erin specified, the search area would increase to approximately 30 yards across from left to right between the two buoys. This would make it six hundred square yards in total if the entire area between the left and right buoys had to be searched. Yes, indeed it would be a serious undertaking if I did not find the ring close to the location where the couple believed the ring had originally fallen off Erin’s finger.
After three hours of searching, the ring did not turn up. I did everything I could that morning to recover the jewel, but to no avail. Instead of checking on the accuracy of the hunt restrictions, I decided it was best to leave when everyone else started heading for their cars and I planned for my next attempt sometime later that afternoon. I did not know at the time what the restrictions were for hunting in the afternoons on weekends, so I innocently planned my schedule around returning back to the beach later that day.
I knew that the water would be crowded with people later in the day, and the odds of me finding it with so many people in the water would be very tough, but I was going to give it my all and do everything I could to recover this ring before someone else did. I packed up all of my gear and watched some of the other detectorists do the same and we all headed out to the parking lot. All I hoped for was that no one else would be in the water with a metal detector between the time I would leave the bay and the time that I would return in the afternoon.
Before I left the beach, I looked back onto the surf one more time. I wondered where the ring had actually rested. Was it where I couldn’t reach it because of the high tide? Was it somewhere else in the water or on the sand where I may have missed it? Or, was it in somebody else’s pocket already? All of these things I pondered on and wondered if it was still possible to pull this most precious piece of jewelry out of the bay and bring endless smiles and relief to Erin and Josh. I held on to the hope that it was still there and that I would reach it first before anyone else.
I gave Erin and Josh a call and filled them in on my search efforts thus far and then gave them the game plan for my return later in the afternoon. Though they were disappointed that the ring was not recovered yet, they were hopeful that my second attempt would bring very good news.
That Sunday afternoon was extremely hot outside. I remember the bottoms of my feet were scorching hot, even though I was wearing flip-flops. When I returned to the park later that afternoon, there was almost no parking available because it was so busy that weekend. Everybody was vacationing and partying on the beach and in the grassy areas where there were many barbecues for people to enjoy cooking and hanging out. I didn’t care what obstacles were put in my way while trying to retrieve this ring. I had one goal in mind and one goal only and that was to get that ring back to Erin as fast as I could. I wasn’t going to allow the far away parking space, the heat, the quantity of people or the level of difficulty while searching in the water affect my determination to find this ring.
I unloaded a cart, strapped my metal detector to it along with beach towels, cooler and other items that I needed on the sand and headed for the surf.
Because I was parked to the farthest side of the vast parking lot, it took me forever to get over to the beach and then move my way to where I was searching earlier that morning. It was simply packed. People were scattered everywhere. You could barely walk on the beach without having to maneuver yourself around somebody else. Also, there was very little space to walk in the water without bumping into somebody. I knew that this operation would not be easy, knowing that so many people were playing and hanging out in the water. But, it was the best that I could do with my situation in trying to find the missing ring. I did not want to lose one opportunity to try to pull that ring from the water.
Just as I finished putting on my sunscreen and organizing all of my gear for the water search, the lifeguard’s whistle could be heard and everyone had to come out of the water due to a very strong current that was causing some people to drift out beyond the buoys where people were supposed to stop swimming. I was delayed another 20 minutes or so before I could go into the water with everyone else.
It wasn’t easy blending in with everyone because I was wearing waterproof headphones while detecting potential targets. Children were the most inquisitive and wondered what I was looking for. Others asked what I was doing and there were some that just stared at me but left me to my personal endeavors. It was so hot outside that I sometimes would just dunk under the water to cool off my head. I was pulling up coins and lead weights and miscellaneous jewelry but the one item that I was in search of recovering was nowhere in my scoop. It was kind of a free-for-all for me being in the water with everyone because I was not able to effectively grid search from left to right or up and back. I was just hoping that my detector would hit the ring’s signal in the general area of where Erin and Josh pointed me in the direction of searching. One of the biggest reasons why I came in the afternoon was because this was during low tide and it gave me the best shot at reaching the area that I still needed to search.
