Dave Milsted, Author at The Ring Finders

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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I received an email from Sheila describing how she lost her shed keys while shoveling snow after the last storm. They were in her jacket pocket, and when she was finished, they were gone. We set up an appointment after she left work at 7 pm.
Luckily, it was a small search area, as it was the coldest night of the year, 23 degrees. She showed me the area that she thought they would be in, so I started my search. About 15 mins and 21 cents later, no keys were found. I had to ask Sheila to move her car; because it was at the edge of the search area, and my detector was sounding off to the car.
5 minutes later, I had her keys. They were buried in a pile of snow & ice that was under the rear of where she had parked her car. She was so happy. She needs access to her shed as another snowstorm is coming in a few days.
I Love My Hobby!!
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Ringing In The New Year 2024, By Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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I am not using the real names of this couple. I will call them Betty & Barney Rubble. Barney called me to see if I could help find some lost jewelry. He was referred to me by Fellow Ring Finder/Treasure Hunter Ed Cropski (he was out of town for the weekend). I work with a core group of excellent detectorists with much experience. If one of us gets a call and can’t make it, we give it to someone in our group.
Barney said his wife got very angry and walked out the back door to their deck, and Bam-Bam threw 2 silver bracelets, a gold wedding ring, and a gold engagement ring. Doing his own reconnaissance, he found 1 of the bracelets. I was near the neighbor’s fence beside a pile of wood rubble, reminding me of a gravel pit. The other 3 items are still missing.
Betty was out on their deck in the area where she was when she threw her jewelry. She looked very sad. After reviewing the angle of where Barney found the first bracelet and the scene, I told Barney that gold rings would travel farther than the lighter bracelet. I asked if his neighbors were okay with me searching their backyard. He said yes that he contacted them after our phone call. Betty went inside.
I started searching the neighbor’s yard. There were a lot of signals. There is a newer deck, and I was finding a ton of wood screws that are used in deck building. After about 12 minutes of searching, I started to look under the deck. I almost immediately found the engagement ring. It was under the deck. From where Betty threw the jewelry and the angle of where the ring was, it had to go through the open-backed stairs from the ground to the deck; if I threw it, it would have bounced off one of the steps. Lucky throw.
I intensified my search under the deck. It took another minute or two to find the missing bracelet. At this point, Barney had no idea I found either item. I asked him if he could hold my pinponter. He came over, and I held out my hand and dropped the engagement ring & bracelet into his hand. The look in his eyes was priceless.
I asked Barney if he would search on the deck for the other ring while I searched on the ground. I didn’t feel right searching up there with all of the windows. The neighbors know Barney, not me.
About 5 minutes went by, and Barney was standing next to me. He held out his hand that held the missing ring. My hunch paid off; it was laying on some covered furniture on the deck. He enjoyed the thrill of making the discovery.
Betty came out on their deck as I talked to Barney in the driveway. I told her to come down & get her jewelry. She was grinning from ear to ear. Barney and Betty are happy once again in Bedrock.
I love my hobby!!
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Lost Ring @ Basketball Court in Westampton NJ Found by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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I woke up to an email from Rickey. It said that he lost his wedding ring on Sunday while playing basketball. I wrote back, and he called me. We set up to do a search later that day after work. 

We met at the courts, and he explained that he put his phone under his mother’s chair and put his ring on top of the phone. This was in the grass, which was 4 -5 inches long and thick. The ring is black & silver titanium. He said his 2-year-old son picked up the phone to give it to his daddy. He said he spent about 4 hours looking for it but was giving up hope that it would be found. 

He showed me the area that he thought his mom’s chair was in. I said I would start searching a little farther away and work my way to where he thought it was. Being around a basketball court, there were a lot of metal objects in the area. I was looking for a surface sound. I could tell there were a lot of coins, bottle caps & pull tabs around. I will go back another time to clean out the coins. 

It only took about 10 minutes for me to get the sound I was looking for. I bent down and spread the grass to see his ring. I picked it up and showed him. The look on his face was priceless. He told me he had been in the dog house since losing the ring. Hopefully, this will make things better. 

I love my hobby!!

