Dave Milsted, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 9 of 11

Lost Engagement & Wedding Ring Found in Haddon Twp NJ by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

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I received a call earlier in the week from Rob, asking if I was the guy who finds lost rings. I told him that I was and asked how I could help. He said that there are 2 missing rings in front of his residence in the flower bed.

He was out of town on business until the weekend, so we planned to meet up on Saturday morning. I assumed that they lost them while planting the flowers. So it should be an easy find.

I arrived and met Rob. I asked him to show me where he thought that they were. I asked him how long ago that the flowers were planted and about how deep were the holes when they planted them.

He said they were lost about a week ago during an argument and were thrown there. Well there ya go you know what happens when you assume. They spent a couple of hours looking for them with flashlights.

I asked where she was standing when she threw them. He said that he threw them. There ya go another assumption! He showed me the direction. I went back to my truck to get my equipment.

I had to fight the sounds from the sprinkler system in the ground. After about 20 minutes I got a good repeatable signal. Looked through the flowers and found the wedding band. Rob was amazed.

We were now looking for the engagement ring. I continued with my machine and Rob then jumped into the flower bed and started hand searching the bushes. He said that he thought one went farther then the other and that one made it to the bushes.

After about 10 more minutes I hear Rob Shout, « I got it!! » And there it was. A few high fives were thrown. He stated you saved my life!

I took a few pictures and gave him my business card just in-case there was a need in the future. He was a happy man… My wife said after I got home was « I knew it! I knew they were thrown! »

I have responded to so many lost rings because they were thrown in the heat of the moment. Call me 1st, I’ll take the ring off of your hands and save the time for a search later…

Category:

Ring Lost For Years Found By Dave Milsted In Collingswood NJ

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

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Paul contacted me back in November 2012 about his wedding ring he lost. He thought that he lost it in his backyard while raking leaves.

Our schedules didn’t line up for many reasons. We both forgot about it.

I was checking/deleting my old emails when I came across the ones from Paul. I saw that I didn’t have an outcome listed for this missing ring. So I emailed Paul to see if it had been found. He said it is funny that you are asking about my ring. My wife & I were just discussing it the other night at dinner. It is still lost.

A few back & forth emails and we set a date & time the I would go over and search, Saturday August 15th.

I arrived and Paul & his son David were in the driveway replacing breaks on a car. Paul showed me the backyard and the area he thought it was lost. He then stated, if it is not here then its in the neighbors yard, because I was throwing items into their yard. I can get you permission to search there too.

I asked Paul about the ring. He said it was a plain wedding band. OK I thought I know what range on my detector that should register.

I started searching & noticed a lot of iron in the ground, not good. I searched the area Paul suggested and found pieces of metal garden dividers, pull tabs and other assorted junk. Not one good item. I decided to continue to search the rest of the yard.

About an hour into the search I finally got a good signal. It was above the range That it should be in. I dug about 2 inches down and found a very large gold ring with 2 turquoise stones in it. Well this isn’t the ring, because this isn’t a plain wedding band.

I searched the rest of the yard and found nothing else. I went to talk to Paul. I asked him, « you said a plain wedding band, correct? »

He said « oh it has 2 turquoise stones in it. »

« Like this one? » I said as I pulled the ring out of my pouch. He stood there with his mouth wide open. He couldn’t believe that I had found it. It was very large, I don’t know how he could have lost it without realizing it.

I went to the hose and cleaned it up a bit. We took some pictures and shared some stories. He said that he designed this ring and his wife’s matching ring. They have been married for 29 years. I apologized for dropping the ball and not finding this ring back in 2012.

I am just amazed by the different expressions on peoples faces when I am able to return things!!

Category:

Lost wedding band found in Philadelphia by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

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I’m home from vacation unpacking & cleaning my metal detectors, and I get a phone call from Kate. She says that her husband was in the backyard watering the flowers when he lost his wedding ring.

I ask the usual questions when was it lost? Today Is there any metal fencing around? No Has anyone else looked? No. She said it was lost a few hours ago, they believe that it is in the neighbors yard, but its un-kept. They live in Philly. The thought about renting a detector and while searching for detectors my site came up. I looked up the address and said that I could be there in 45 minutes. She said make sure you come prepared, there are a lot of mosquitoes.

After searching for a parking spot for about 20 minutes I found one about a block away. I took 1 detector with me and walked to their house. I met Brett at the door. He showed me out back and where he was. He said he was watering the plants when a mosquito buzzed by his ear. He swatted at the bug an his ring flew off. He didn’t hear it land so it had to be in the neighbors yard. His yard is covered by a wooded deck.