My scoop was picking up all kinds of things but just not what I wanted the most. Hour after hour went by and I still had not discovered the missing ring. I hoped that somewhere in this body of water was a white gold engagement band holding an enormous 2-carat diamond with two baguette diamonds on either side of the magnificent stone. “Where could this ring be?” I asked. “If it was lost in the water, it’s got to be here somewhere because I am the only one to metal detect in the deeper area since Erin lost the ring in the bay at low tide the day before.” Though I could not grid search with so many people in the water, I thought I was pretty thorough at hitting the primary spots where the ring came to rest. Yet, it was nowhere to be found.
After nearly three and a half hours of searching, the lifeguard blew her whistle once again and signaled everybody in the water and on the sand to start packing things up because the park was closing soon. In all of that time, I never got out of the water so as not to bring attention to all of my detecting gear. I didn’t want to alert people as to what I was looking for so I kept myself in the bay the whole time. I packed my things up and started heading towards the parking lot. I so desperately wanted to stay in the bay and continue my search but it was time for me to go. This did not deter me, but just tested my patience and I was not going to let it get the best of me. I needed to get this ring back for Erin and nothing was going to stop me except circumstances that I could not control. I knew I was using all of the right techniques and I knew exactly the settings that my detector needed to be adjusted to in order for me to find the white gold engagement ring. I was not missing one single opportunity to scout the waters that were between the two buoys where the couple believed the ring had been lost. As I walked a very long distance back to my car, I once again determined in my mind that I would continue to roll up my sleeves and head back to the search site the next morning and continue metal detecting the area with the hope that I could find the ring before anyone else did.
Once I got to the car and loaded everything back inside, I called Josh and Erin and gave them my latest update. I stayed extremely positive and I encouraged Erin to hang in there, to stay positive, not lose hope and to keep praying! I wanted to see a miracle, and little did I know just how big of a miracle I would witness the following day.
My alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. Monday morning. I will not forget how I felt as I woke up from a deep sleep and how my body was making it so clear that it did not want to get out of bed. My mind was completely in partnership with my body in that it was trying to give me every possible reason why I should pull the covers over my head and continue to sleep for a few more hours. However, the only thing that got me out of bed and took me into the bathroom to wash up and prepare for the day was the feeling of compassion I had for Erin and Josh. I knew that if I didn’t try to find the ring at the same time that the other detectorists were out there in the water, it would most likely end up in the wrong scoop and Erin would never wear that ring ever again. I was convinced of it. That is what solely drove me out of bed, and nothing else. I could not bear the thought of hearing the news from one of the treasure hunters that Erin’s ring had been pulled from the bay when I indeed had the opportunity to continue my search and possibly be the one that could hand this ring back to her. I truly did not want it to end up in the hands of someone that would never give it back. I pushed myself out of the house and into the car and headed through the night an hour’s distance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge where the state park was located. I was on my way to the beach, once again, to find Erin’s ring.
I remember how beautiful the morning was. It was completely dark outside, but there was such a summer calm in the air. Once I arrived at the state park entrance, I had to wait for the guards to open the front gate at 6 a.m. Again, all of the other metal detectorists were there, ready to do their morning hunts out in the water. The moment that I parked my car, I pulled my equipment out just as I had done twice before, and headed straight for the surf. By checking the tide chart prior to arrival, I already knew that it would be difficult to get into the deep area nearest to where Erin had presumably lost her ring. So I decided to start a grid search from left to right in the deepest sections of the water closest to the vicinity of where the ring most likely ended up but obviously I couldn’t go as far out to where she was at the time of the loss because of how deep it was at that time of day. I wanted to protect that area from being detected by someone else. Even if I couldn’t find the ring, I thought, at least I was able to secure the zone where the ring rested at the bottom of the bay.
Two other treasure hunters were searching between the two buoys that I was moving back and forth between, but I didn’t think much about it or was concerned for the most part, because they were hunting in sections where the ring could not possibly be, and they had no idea that there was a two carat diamond ring lost farther out from where they were looking for potential targets. I was only concerned if they traveled farther out into the deep, closer to where I was searching. After maybe 20 minutes or so, the guys moved in a different direction away from where I was and I had that property of water all to myself for the time being. Though I had no positive signals up to that point, in a matter of minutes I would be convinced that a true miracle had taken place!
