Sentimental Gold Ring Lost At Range Pond State Park, Poland, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

At approximately 9:00am, Thursday morning, August 21st, I received the following message, from Renata

“Hello, last week a friend of mine and I went to Range Pond, in Poland, Maine and she lost her very sentimental gold ring. We have tried searching for it, someone came along with a metal detector and also searched but no luck!
I was wondering if this is anything that you could possibly help with?”

My reply
“Hi Renata, So sorry to hear this. I may be able to help. Does she know the location where the ring was lost, and the depth? “

Renata replied
“She does know the about location. I can’t imagine it would be very far down in the sand. She said it was lost while on the beach itself. When you are at range pond it would be all the way to the left side of the area where boats can come in and out. The exact location is about in the middle of that and the edge of the beach.
This is the ring.”

Renata then sent me some photos, of the area and of the ring
I replied
“ok, So it’s not in the water. If up on the beach, I would be concerned someone has found it already or even another Metal Detectorist. Let me look at an aerial view of the area and see if I can figure out the location. I will get back to you in a few minutes.”

I then sent Renata a photo and asked her if she could tell me if the ring would be in one of the 4 sections, that I had marked up and she then circled the area, of where she thinks the ring was lost. I then replied to Renata and reiterated my concern that they had already had another metal detectorist search that area, and hadn’t found it. I also told her that I could go and search the area once again. I really didn’t know if the other metal detectorist has any experience or what kind of detector they were using. After all, it was just someone that they saw and asked for help. I Also asked Renata if her friend, Hope, saw or felt the ring come coming off and if the ring could have been lost somewhere else.
Renata replied
She said that it was in the pocket of her bag and then was not when she was home. I suppose it’s obviously possible someone snatched it.”
I replied
“Yeah, It just seems strange the other detectorist didn’t find it. Since it was in a bag, could it have fallen out, in her vehicle, parking area, as she walked out of the park, etc? If she hasn’t, she should report it lost to the State Park. If you would like me to search, I could go up today, around 4:pm, when people are leaving.”
Renata told me that Hope had reported the ring lost, to the Park Ranger, at Range Pond State Park. I then told her that I would definitely go later, in the day, as people left the park and the beach would not be crowded. When a beach is crowded, you just can’t perform a proper grid search, with everyone on the beach. Renata told me she would not be able to meet me there because they were on Peaks Island. That was ok, because I had a very detailed area, to search.

Cheryl and I arrived at Range Pond State Park, at just prior to 4:00pm and found the Park Ranger to tell him I was there to search for Hope’s lost ring. The Park Ranger, Walter, then told me someone else had searched for the ring last night. Walter also told us the guy “looked like a professional” metal detectorist WOW! A second metal detectorist has now searched for the lost gold ring. Walter was told that the ring was not found. Now I’m doubting if the ring is actually there. Has it been found, lost somewhere else. It happens all the time. Walter also told me that he wasn’t very pleased the “professional” metal detectorist, from the night before . That metal detectorist has dug holes, in the beach and didn’t fill them in, but just leaving the holes, for anyone to step in. Definitely not good. Once Cheryl and I got on the beach, there were a few groups of people in the center of the beach, where the ring was thought to have been lost. So, I decided to start on the far left side of the beach, as you face the pond. I would grid search the area, from the water, up to the trees and back to the waters edge, working my way towards the middle of the beach. As I was grid searching, I was finding many small fishing sinkers and a few coins. I thought to myself that with two different metal detectorists searching the area, in the past four days, those should have been found. More importantly, more people had left the beach and now there were only a few people, on the beach. I was now approaching the center of the beach, after approximately 45 minutes of searching and I started to see the many dug holes, left by the ‘professional’ metal detectorist. To me this wasn’t a good feeling, concerning the lost ring. I decided to continue, until the entire beach had been searched. About 15 minutes later and just a few feet from some of the dug holes, I received a nice low tone, reading 27-28 on my VDI screen. I didn’t get too excited because that is also the exact VDI reading, of a nickel. The target was reading 0 (Surface) to 2 inches down, in the sand. I took my hand and started wiping the sand away. All of a sudden, there it was, a gold ring with some stones. I was stunned!!! Dug holes less than 10 feet away, two metal detectorists searched this exact area and yet, it was still here. Amazing. I looked at Cheryl , up under the trees, in the shade (yes, she’s the brains, of the family and I’m the sweaty brawn) and yells “I FOUND IT” as I gave her a thumbs up. Cheryl came right over and she couldn’t believe it either. Four days on a public beach and two other metal detectorists searched for the ring, in this exact area. Crazy.

I then took a photo and sent it to Renata, saying, “Does this look familiar?”
Renata’s reply was,

“Stop!!!! We both just screamed!!!
Literal tears of joy!!
How can we pick it up from you??”

We then made plans for Hope to meet me in Windham, as that is where she lives and it is on our way home.
Approximately 45 minutes later, Hope arrived and you could see just how much this ring meant to her. She was just so excited and happy, to see her ring again, after thinking it was gone forever. Hope was smiling ear to ear as she told us that the ring was actually a gift that she had fought for herself, after giving birth to her son, a few years earlier. She called it her “Birthing Gift, to myself, after her son was born. To Hope, this ring represented the birth of the most important person, in her life, her son. Thankfully the ring has had a rebirth and is now back on Hope’s finger, where it belongs. I am just so happy to have a small part in the rebirth. I have the best job, in the world.😀❤️🙏