The neighbors yard was a mess. It hasn’t been taken care of in years. The only way in was to climb over a 5 foot cement wall. Brett said that the neighbor game him permission to search, but he had to figure out how to get in & out.

The bugs were worse than I imagined. I had to go back to my truck and get a send detector with a smaller coil because of all of the trash. I also put on a long sleeve shirt and a hat that not only covers my head but mu neck too.

With the assistance of a step stool I was able to get into the yard, not sure how I was going to get out because it was much higher on this side. There were so many metal items in this yard my hopes were very low.

I decided to look around 1st. There was no grass, but plenty of weeds and 3-4 foot saplings. Weeds with sticker balls and the like. I searched for about 15 minutes just by looking. Moving the plants & saplings. I was just about to gram a detector when I saw the ring.

It was a beautiful tri-colored gold ring. White gold, yellow gold & rose gold. Brett said when he was looking for rings for the wedding he just couldn’t find one he liked. He told his dad the the only ring here really likes is the one his father wore. His dad without hesitation gave him his ring. So there was a huge sentimental attachment.

I found a milk crate to give me a little height to try to climb out of the yard. It was just enough for me to pull myself up and get over the wall.

We went into the house & took some pictures. I’m not sure if I would have found it with a detector, even with a 3 inch coil to get through the trash. I guess I am getting pretty good at this treasure hunting thing!!

Category:

Lost Wedding band Found by Dave Milsted in Ocean City NJ

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

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Last night (August 5th) while taking a long walk on the beach with my wife, I got a call from fellow jewelry recovery expert Edward Cropski. He received a call about a lost ring. He was unable to come down to the beach to search. He knew I was in Ocean City, so he called me to see if I was available. He gave me the number for Chris.

I called Chris. He said while on the beach today he took his ring off before he went into the water with his kids. He put it in the cup holder of his chair. After swimming they went home for the evening. He remembers flipping his chair over to shake the sand off.

When he got back to where he was staying, he remembered about his ring. He immediately went to the internet to search for help.

He was glad that I called. I told him it would take me about 30 minutes to meet him where he thought he lost it. We only hoped that another person detecting the beach didn’t already find it. The beach he was on is heavily detected.

As I approached Chris & his wife and son, there was another guy in the area with a detector searching the sand.

Chris showed me the area he was in and where he thought that his chair was. I started to search. I thought to my self this should be easy because it was a small area.

I searched the area and came up with 6 bottle caps and 5 pull tabs along with some other junk. Only 1 penny was in the area. Chris’ wife thought that the ring was gone forever.

I expanded the area the Chris thought that he was in. About 2 minutes later I got a good tone & ID number on my machine. It was his ring. When I showed it to them the looks on their faces was priceless. Chris’ wife just stood there with her mouth open in shock.

Chris told me that this was his dad’s ring. His dad died of cancer in 1989. He also said that this was the 4th time he lost the ring.

The 1st time was went he was fishing in a stream. He went to wash his hands in the water, the ring fell off. He grabbed as much of the bottom that he could and found the ring in the muck. The 2nd time was was spreading mulch in his yard. He once again was able to find it. The 3rd time was in Puerto Rico swimming in a pool. He had management clear the pool and searched and found it.

He swears and so does his wife that he will never wear it near water again. He hugged me and shook my hand several times.
Another missing ring returned thanks to teamwork!

Category:

Lost Wedding Band Found in Haddonfield NJ By Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

Back Yard Troubles!!

Received a call from Katie. She told me that her husband lost his wedding band in their back yard. She found me by searching the internet and found Ring Finders.

I asked several questions about how it was lost. We decided on a date & time for me to search for the ring.

I arrived on a hot & sunny day in May. Katie’s kids were sleeping, so she said that she would be out in a few minutes.

I had Katie show me about where her husband was. She said he was in the driveway, cleaning out his car. He was throwing something when his ring came off. I had her show me the direction that he mad his toss.

I thought that I had enough information to start the search. The detector that I chose for this hunt was my Minelab CTX 3030 with a 11 inch coil. I started my search an the area was clear of trash.

1.5 minutes into the search I got my first signal. I moved the grass around and bingo, I had the wedding band in my hand.

I walked towards Katie & showed her the ring. She was amazed that I had found it so fast.  I took a few pictures and headed home. Another successful recovery!