I may have searched for over 30 minutes or so in the deeper parts of that section of water, but not far enough out to where I felt that I covered the hot zone of where Erin thought she cleaned out her bathing suit full of sand when she lost the ring. I would have to wait until Thursday before that area would have low tide in the early morning hours. Even though there was no logic in what I was about ready to do, I decided to grid the entire section of water from left to right between the two buoys starting at the shoreline and working my way out until I could no longer stand in the deepest parts of the bay. There was nothing more I could do because the water was too deep where I truly wanted to search due to the high tide.
I may have crossed back-and-forth in my grid search approximately four times. Each pass was maybe 30 yards or more across on each grid line and I probably pulled up a handful of potential targets such as coins and other unimportant jewelry, but no ring landed in the scoop. Then, on the fourth pass or so, only approximately 15 feet or so out from the shoreline, almost to the farthest point on the right side of the section that I was gridding (which was completely towards the opposite side of where Erin believed her ring was lost), I got a signal that matched a white gold ring. It was a bit choppy in sound and strength, but I was used to that when hunting for 14 karat white gold engagement rings. It was about four to six inches beneath the sand and stones below. I didn’t think that this target had any chance of being Erin’s ring, but I wasn’t going to pass it up, just in case it was some other piece of jewelry to recover. After a few attempts to get the piece of metal in my scoop, I finally concluded that I caught the object when my detector no longer picked up the signal in the area that I was searching below. It was time to check out what it was that I had brought up. With my right hand, I moved my fingers through the sand, stones and silt that was sitting at the bottom of the scoop and to my greatest amazement, my eyes locked in on one of the most beautiful diamond rings I had ever seen! I will never forget that moment! This was a treasure hunter’s dream to find something as beautiful as what I was staring at! At first, I had completely concluded that the ring that I had pulled from the water could not have possibly been Erin’s engagement ring because this band was found all of the way over on the right side of that section of the swimming area, nearest to the right buoy and much farther in towards the shoreline. It was nowhere near where the couple shot the video and described where the ring could have fallen off! Not even close! However, as I studied the precious characteristics of this amazing find, I remembered the insurance information that Erin had sent to me, and the illustrations of the ring that she was looking for matched up perfectly with this discovery! I found Erin’s ring! I couldn’t believe it! In my opinion, it was undoubtedly a miracle because the couple could not recall ever being on the far right section of where I found the ring, and certainly not so far in towards shore! Not even a strong current could have pushed the ring so far over to that location. In fact, the current was headed north, not south towards the right area where the right buoy was anchored, and the water had definitely not pushed its way in the direction of the shoreline in the past two days! In addition to all of that, the fine little stones and sediment at the bottom of the bay would have kept the ring from being batted so far over by the feet of countless swimmers! In fact, someone would have stepped on the ring and it would have been pushed farther down below the sand and stones, unable to travel anywhere! Also, the bottom of the water would have caused way too much resistance for the ring to slide that far over. It was impossible! All of the other detectorists that were present that morning agreed with me 100%! The two hunters that were detecting directly over the area where I found the ring and who were both using the same machine that I was searching with were so surprised at my recovery because they swore to me that they would not have missed that signal! They were so perplexed about it that later in the parking lot, the two of them asked me if they could swing their detectors over the ring because they wondered if their detectors were not functioning or that their machines were not set-up correctly! However, after the tests were done, their detectors picked up the ring’s signal perfectly as the ring laid on the concrete out by our cars! I believe that there was divine intervention that caused this ring to end up in my scoop and no one else’s sifting devices, all for the sole purpose of being able to return this ring to its proper owner! This 1940’s vintage white gold, 2 plus carat diamond ring was finally found and recovered from the Chesapeake Bay! When I say I couldn’t believe it, I really could not believe what I had found! I don’t care what people think or say when I comment about this being an absolute miracle! I know this ring did not get kicked by all of those swimmers from one side of that section to the other, approximately 30 yards from the left side over to the right. There’s just no way!
