Edward Duffey, Author at The Ring Finders

Lost – Men’s Gold Wedding Ring, Daytona Beach Shores, Florida – FOUND!!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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Wednesday evening, I got a call from a fellow ringfinder.  He asked if I could handle a call for him.  I said, of course!  I called Charles and asked him where and when he lost it and set a time for us to meet before low tide the next day.  I brought my friend Brian who is just getting into metal detecting.

Charles took us down to the beach and showed us the section of beach where he had lost the ring, but the tide was still high, and the wave action was much greater than we expected.  Nevertheless, Brian and I started grid searching the area.  I started about waist-high in the water.  Brian started from the high tide line.

I had an obligation that I had to attend to, so I left the search area for a while.  About an hour after that Brian had exhausted the search area.  He decided to go back over some of the high tide out of the water area.  His first target was iron.  Next a solid hit on his Deus II.  It was the ring.  Great work Brian!

There was dancing on the beach as the happy couple recovered their precious ring.

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Lost Ring Ormond Beach FL – Ladies custom made, Tacori Diamond Wedding Set – FOUND!!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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Late Friday evening, I got a text from Michelle.  She explained that she was visiting the Daytona area and was enjoying the beach when she put a wedding set and a third ring in a side pocket of beach chair.  When she went to pack up, they forgot the rings.  They went back to the beach to search for the rings but could not find them.

Since it was almost 10pm, I asked Michelle if I should come down now.  Instead, we decided to meet first thing on Saturday.

I met Michelle and Tyson, her husband of 17 years, at the Ormond beach access.  We covered about a quarter mile to the scene of the loss in the dark about an hour before sunrise.

They showed me the area that their chair had been set up and the path they used leaving the beach.  I fired up the XP Deus machine and got a great hit on the slope going down to the water.  It was the wedding band!

We knew we were in the right place and continued to search.  Tyson had a detector and searched also.  Not long after the first hit Tyson had one that he wanted me to check out.  This time it was above the slope on the dune.  It was the engagement ring… A handcrafted, Tacori ring with a beautiful princess diamond, flanked by triangular cut blue sapphires.  Michelle was thrilled!

The third ring was lost to the waves or traveled further, but they had the most important of the three rings back.  Happy couple!!

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Lost – Gold and Silver earring – Kill Devil Hills (OBX), NC – FOUND!!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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On Friday, I got a FB message from Lisa.  She explained that her mother-in-law had lost a gold and silver earring and was wondering if I could help.  I said of course. I asked her to call me and during the conversation we set a time to meet.

On the way I said a prayer for God to give me favor.   When I arrived, I met Lisa and Robin.  Robin said she had been sitting on the steps of their beautiful waterfront home and her cat came up to her.  She went on to say the cat had batted at her sparkly gold and silver earring.  Just then, it went flying and she heard a ding as it hit something.   She tried to find the earring but had no success.

The steps were flanked by bushes right up to the railing and the ground was cover with leaves.  Due to the tight conditions, I was only able to cover a small area with my metal detector.  As I expected, near a home, I found nails, pennies, and roof flashing.

I squeezed through the bushes and began searching with my pinpointer. (An electronic device like they scan you with in airport). Again, I found several trash items.  Next, I checked right under the stair stringers.  Bingo!  It was a good hit, and a shuffling of leaves revealed a bright, sparkling earring.

I hid the earring in my hand and went to find Robin.  I asked her if she could explain again how she lost it.  As she began the story, I raised the earring to eye level.  As she caught sight of it, she shouted, “You found it!!  Happiness.

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Lost – Men’s Gold Wedding Ring, Southern Shores, Outer Banks, OBX, NC – FOUND!!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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On Sunday, I got a FB message from Linda.  She explained that her husband, Steve, had lost his wedding ring while doing some work on their property in Southern Shores.  I gave her a call and we arranged for me to come over the following day.  It seemed like it would be an easy hunt.

The next day when I arrived, I met Linda and Steve.  They took me a spot near the garage where Steve had been cutting and stacking firewood.  The area was covered with leaves and a few pallets of wood.  When I fired up the XP Deus II, all I heard was noise.  I quickly found out the area I was searching had underground power lines and electromagnetic interference (EMI) which made it nearly impossible to search.

I tried the standard noise canceling and frequency changes, but nothing worked.  I spent about an hour searching and found the usual cans, trash, and yard debris.  I left disappointed and not knowing if I could ever find the lost ring.

A few days later, I hijacked my wife’s gold wedding ring, I found an area in my yard with similar EMI and made some changes to my program to be able to filter out the interference.  VOILA, it worked!