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Category:

1980 Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship Ring Found & Returned by Dave Milsted NJ

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

2014-08-14 14.11.30a 2014-08-30 11.05.22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received a call from Keith in May. He said he had lost his 1980 Eagles Championship ring while doing yard work. He was heartbroken and told me how much the ring meant to him. He has worn it since he received it 34 years ago.

Our schedules weren’t lining up. He was going away in a few days, and then I was going away. I told him I would come over later that day even if it was still raining out. We agreed on 1o’clock in the afternoon. He gave me his information.

It was raining very hard at 1pm. I was prepared, raincoat with hood, rain pants and waterproof hiking boots. I brought my water proof detector Minelab CTX-3030. It was a nice size yard. The street in front of the house was flooded from all of the recent rain.

Keith showed me what he was doing the day he lost the ring. I thought if it is here it should be an easy fine. WRONG!! Keith had trimmed all of the bushes & hedges, raked the entire property, put a lot of the debris in the street which is now flooded, started a mulch pile and planted new items in a flower garden. He remembers at one point looking at his hand saying this ring is giving me a blister.

I started in the easy sections, the open yard, nothing! I started moving to the different gardens. Uh-oh, they are all lined with iron to stop the roots from entering. Metal detectors love iron. It makes them sing. Even when trying to discriminate iron out of the range, there was so much it was hard to determine if there were any other signals. The machine I brought had an 11 inch coil on it. I could search the street because there is metal rebar under the surface. There was way too much debris out there to shovel onto the grass. If it’s out here the leaf sucker is going to get it.

I spent about 3 hours looking. No luck. Keith was disappointed and so was I. I really wanted to return this ring. I have been an Eagles fan for too many years. What an awesome story this would have been. I offered to come back at a different time when the weather was better. We said we would keep in touch.

A few months passed and I called Keith. He was staying in his summer cabin and wouldn’t be back in this area for some time. I asked if there would be anyone around, because I didn’t want to be on his property without someone being there. He said his wife would be there this week and it would be ok to go over to look. He had already started the inquiry of what he had to do to get the ring replaced. He needed approval from the Eagles & the NFL plus a police report.

I went over a few days later and met Michelle. She added a few other tid bits, like when he was done the yard work he traveled to North Jersey. My heart sunk. I thought to myself, that is why I didn’t find it last time. It’s not here.

I returned with and older but reliable machine, a White’s Spectrum XLT with a 3 inch coil. This is to help reduce the amount of signals from all of the iron in the gardens. I started searching the areas I couldn’t do in the rain, like the large slope of ivy in the back yard. The only thing I found back here was hundreds of mosquitoes.  I moved to the mulch pile, moving stuff around, nothing. I’m getting frustrated. 2 hours later the last things to check are the gardens.

I expected the ring to pretty much be on the surface. It wasn’t lost that long ago. I finally get a good signal at close to 3 hours from when I started. I climbed under the bushes and moved away the debris. Nothing. I dig about a half an inch down. Is that gold? I dig a little more. It’s the ring!! I must have jumped about 10 feet in the air. The ring was very heavy, and very muddy. I went back to my truck and cleaned it up. Took many pictures, then I called Keith.

When I told him that I found it, he started to get choked up. He couldn’t believe that I had found it. He told me that he thought that is was gone forever. He said someone told him to pray to St Anthony, so he did. We made arrangements to meet a few weeks later when he would be back in town. He even let me keep the ring for 24 hours so I could show it off before I returned it to his wife.  When we met we took pictures & he signed a few Topps Football cards that I had brought with me from his playing days.

Here is a letter from Keith Krepfle Philadelphia Eagles Tight End #84

Dear Dave,

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for finding my lost 1980 NFL Conference Championship ring with your metal detector.

I was reasonably sure I lost the ring while doing spring clean-up in the yard. The day I called you in desperation for help, you came over immediately to try and find the ring. Although the weather was miserably cold and pouring rain, you nonetheless scanned the yard for hours trying to find it. I was obviously disappointed when you could not find it, however you said you would like to return in warmer weather to try again.

I was not absolutely sure I lost the ring in the yard, and for weeks looked everywhere  but unfortunately it did not turn up.  By summertime I had completely given up hope and contacted the NFL League office to inquire about replacing it (custom molds for all Super Bowl rings are kept on file).

Then out of the blue in August  you called me again, offering (at no fee) to come back for another search.  On your second search, to my unbelievable surprise, YOU FOUND THE RING! under a landscaping bush.  I was so thrilled when you told me, I actually broke down and cried with emotion/thankfulness.