The moment that I realized it was Erin’s ring, I couldn’t contain myself! I shouted my excitement out loud, not believing what I had found! I started thanking God all over the place! Just the thought of being able to return this to the young lady just took my breath away! I could not wait to reveal the ring to Erin and Josh! I recounted that morning, reluctantly getting out of bed at such an early hour, and as tired as I was, I pushed myself to go and search once again for the missing ring knowing that it would most likely fall into the hands of the wrong person if I didn’t try to make more attempts in the water! And now I was looking at the fruit of my persistence! It brought so much gratification to my spirit, knowing that I did the right thing and that the results proved to be successful with the recovery of this most precious jewel! I kept shouting with excitement over and over again! The whole moment was so surreal! It truly was a miracle due to the location of where this ring ended up! I would never have searched in that section unless I had expended all other possibilities! Yet, because of how high the water level was that day, I was forced to search elsewhere and as a result, I found the ring! The other hunters were star struck at my discovery and each one of them admitted how incredible it would have been to have found that ring! I was beyond elated! There was such a sense of victory and of relief knowing that the engagement ring was going to be returned to the rightful owner! Erin and Josh would end up being the happiest people on earth at the moment that the ring would be returned once again to Erin’s finger!
Before leaving the beach, I took a walk around and stared out onto the water and looked below me where my feet were planted in the sand and I just thanked God over and over again for this recovery! Nothing could make me happier than to successfully recover this ring and to return it to Erin! When the time came for me to exit the park, I packed up my gear and looked out onto the bay one more time with such unbelief as to how this ring ended up all the way over to the right section of that part of the water and I just smiled. I was and will always be convinced that this was indeed, a true miracle!
Revealing the ring to Erin was so much fun! If you would like to know how I shared the great news with Erin and Josh, and the reaction that followed, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube video channel to see all of the latest and previous ring recoveries. This story and more will be posted over the next couple of months and you will be notified when it’s uploaded to the video channel!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
Liti’s 14 karat White Gold, Sapphire and Diamonds Engagement Ring
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH AT (301) 466-8644 TO HELP YOU SEARCH AND RECOVER YOUR LOST VALUABLE AS HE DID FOR LITI!
CHECK OUT BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO FOR LITI’S RING AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE!
I had just finished a search and recovery for someone when I received a phone call from a distressed young bride who was going to be married the next morning. The young lady’s name was Liti and she had given her engagement ring to her sister Lulu for safekeeping while she was preparing for her upcoming wedding. It is customary in an Indian wedding to organize a Mehendi ceremony. Henna is applied to both hands and feet as a decorative expression and as a means of cooling the nerve endings of the body and preventing the nerves from tensing up. The henna artist traditionally visits the home of the bride or a family relative to create designs for the bride and her guests. This affair all took place on Liti and Lulu’s parents’ estate in Dayton, Maryland.
While this beautiful artwork was being applied to the bride’s hands and feet, her sister Lulu held onto her beautiful white gold, blue sapphire and diamonds engagement ring, along with Liti’s smartphone which was also placed in her sister’s pocket. Being the maid of honor, her sister tended to many of the needs of the bride while Liti was busy with the artist. Her sister took care of all kinds of details throughout their parent’s beautiful 4 acre estate out in the Maryland countryside. While walking the dogs all over the property, Lulu was unaware that some of the contents that she was given from the bride had actually fallen out of her pants pocket. It wasn’t until the bride asked for her ring and smartphone back that Liti’s sister realized that the contents had come out of her loose pants pocket and was somewhere on the property or in the house. She felt so bad about losing the items and they looked everywhere inside the house and all over the property grounds.