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Lost Wedding Ring Lost at Pennsauken Country Club Found by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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 I just wanted to thank you again for finding my ring. It made my wife and I so happy! Here is a little paragraph about Rachel and I and that day….
    I have been happily married to my high school sweetheart, Rachel, for 11 years and we have been together for over 22 years. She is amazing and wonderful and I am truly happy to have her in my life. She is also always right lol. Everytime I play golf, she tells me to leave my wedding ring at home. Of course, I never listen and that is how I found myself in this predicament. Whenever I golf, I take my wedding ring off and put it in my wallet. The wallet then goes into my golf bag and I carry on. I have never had an issue until last Thursday. I was playing at Pennsauken Country Club with my cousin Dru and then, as my wife had repeatedly warned me about, I lost my wedding ring. I noticed that it was gone when I arrived next to the 17th green. I retraced my steps and realized it must have fallen out of my wallet on the 17th tee box when I paid for some beers from the beer cart. My heart dropped. I couldn’t believe this happened. I didn’t think there was any way I was going to get it back. After the round, I went back to the tee box and looked around frantically but had no luck. A couple of groups teeing off, stopped and tried to help me. One of the guys told me to reach out to metal detector groups and they might be able to help me. I never would have thought of that and I am so glad that he placed that suggestion into my head. Flash forward a few days later, and I Googled, « I lost my wedding ring on a golf course. » After a couple of clicks, I came across Dave. I reached out and I am so glad that I did. We went back to Pennsauken Country Club a week after I had lost it and after 20 or so minutes he found my wedding ring halfway in the ground right near the 17th tee box. I was overjoyed. I am still overjoyed. My wife is beyond happy and I cannot thank him enough! He is a lifesaver and I will never forget what he did for me.

 

While out on a 911 call (I am a paramedic), John left me a message about his lost wedding ring. When I had a few minutes, I gave John a callback. He said while he was playing golf at the Pennsauken Country Club, he had placed his wedding ring in his wallet. He secured his wallet in his golf bag. With the heat, the cart girl stopped, and he retrieved his wallet to buy some beers for his group at the 17th tee box. When he got to the 18th hole, he looked in his wallet, and the ring was gone. 

His group went back to the 17th tee box but couldn’t find it. Another foursome also assisted in the search. No luck. One of the guys said you should call someone with a metal detector. John went home a googled lost ring. He found me on the Ring Finders site. We chatted about what happened. He had already called the golf course, and they gave him permission to have me search as long as I didn’t dig any holes. We set up a search date of Thursday evening. 

We both arrived at about the same time. We went into the clubhouse to let them know we were there to search. We guaranteed them there would be no digging. They let us use a golf cart to get to the location he suspected it was lost. It looked freshly cut, and it was close to the ground. There were a few thick areas of grass. He showed me the area the refreshment cart was. I started there.

In the area, the cart was also 3 electrical boxes. That means underground wires. OH NO. I definitely found a lot of underground items. I worked my way toward the area where John’s cart was parked that day. After about 15 – 20 mins of searches, I got a solid tone and number in the area that a 14-karat white gold ring would be. I bent down and spread the grass to reveal what was there; in there was John’s ring. 

John was dumbfounded. He thought he would never see it again. He was just going through the motions so he could be at peace knowing he did everything. He gave me at least a half a dozen bro hugs. He said he felt so high right now that he was afraid to drive home. So we called his wife from the spot the ring was found. She could believe it was found either. After the call, we dropped off the golf cart and went into the clubhouse to let them know we found it. The guy had a very surprised look on his face. 

We then walked to the parking lot. He still didn’t feel safe to drive. So he called his cousin, that was golfing with him on that fateful day. He was amazed also. John still wasn’t ready to drive, so he gave me another hug and said he was going to go to his car and call his dad. 

I love my hobby!!! 

 

 

 

 

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Lost Earring in Maple Shade Found by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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They used to call me MacGyver, and I earned that title today.
I received a text message late yesterday asking if I could search for a lost earring. The only problem is it was in a car. I told them that a metal detector would be useless in a car. It would be a visual search. They were okay with that, and we scheduled a visit for late afternoon today.
I arrived, and he showed me the car. He turned the car on for our search because the temperature was over 90 degrees. I brought my snake video camera unit. An excellent tool for searches in tight areas. They are 100% positive that it is in the car. His wife was a front-seat passenger and had her earring on her lap. They hit a bump, and it fell between the seat and the center console.
I started searching in the typical places it would have gone. No luck. There are 2 openings in the carpet under the seat. The 1st hole was not hiding a secret. After about an hour, I started to search the 2nd hole, which was some kind of vent. I searched in there, and there it was. Not easy to get as it was around a bend. This was not going to be easy to remove.
I tried a very long skinny 10-inch screwdriver. It wasn’t long enough. A portable vacuum wouldn’t work, either. Putting on my MacGyver hat. I have a couple of marking flags with 24-inch bendable, narrow stems. I took needle nose pliers and bent the end into a hook. While watching on the camera, I fished the hook to the earring. I was able to snag it after a few attempts. I slowly pulled it to the opening, and it fell down under the vent. More searching with the camera and we saw it again. This time I was able to get my fingers on it and remove it from under the seat.
They were so happy to get it back. This one was a challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I love my hobby!!
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Lost Stud Earring Lost In Cherry Hill NJ Found By Dave Milsted, The Metal Detecting Man!