I cannot thank you enough for your dedication, honesty, integrity and persistence,  and whole heartedly recommend anyone contact you for help locating lost items.

You are truly and Angel of God!

Keith Krepfle

Philadelphia Eagles- tight end

 

Category:

Ring Found in the Snow in Cherry Hill NJ.

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

Received a call from a woman in Cherry Hill. Her husband was out shoveling during the big 9 inch snow storm earlier in January. He took off his gloves and shook his hands to warm them and he felt his wedding ring fly off.

They piled up all of the snow from the driveway and have been looking for it ever since. They were worried about someone else finding the ring or an animal taking it. They found my website and called me.

We made arrangements for me to head over a 3pm today. I arrived and found a large pile of snow on a concrete driveway, uh oh rebar….

She showed me about where her husband was standing and I did a quick search of the pile. Too much interference from the rebar. I scanned both sides of the driveway and not a peep.

So we shoveled the pile of snow onto the grass. I started to search the snow, within 3 minutes and had a nice solid signal. Dug thru the snow and found a beautiful 14k white gold ring. The look on her face was priceless. It took longer to shovel than it did to find the ring.

She was so happy. I collected a few more hugs for the hug bank. Her side of the story will follow in a few days when I get her email. Leaving my house to the return in my front door was less than 30 minutes.

 

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Category:

Wedding Ring Found in the Snow, Mt Laurel NJ

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

2013-12-09 18.14.44 2013-12-09 18.12.32

 

I got a call Dec 9, 2013 from a man who said he lost his gold wedding ring in the snow yesterday (6-8 inches of fluffy white stuff). I told him that I would love to help but my truck was in the shop. I said I could come tomorrow. He said he had to work all day. I told him that I would come up tonight around 6pm, a night hunt…

When I arrived we went over the details of what he could remember. He took his new bride, from India, out to play in her 1st snow that she has ever seen. They were just married in May in India. He was taking pictures and they were having fun playing in the snow. Snow angles and all.

He said they stopped in like 4 areas to take pictures. He had the ring on at the first stop and it was gone at the last stop, noticed by reviewing the pictures. He didn’t realize till this morning that the ring was gone. The whole walk might have been 3/4 of a mile.

I went and got my machine. We started in the area that they took the 1st set of pictures. I quickly got a signal that was in the gold range on my machine. I kicked the snow aside, and you could see he was very excited. We didn’t see any gold & I had to explain the machine will make a lot of sounds during our hunt.

I continued on and then doubled back, starting a small grid pattern. Within 2 minutes we had another promising sound. I kicked the snow aside and we both saw gold. A total of five minutes of detecting & we had the ring. The look on his face was priceless. He couldn’t believe it. He said that he thought the ring was gone forever.

We went back to his apartment & he invited me in to look at the pictures he took yesterday. I am glad that I was able to find his ring. I wasn’t very confident after hearing how far of a walk they took. But by playing detective and starting where he knew he had the ring paid off!!

Category:

Lost 30 Year Anniversary Band in Bridgewater NJ, recovered by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:

2013-10-09 14.38.10 2013-10-09 14.32.05

Received a call around noon on October 9th from Joan in North Central NJ. She was out in her back yard last night trying to get her dog inside. While in the struggle she lost her 30th Wedding Anniversary band. She spent a long time in the dark with a flashlight with no luck. She had a friend come over today in the daylight and spent several more hours looking. I was pressed for time and said I would be able to come up in about 8 days because of my schedule. She was worried about the lawn guys coming in a week.

I moved some things on my schedule and took the 1 hour and 20 minute drive. When I arrived Joan was not home. I gave her a call and she said she was 10-15 minutes away. She said to go into the back yard and start without her. She marked the area that she though she lost it with a bag of apples. That was my starting point. 5 minutes later I had the most beautiful ring I have ever found in my hands, a platinum Tiffany’s ring with too many diamonds to count.

Joan arrived about 10 minutes later. I was sitting on her porch petting her dog. As she walked up I pulled the ring from my pocked. The reaction on her face was priceless!