Eventually the iPhone showed up on the front lawn property, but the ring could not be recovered. They searched and searched but they couldn’t find it. The family decided to rent a metal detector which they would need to pick up from a shop about 45 minutes away from the estate and then bring it back to the house to metal detect the grounds. Time was ticking fast – the pre-wedding ceremony would begin that evening and the main wedding ceremony would be in less than 24 hours! Unfortunately, because they had no experience in operating the rented detector and/or the device may not have located the ring based on the quality of the machine, they were not able to find the ring that Liti so desperately needed back for her beloved wedding ceremony to begin in just hours! The ladies were frantic! One of the family members had to return the metal detector back to the rental shop and then come back to the house to continue wedding preparations. They were lost for ideas as to what to do next, until an eleven year-old angel who was being prepared for the evening and morning ceremonies came forward with a brilliant idea!
One of the bride’s second cousins named Sara searched online for other ideas of how to recover the missing ring. This is when she learned about THE RING FINDERS directory! Sara read about my past searches and then went to my video channel on YouTube and watched some of the recoveries that I had published in the past. She got all excited and shared the idea with the bride, suggesting that she call me up to see if I could help recover the missing engagement ring before the morning’s ceremony at the estate. The wedding would be held under a marvelous white tent that had been put up earlier in the day. Truck after truck of wedding décor, sound equipment and food was already being transported onto the gorgeous estate! Time was running out! Liti was thrilled about the information that Sara provided her and Liti immediately called me up to see what I could do to help her.
I heard such desperation in Liti’s voice as she went through the details of sharing what took place with the disappearance of the ring and what actions they took to try to resolve the problem. She was hoping that I could come as quickly as possible and attempt a recovery of the missing engagement ring before morning because the entire front yard (which was the very possible place where the ring may have disappeared) would be parked with wedding guest vehicles that would start to arrive in the early morning hours. I assured Liti that I would do everything possible to recover the ring before morning. She was not even sure if it was lost outside or not, even though her iPhone was recovered out on the front lawn. Due to the fact that her sister had pockets that were very loose, anything could fall out of them at any point in time. There was no confidence that the ring had fallen out on the front lawn, but there was a good chance that it was lost inside the very large home. We made arrangements for me to arrive at four in the afternoon that day. I could not wait to get my gear out onto the property and inside the house so that I could return this most precious sentimental part of Liti’s life back on her finger before the wedding ceremony in the morning!
Upon arriving at the estate around 4pm that afternoon, I was greeted by an entourage of family, including young Sara who was the one that found me online. I was taken around the house and outside onto the property lawn and was shown where the iPhone was found and other places where the ring may have fallen out of the pants pocket on the front lawn and in the backyard. Because there was such a good chance that the ring fell out of the pocket inside the house, I started my search by checking out each room and as Sara accompanied me, we looked very carefully as two determine detectives out to discover the lost jewelry item! We must have spent over an hour inside the house but no ring was found. I was pretty convinced that the ring had to be outside. We were talking about many acres of land to search and so it made much more sense to check out all of the possibilities inside the estate before spending many additional hours searching on the grass. I find many rings inside homes and so I never discount the possibility that the ring may have never left the house.
There was a lot of land to cover! By the time I started the search with my metal detectors outside, it was probably around 5:30pm. I conducted a grid search across the front lawn and moved my way towards the road in front of the house. It took hours to grid from close to the house to the road. As I searched, there were guests arriving at the estate for the pre-wedding ceremony that would take place that evening. Lots of people inquired about what I was doing and they were all quite supportive in hoping that I would find what we were looking for on behalf of the bride.
Sara wanted to help metal detect alongside me, so I gave her one of my detectors and showed her some basics of how to use it. She was a very fast learner! Both of us expanded our search over the yard, obtaining decent target signals from time to time, but the ring was nowhere to be found. Once I completed the first grid search in the front of the property, I headed for the side and backyard areas where the wedding tent was set up. We searched the grounds where it was still open lawn space, where no chairs and tables were in the way of our detecting methods. Unfortunately, the backyard was clear of the ring being found. I then decided for us to go back to the front yard and start all over again. It was probably around 8:30pm in the evening by the time we attempted our second grid search in the front yard. The clock was ticking and everybody was aware that if I didn’t find the ring by early morning, the cars would be parked on the lawn and I would not be able to conduct any further searches until after the wedding. It was imperative that I found the ring as soon as possible!