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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Lost Ring Doing Yard Work In Haddon Hts, Found By Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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Bob contacted me through my website, asking if I could search for his lost ring. He had been doing yard work, and when he went to Loews for more supplies, he noticed that his titanium wedding ring was missing. We were both available this Saturday, weather permitting. We are expecting 4 days of heavy rain.<p>
Saturday morning was gloomy, but the rain paused; we now have a fine mist. I met Bob at his house. He showed me his work area in the front of the house. He had planted some flowers and placed about 2 inches of mulch. If it is not here, it could be in his backyard, as he made several trips to his shed. I asked if he had searched his car, and he said yes. He also searched the parking lot at Loews.<p>
I got started, and he returned to the house to tend to his 6-month-old & 2 large dogs. I did a quick check of both flower beds and noticed there were a lot of iron targets. This took all of 5 minutes. I dug a few, and they were old nails. So I need to slow down and make a much more thorough check.
About 10 minutes later, I got a signal under one of the bushes. I dug down about 3 inches, and there was his silver titanium ring. I took a few pictures and knocked on his door. Bob came out, and I asked him if I could search the backyard toward his shed. As he was answering and trying to figure out why it wasn’t here, because he was sure this was where it would be, I held up his ring, and when he finally noticed, the look on his face was priceless. I had asked him if he was in the dog house because he had lost his ring, he said no, but his wife was disappointed. She will be happy again.
I love my hobby!!
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Throwing A Ball = Lost Ring in Cherry Hill NJ – Found by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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Katie called me after someone on FaceBook recommended me, thank you to whoever that was. She was in her backyard throwing a ball when she lost her engagement ring. She searched for days with no luck. Then she resorted to social media. 

Friday was the day I could search, so we set up a date. Katie couldn’t be there but her mom would be. Katie describe to me over text messages where she was in the yard and in what direction she was throwing the ball.

I started near the middle of the tear and did a grid pattern in the north direction. I was getting a few deeper targets and just passed them by. About 20 minutes into the search I got a good signal in the range that small gold rings should be. I pulled back the ring and there was the ring I was looking for. It looked like it was stepped on and it was embedded in the mud, sideways. 

When I showed Katie’s mom she couldn’t believe it. She said Katie would be so happy. 

I Love My Hobby!!

 

 

 

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Lost Ring While Playing With The Dog In Crum-Lynne, Delaware County PA – Found by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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Beaches are not the only places we search!

Katie sent me an email asking if I could help find her husband’s wedding band. It is a black tungsten ring. He lost in their backyard while playing ball with their dog. He went to fake a throw and the ring went flying. He heard it hit a goalpost he has in the yard. They searched for days and even cleared a lot of brush out of the yard without finding it. 

Today was the day we would search. Jim showed me the area he was standing and his actions when he faked the throw. So where did it go after striking the goalpost? I started where he was standing. 

I started where he was standing. I found a few pennies, a dime & a quarter & several pull tabs. Then I got a broken signal so I checked it out. It was a small iron metal file. I put it on the firepit. When back to the same spot and received another signal. It was his ring. It has an Eagle’s green stripe that circles the ring. Could be good luck for the Eagles this weekend (6 – 0)?

I went to the garage asking Jim if he could come out and show me again where he was and the direction he was throwing. When he started to repeat his actions, I held up his ring. The look on his face was priceless! He called Katie and she was ecstatic!

I love my Hobby!

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Property Marker Search in Audubon NJ – Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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John emailed me asking if I could locate property markers. I said that I have in the past. We set up a search on Saturday morning. He sent me a copy of his survey that was done more than 30 years ago. 

When I arrived we walked the property. The two in the front yard shouldn’t be an issue, but the two in the back yard will be much harder as there is a chain-link fence & metal poles in the area.

I got to work. The 2 front yard markers were found within 15 minutes. I did not find the two in the backyard. In the area of both markers are telephone poles running electric lines. The markers could have been removed or displaced. The fence was also troubling as I had to use my pinpointer to search. 

John was very happy that I found two of the 4 markers. 

I love my hobby!!

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