Metal Detecting Recovery and Return of Wedding Band, Falmouth Heights Beach, Massachusetts, by Brian Tucholke

2 August 2025.  Sean’s white and yellow gold wedding band went flying from his finger as he was tossing a ball in belly-deep water at the beach.  He tried diving with goggles to search but it proved fruitless.  This is usually the case, as a heavy gold ring will sink quickly into soft sand, especially if the sand is disturbed by feet or waves.  Luckily, Sean’s wife Caitlin tried a Google search for ‘Falmouth ring finder’ and when my name came up she gave me a call.  The timing was great as our houseful of company had departed less than a half hour before, so I was able to get to the beach within about 15 minutes.  As would be expected the parking lot was full because it was a sunny hot Saturday, so I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes before a spot (fortunately) opened up.

Meeting up with Caitlin and Sean, I got the specifics of when, where, and how the ring was lost, then I headed into the water for the search, doing a grid pattern over the likely area that Sean had described.  Nothing turned up in the initial search area but some trash and a few coins.  In the meantime Sean and Caitlin had to depart to attend a wedding but I double checked with him about particulars before they left and then I expanded the search area.  Eventually the wind, waves, and rising tide made it difficult to maintain a stable search so I finally gave up after a couple of hours, with the intention of returning the next day.

I arrived on day 2 about an hour ahead of low tide when the water level was about the same as when Sean’s ring was lost.  Taking his clue that he had been in belly-deep water I began gridding in that range of depth to the east of the previous search.  This paid off in about 45 minutes when I dug a sweet ring signal and had Sean’s band in my scoop.  Needless to say I felt a lot better than when I had to abandon the search the previous day!

A call to Sean confirmed the identity of his ring and was greeted with expressions of joy, disbelief and astonishment.  Sharing in the experience of such commingled emotions is one of the things I love most about being able to return such a precious item to its owner.

Sean and Caitlin live off-Cape so I mailed the ring to him.  He responded with a great picture of them in front of the Bunker Hill Monument.  In this case, Victory!