Here is Joan’s Story:

I waited thirty years for wedding band from Tiffany’s.  I wore a wedding band that cost less than a $100 for years, switched to my mother’s wedding band after her passing, and when my mother’s band no longer fit I went without a wedding band for years.  In the meantime, my husband was saving for a really special gift for our 30th anniversary, a wedding band from Tiffany’s.  I had the ring less than a year, when one night I walked into my backyard to get my dog to come inside. The dog was busy eating an apple, and did not want to go back inside.  I pulled at her collar, and with my left hand gave her a little push when off came the ring.  I stood in the darkness and panicked. I marked my spot with a loose branch and raced to get a flashlight. Hours passed and I gave up. In the morning, a friend came over and along with my daughter we spent another four hours searching for the ring.  We all gave up and figured that an animal found it over night.  It was gone.  But my friend gave me Dave’s number, and he came over that afternoon. In less than five minutes he found my ring!  I also want to add that I wasn’t home when he arrived and told him to go into my yard and search for the ring.  I arrived home ten minutes later and there was Dave sitting on my back steps petting my dog.  He reached in his pocket and handed me the ring. What a feeling!  He is completely honest and competent.  Don’t waste time searching on your own.  Call Dave.

Regards,

Joan

Category:

Another Lost Ring in Cape May NJ, Returned

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
Contact:
2013-09-20 08.48.522013-09-03 15.40.07
A few weeks ago I received a call from Candice. She said she was at the beach in Cape May the day before and lost her wedding band. It just so happens it was the same beach last week making another ring recovery. So I was familiar with the beach. 
 
Candice said she was there with her family and not exactly sure where she was when she lost her ring. She was all over the beach with her kids and husband, even out in the rough surf. By going through her pictures she was able to come up with a half an hour time frame of when she lost the ring. I did a little research and found out that it was only a short time from high tide when she lost her ring.
 
I told Candice that I would not be able to search till at least Tuesday because of my work schedule. She sounded a little deflated but said it was ok. I asked her to download a picture from Google maps and mark it up with where she was on the beach that day. 
 
Later that night she emailed me the picture. She was right she was all over the beach. She was by the rocks digging in the sand with her children. She was at the high tide line sitting in her chairs. She was in another spot building sand castles. She fell in the surf near the life guards. Oh boy where to begin. 
 
My friend & I arrived at the beach near low tide. This would give us our best shot at finding the ring. The beach was crowded. This would cause a problem because we wouldn’t be able to do a complete grid search. We would have to go around the masses of people. Plus there were 2 other people on the beach detecting. My hopes were diminishing. The sand was soft and mushy, not good because gold sinks fast in this stuff.
 
We started to search. My friend Diane started by the rocks and headed south. I started near the life guards and headed south. I found a few items, mostly light trash, not good but expected in the soft mushy conditions. I am thinking that this is going to be a lost cause. After about an hour I could see Diane was done her area and started to go all over the beach. I could tell she was ready to leave. She can read a beach better than me and knew we weren’t going to be successful. 
 
I was getting ready to give up when I had a good tone. I started to talk to my mom asking her to let this be the ring I was looking for. I scooped the sand and strained out the sand. In my scoop was a beautiful yellow gold ring with 11 diamonds. SUCCESS!! I walked over to Diane and said I was ready to leave. She said the conditions weren’t good. The I showed her the ring. She was shocked that I found it. She put it on her finger and said that its a perfect fit and I was going to get the ring back.
 
I sent Candice a text message asking her to call me when she could because I had some questions. She called back in record time. I asked a few questions about her markings on the map. Then I told I her that I found the ring. The phone when silent. I think I heard a thank you. The in a broken voice I heard I can’t talk now I will call you later. 
 
It was after five in the afternoon when Candice called back. She apologized for being so emotional before. She said she was crying so hard and everybody at work was looking at her that she needed to get off of the phone. She couldn’t believe that I found the ring. I sent her a picture. She is from Delaware so we were trying to come up with a place to meet. We went through our schedules and it would be 3 weeks before we could meet to return the ring. 
We met today in Southern NJ. I met her mom, husband, 3 kids and her baby sitter. All of the people who were with her when she lost the ring. I gave her her ring and received many hugs. She was crying again. We took pictures and chatted for a while. She gave me a card with a generous reward which I tried to return but she wouldn’t let me.
Below is Candice’s side of the tale:

Just another Saturday at the beach or so we thought!

As a mother of 3 young boys, I decided to take a last minute day trip for the end of summer. We piled up the minivan with my husband, my mother, our AuPair and my three boys! Before leaving the house…my inner voice told me to leave my wedding ring at home since I had lost some weight…it was loose but, I didn’t listen. We packed the car full. We had the cooler, beach chairs, boogie boards and toys for the sand. We brought everything but Sunblock…. Yes, we all ended up burnt. We drove around for about 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot when we came upon Cove Beach in Cape May, NJ. I’ve been going to Cape May beaches for over 20 years and have never been to that particular beach before. So, we parked the car, and set up our stuff.