Eventually Sara needed to get changed into one of her formal gowns and have the henna art applied to her hands. She did not want to break from doing her own search but she was urged along by her mother Priya that it was time to take a break. I was genuinely impressed by her motivation to help find the ring! I promised her that she would be the first to know if I had found what we were looking for!
Three more hours went by and I was starting to get perplexed as to why I had not found the ring as of yet. I was starting to believe that I must have just missed it. The ring that we were looking for was made of 14 karat white gold with a lovely sapphire in the middle and diamonds surrounding the blue stone. Liti was very petite and the ring size was quite small. Therefore, there was not a lot of gold to look for and if the ring was pressed into the ground, I would definitely get a signal, but it could have been limited based on the sensitivity setting that I set on the detector. Before calling it quits for the night, I decided to go back into the house and do a quick search again in the family room, just in case the ring slipped into the couch. I still couldn’t find it. Yet, I stayed very positive and expressed my confidence to everyone just how certain I was that with God’s help all things were possible!
It was amazing seeing so many people fellowshipping all over the estate. There were those that would be sleeping there for the night and others that would leave and return in the morning for the wedding ceremony. Everybody was dressed up in the most beautiful gowns and suits. After all of the time that I was searching for the ring I started getting familiar with some of the members of the family and friends who were cheering me on and hoping for the best. Even some of the guys walked around on the property with me just to keep me company and kept an eye on the ground in case they saw something shiny popping out of the earth.
When the ring wasn’t found in the house late that night, I resolved to call it quits for the night. I was exhausted. But I was determined with all of my prayers and with all of my abilities to resume the search in the early morning hours and hoped to pull the ring from the earth before Liti and Mark would be exchanging vows and rings! In the meantime, I slept in my car which was parked along the estate’s luxurious circular driveway.
The next morning, at 6:30am, I arose from the seat of my car and slowly made my way around the vehicle where I pulled out my metal detector and the rest of the gear that I used for the search. I was determined to fight as hard as I could to have the bride’s engagement ring back by the start of the wedding ceremony. She needed that ring on her finger and I was the only one capable of returning to her before it was too late!
I started off with a prayer and asked the Lord to help me with wisdom and with divine guidance to help me pinpoint the location of where this missing ring ended up. I must have missed the spot where the ring ended up, although I felt that I was quite thorough in my grid searches the day before. The hard part was deciding where to start because the property was so huge. There were a couple of acres in the front yard and a couple of acres in the backyard. I had to choose what spot to start searching around and I so I asked God where I should go, as I stood on the front yard in the pure quiet of the morning. The sun had just come over the horizon. I selected a spot that I felt comfortable working with, as well as adjusted the sensitivity level on my detector. I boosted it up considerably higher than what it was set at before because I was pretty convinced that I must have missed the ring based on how the band of the ring may have been positioned on the ground or possibly in the ground if it was pushed below the surface. The higher level of sensitivity would help to highlight any signals that may have been too faint before when Sara and I were searching in the prior afternoon and evening yesterday.
I started the morning search on the front lawn of the house and within 10 minutes of starting out, I checked out a signal that was clearly in the range of white gold! The signal was extremely choppy for a white gold ring signal but I had not remembered observing this particular signal yesterday. Had the sensitivity level on my detector been set any lower, I don’t think I would have been able to pick up this particular target. I moved the detector over the target again and again from different angles and I was confident enough that it was worth checking out. I didn’t want to get too excited because I had already searched for nearly 8 hours the day before and so it would absolutely blow my mind if this target was in fact the one I was after! Just as I started to get my pinpointer detector out its holster and kneel down to take a look at what was hidden in the grass, I got a glimpse of what appeared to be a blue sapphire stone and I believe I may have seen just a slight bit of white gold peeking out, as well!