On Thursday, I called Linda and told her that I’d like to come out tomorrow and try again…she agreed.  When I arrived, I activated the changes and began the search.  Shortly thereafter, I got a great hit…it was a piece of foil.  A short time later, another hit.  I removed some leaves and found the ring buried in less than an inch of dirt!

I took the ring to the house and presented it to Steve.  The ring that had been so dear to the couple for 44 years was home!

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Lost – Vehicle Key FOB, Kill Devil Hills, OBX, NC – FOUND!!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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Angela was taking her first trip to OBX.  What a beautiful day; the sun was out, and the temperature was in the high sixties.

As she went up the very sandy beach access with her with her two dogs on leash, seeing the beach in the distance she was thrilled.  Suddenly an off-leash dog approached her dogs, in the scuffle to keep her dogs safe, she lost her balance and ended up in the sand.

Regaining her bearings, she walked down to the beach to enjoy the waves and sand.  As she left, she realized she no longer had her car’s key FOB.  She looked and looked…no luck.  She met a person who lives at a nearby condo who said, “Call OBX-Ed,” and gave her my number.

I received the call around 5pm.  Angela described her situation and I told her that I could be there in a few minutes.

When I arrived, Angela showed me the vehicle access she had walked up.  It had very deep, soft sand, with deep ruts.  I began the search.  Finding only a bottle cap on the vehicle approach we continued out to the area on the beach where the dogs had their kerfuffle.

Shortly after, the XP Deus 2 let out a scream.  I saw a plastic edge of what I suspected was the FOB!  I bent over and retrieved the valuable item and held it up saying, “Is this the lost FOB?”  Angela was thrilled!!!

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Lost – Lady’s Gold Wedding Band, Outer Banks (OBX), NC – FOUND!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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I was working on my truck and my wife was making pumpkin pies from scratch.  The last thing I expected was a lost ring call…but that’s exactly what happened.

I got the call shortly before noon.   A lady on the other end let me know that she had lost her gold wedding ring on a vacant lot about a one-hour drive away.  The lady lives near me in the Outer Banks so we decided to drive down to the site together.

As we drove, the conversation centered around the importance of the ring and how she lost it.  Her husband had passed away only a few days earlier.   They had been married 51 years.  She had been looking at a boat motor that he had owned.

While walking on the lot she got burrs on her sleeves.  She never felt the ring fall off but later that day she found it missing.  A friend offered to help her find it with a metal detector.  They searched for over an hour with no luck.

On the way to the ring site, we stopped  for a quick lunch.  She asked me if I could bless the food.  I asked God to bless our food and help us find the ring.  I had no idea how easy He would make it.

When we arrived, I did not pull in the one space drive but rather parked on the precariously sloped side of the road. I wanted to concentrate where they were parked previously.

As I got my Deus II out, the lady went over to the area she thought she may have lost it.  The sun came out shining brightly on the ring lying at her feet.  She screamed, “I found it!”  She was thrilled.

The ride back was filled with tears of gratitude and memories of her husband.  Mission accomplished!

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Lost-Lady’s Gold Heirloom Daimond Ring, Manteo, NC, OBX – FOUND!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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It seemed like a good idea…Tyler and Jesse – due to be married next June, were having an engagement photo shoot with their photographer Naomi.  They were at the scenic and picturesque waterfront in Ft. Raleigh.  What could go wrong?  Then, they decided to go into the water to capture some beautiful images.  When they got to shore, Tyler’s gold diamond ring was missing.

Later that night I got a call from Naomi.  She told me about the photo shoot and the lost ring.  She also informed me that the ring had been given to Tyler by her mom, who had passed away two years ago.  I realized I had to do my best to recover this one.  When she described where the ring was, I knew I had to get approval from the National Park Service (NPS) before searching.

The next day the couple met me at the site.  They were sure it was lost in the water but not sure exactly where.  They showed me an area in the water about 20 by 20 yards that the ring should be.  I contacted the on-duty NPS Ranger, and he left a note on the desk of his boss.

Later that week I got the go ahead!  The ring had been in the water for 7 days, so I headed out immediately.  I contacted Naomi and Tyler (who had returned to Richmond) while I was on-route to the site.  When I arrived, it was nearly 5:30 and I was greeted by unexpected wind and waves.  I stopped and prayed on the beach.

I started the search just in the water parallel with the beach.  I went out sweep by sweep about 4 ft at a time.  The area was loaded metallic trash and iron targets.  I continued going all the way out to the end of the wooden wave breaks. Nothing!

I was running out of time and daylight, so I called Tyler to ask about how far out by the wooden wave breaks they went.  She told me they went about halfway out.  I told her that I went completely to the end and that I had covered the entire area twice.