We played in the water! Taking on the waves. My two oldest boys were brazen…going out really far….enough to concern the lifeguards to whistle us in closer (it was a yellow flag day)….so then we built sand castles. We then came back to the beach blanket and ate some snacks. Back to the water again, riding the waves and then the youngest wanted to come back in the sand castle area. I had some trouble getting up out of the water and put my hands in the sand and there went the wedding band. But, I didn’t notice it then…I went back into the water with my husband while the kids searched for the perfect shells! When I came back…I sat down in the sand where the waves crashed in on our legs digging my hands into the sand looking for shells for the boys…we posed for a few family shots and then I realized it! The ring was gone. OMG!

I turned to my husband and lifted my hand to show no wedding band! He said « You’re joking, right? » « I wouldn’t joke about this » I said. He immediately jumped up and helped me frantically searched the sand. The tide was coming in harder and harder…we could hardly see. The kids looked, the babysitter looked, even some strangers on the beach…I was crying so hard, I needed to clean my glasses….I then realized from the family pictures…I might be able to see when I last had it on… and I saw it!!! When I was swimming with my youngest son. So, I knew where it was probably gone at but the tide had come in so far I knew I’d never get it back. I cried and cried. My husband hugged me and said he’d buy me another one. It wouldn’t be the same. I didn’t want a new wedding band…I wanted the one he gave me when we promised each other the rest of our lives together 10 years ago. I thought it was ironic that my husband asked me to marry him and gave me an engagement ring on another beach in Cape May, NJ years ago and now I lost my wedding band in Cape May, NJ.

A short time later, I was so upset and defeated…we packed the car back up and headed home. After the beach, we were supposed to go to the Wildwood boardwalk and ride some rides but….I just couldn’t build myself up to enjoy it. On the ride home I knew I’d never get my ring back. My mom reminded me that other than my ring loss, I still had my family and my kids were safe and happy. Even though my family was safe and that was really the most important thing to me…I still couldn’t stop being upset about losing my ring and my stupidity for not leaving it at home. My mom offered to come back the next morning and comb the beach with me… When I got home and everyone was getting ready for bed…I Googled to see what my chances would be if I could even had any chance. I looked at the possibilities of renting a metal detector and then came upon TheRingFinders.com. I read of success stories of rings found and my hope was restored. I found Dave Milsted and called him to see what could be done. I told him it was a gold wedding band with 11 inset diamonds. He told me to map the area I thought it was lost. I immediately mapped where we were sitting, where I thought it was lost and where we swam. Then my 3 boys brought me beautifully made « homemade rings » made from paper to replace my wedding band. I smiled for their thoughtfulness and creativity.

I then sent the email to Dave. I didn’t hear anything back.  I anxiously checked email in the morning and saw I mis-typed his email address. OMG!!! Quickly I resent it to the correct email and added some more details.

Dave responded immediately and suggested he could go out on Tuesday. Slightly disappointed I put my faith in the fact that he has been doing this for years and if he felt there was an urgency…or not…then he’d be right. So, I stopped worrying until Tuesday. Since 8am Tuesday morning, I checked my email and phone every 30 mins or less. As the day pressed on, so my pressure skyrocketed. I even shed a few tears while telling the story to co workers. I figured, the longer it took to hear from Dave, the less likely it would be that he’d found it…. 

Then, I received an email from Dave saying he had a few questions asking me to call him! I jumped right on the phone and called. Dave asked me a few more questions about the location I thought it was lost. I explained where I thought I was and then he told me that the beach was packed and that there were already folks with metal detectors, the sand was loose and….my heart sank.

Then, he then told me he found my ring! I think I asked him if he was serious….and after he said « YES »…I was speechless. I couldn’t speak…I was crying hysterically and couldn’t stop! The sentimental value for me was so much more than the jewelry price value. I tried to get out the words to say Thank you and that I would call him back when I left my job to discuss picking it up. I immediately called my husband and my mom crying. They could hardly understand me but they finally realized what I had said and were both shocked and excited!

Dave, there are no words for what you do for people/families like ours. There is no replacing a memory or the value that was placed on something because of its emotional association with it when something is lost. You replaced it for me and renewed my strength in humanity that there are honest people who care about others and want to help people… »Thank you. » That is the smallest thing I can say and the biggest thing I can mean at the same time. I am glad my wedding band will be in safe hands until we officially meet and I promise to NEVER wear it in the Ocean again (at least until I get it re-sized)!!!

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