My heart started racing and I thought it was too good to be true! It had been such a long search! The wonderful thing was that I knew what I was seeing and it took everything within me to not let out all of my excitement at 6:50am in the morning while everybody was sleeping inside! Actually, everyone seemed to be fast asleep except one gentleman who was outside getting some fresh air on the front porch steps. He had been watching me as he did the day before. The man never said a word, but just watched me for the longest time! He clearly saw me looking intently at the ground and then looking his way with utter excitement! I used my hands to call him over and he came off of the front porch and walked onto the lawn where I was! There it was! I pointed to the gorgeous engagement ring that was implanted more than half way into the dirt, but soon would be a part of the wedding ceremony, perhaps 40 yards or so from where I recovered it on the front lawn! What a fantastic finish! I pulled the ring from the earth and dusted it off as the two of us were standing there alone in the early hours rejoicing together!
I thanked God for putting me right in the place where I needed to look and that decision came to wonderful fruition! In the end, I concluded that because the ring was pushed into the ground presumably by somebody’s shoe, the white gold (which is sometimes difficult to detect for a very petite sized finger) was just not registering on my detector clear enough with the sensitivity that I was using the day before. By turning up the sensitivity I was at risk of hearing unwanted metal signals in the ground, but it helped me to pick up the lonely engagement ring that so desperately wanted to return to her bride’s finger for the special day’s ceremony! The location of where I found the ring was not too far from where the iPhone had been recovered the day before. It now made all of the sense in the world!
It didn’t take long before family members and friends started rushing out of the front door of the home and made their way over to the lawn where I so happily stood with the sapphire engagement ring grasped between my fingers! Everyone was hugging me and shaking my hand with congratulations! Lulu, the sister to the bride, came out crying with relief and happiness, knowing that the ring was found and would soon be returned to her sister! Liti then made her way out of the front door and over to me and the smile on her face will never be forgotten! There was such relief and happiness written all over the bride’s countenance! Liti thanked me over and over again and we got a chance to review the location of where the ring came to rest the day before. She was going to have that ring back on her finger just in time for her beloved groom Mark to present her with the wedding band! The father and mother of the bride came out to me and threw their arms around me and thanked me over and over again! It was such a great moment for all of us! It was like having a party before the actual party began! Everybody was swarming out of that mansion just to get in with the celebration that we were all having! The ring was found and now returned to the princess! Wow, what a morning that was! I kept smiling and thanking God for helping me find that ring in the nick of time!
Young Sara was awoken by family and was told that I had found the ring. I did not have the chance to break the news personally because she was fast asleep in the house. She came outside, still waking up from her slumber and quickly breathed in the reality that the ring was actually found! I wish she could have been with me when it was discovered, but she had stayed up very late the night before with all of the wedding events at the property and she was extremely tired from so much going on the day before. I took her over to where I found the ring and she was beyond happy for her second cousin!
In less than three hours, the wedding ceremony would begin and the front lawn would be completely packed with cars. I was thrilled that I was able to pull the ring from the ground just three hours from when Liti and Mark would be tying the knot! I just couldn’t get over the timing of everything! It was such a dream come true for me, but even more so, of course, for Liti the bride!
Before I left, I spoke with Sara and I promised her that I would help her with obtaining some metal detecting equipment to get her started with her own hobby that she was interested in getting into. I explained to her that at one of my previous searches in Baltimore, Maryland, a gentleman donated a completely brand-new metal detector and headphones to me with the hope that I would find a young person who was interested in taking up the hobby. I had it in my garage for a month or two, wondering who I would give it to, and it was clear that Sara was the one that was supposed to have it! Eventually I sent everything up to her in New York so she could play around with the equipment and get her feet wet with the hobby of metal detecting which she was so excited about. She was thrilled and could not wait to start learning the sport!
After I packed up my car with all of my equipment, I started my drive around the circular path in front of the house and said my goodbyes to the family and to the bride. I asked Liti to give my regards to the groom and wish Mark all of my best! Then, her father came up to me and shook my hand and thanked me profusely for helping his daughter with the recovery of her ring. It meant so much to me and I will never forget his expressions of kindness! My last wave goodbye was saved for Sara as I neared the end of the drive and reached the road where I was then headed off to the beach for my next adventure. The last fifteen hours or so was a fairytale story that started off in the end with a very happy beginning for Liti and Mark!
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