Deciding to call it a day and heading back in from the deep area, I went further west to an area I had not covered.  I got hit.  It was a 62, which is typical for a nickel.  I changed the program and got a stronger sounding 62.  I knew it could be the ring.  When I brought up the scoop the diamonds and gold glistened mixed in with sand and rocks!

I sent a text to Tyler with the song “Miracles” by Colton Dixon and a picture of the ring.

Water image courtesy of Naomi Culley Photography

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Lost – 3 Pc Diamond Wedding Band Set, Corolla, OBX, NC – FOUND!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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Around 10:30 on Friday I got a text from a Karen.  She said that she had lost her wedding and anniversary bands on the beach yesterday.  I gave Karen a call and let her know that I would head out right away, but it would take about 30 minutes depending on the traffic in Duck.

When I arrived Karen took me to the beach where I met Chris her husband and they filled me in on the area that they thought they had lost the rings.  It was an area about 20 by 10 yards away from the water, so I thought there would be a great chance that they were still there.  After about 4 passes with the XP Deus II; no luck.

As I normally do, I started asking more questions about if they had gone to the water and the path, they had taken leaving.  She had not gone to the water with the rings on, so I concentrated on the path to the steps which passed through the area of another group.

As I came near the group with seven or eight aluminum chairs, I got a great hit!  It was the first ring.  Karen began to cry.  The second ring was nearby.  But the gold one was still missing.  I covered the entire area to the steps.  On the way back, I prayed.

With nothing else to do and standing on ground that I had already covered, the neighbor group volunteered to move, and I agreed that it would be the next best step.  As they were moving, I looked down.  In the sand was the outline of the edge of a gold ring!!!  Could it be?  It was.  I picked up the ring and shouted, “Stop moving, there’s no need to move!”  When I did, I could hear Karen behind me and the left chuckling.  She had her three rings back!

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Lost – Lady’s White Gold Diamond Wedding Band, Outer Banks, OBX, NC – FOUND!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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I couldn’t sleep well Thursday night.  Around 2 a.m. I got up and looked at my phone.  Someone had mentioned me on Facebook.  It was on a lost ring post.  DIAMOND WEDDING BAND LOST.  It even named the town and access point.  I sent a text to the number listed to call me.   No call.

I decided to get up early and go down to the access to see if I could find it.  At around 6 I called the owner but got not answer.  Trying to find a ring on a beach with no information is a daunting task.

I covered all the obvious areas, close to the water, near the steps entering the beach, areas that showed lots of activity and I even found an area that looked like someone had been searching by sweeping their feet.  Just then a man approached me waving his arms and saying, “excuse me.”

“My wife lost her diamond wedding band last night.”  I asked, “Christina?”  He looked and me very strangely and I said her name was in a Facebook post.

He led me over to the area where they had searched by sweeping their feet.  I started with a long sweep parallel to the beach.  On the second sweep, I got a great hit.  I knew it was the ring.  As I handed it to Christina, she began to cry.  Her ring of 20 years was back where it belonged…on her finger!

 

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Lost – Men’s White Gold Wedding Band, Corolla, OBX, NC – FOUND!!

  • from Ponce Inlet (Florida, United States)
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On Tuesday, I got a call at about 10:31am…I did not get it.  Around noon, I called the number back…no answer.  Finally, at 12:30, Tyler called me.  He said that he lost his white gold wedding band on the beach.  I asked him if he thought it was in the water; he said no, he didn’t think so.

I arrived on the scene in Corolla a few hours later.  Tyler was not sure when he lost the ring.  He gave me a general area involving tossing a football near a stump in the water.  The search area was about 30 yards long and just past a stump that was rapidly disappearing in the rising tide.  I fired up the Deus ii and started at the water and worked up toward the parking area.

After I was convinced that I had covered the area, I began working the water.  I was not prepared for a water search but went out about thigh-high.  Nothing!  The tide was rising too fast so we decided to come back tomorrow at low tide which would be around 12:30pm.

I arrived this time in swim shorts.  The beach had grown by at least 30 yards toward the water!  I started large sweeps to cover all the territory that I needed to.  I took a minute to pray!

I continued and after just a few passes my hat slipped down.  I stopped to adjust it and set my coil down on an area of sand that I had gone by.  I got a bit signal as I lower the coil.  When I had finished with my hat, I investigated the hit.  Scoop one was nothing.  Scoop two and I saw the ring shining in the sand.

I put the ring in my cupped hand and called Tyler over.  I asked him if he would go over where he lost the ring again.  As he did, I raised my left hand up with the ring, showing it to his wife Caroline and then bringing into his view.  Happiness!

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