Jason Connolly, Author at The Ring Finders

Lost Silver Ring Found in Land O’ Lakes Florida

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Lost Ring Returned Silver RingItem recovered August 13, 2024. Neena had reached out in the afternoon about a ring she lost in the conservation area behind her house. I arranged a call later that evening to get a better understanding of the area and circumstances of her loss.

Neena said she had lost her ring while enjoying the quiet area behind her house back in November, 2023. She wasn’t exactly sure where it was lost, and the area where she was standing was small in size. She had looked for it herself, but wasn’t able to locate it. In addition, the neighbor had recently constructed a fence and she was worried the ring may have been found by the workers, or possibly lost in the small pond with all the rain we received from Hurricane Debbie.

She also mentioned that this particular ring had a high sentimental value to her as it was given to her by a life-long friend who had recently passed away. It was very important to have this ring returned!

I met Neena at her house the following day after work and surveyed the area. Because of the fencing, it was necessary to use a step ladder to be able to get over the fence in the back, which stood approximately four feet tall. I grabbed my equipment and used Neena’s ladder to scale over the fence into the conservation area.

Search Area Once over the fence, I started detecting near the ferns, where she said she spent much of her time when she lost the ring. I immediately got a loud signal with a high VDI, similar to how a silver item would sound. Upon digging the item from the ground, it turned out to be a crushed-up soda can.

I slowly moved toward the pond, thoroughly covering the area about 15-20 feet away from the ferns. I found additional garbage-worthy items, but not the ring we were looking for. I returned to the fence to Neena to again discuss where she was on the day she lost the ring. She mentioned she also walked along the edge of the pond to where it turns left and so I started back out to search the edge of the pond.

Approximately five feet past where I had stopped earlier, and on the very edge of the pond, I had another signal on the metal detector that sounded like silver. It was the ring! It must have been pushed into the ground by about 1/2″ (perhaps by someone stepping on it, or being run over by a lawn mower tire). I turned around and yelled « Neena! I found the ring! » I probably should have verified it was the one we were looking for so as not to get her hopes up, but it matched the description and found in the loss location. We hadn’t even had a chance to thoroughly clean it off yet, but she put it back on her finger and it fit perfectly.

Neena was overcome with emotion and very thankful I was able to help return this ring to her.

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Diamond Engagement Ring Found in Tampa, FL

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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We enjoyed a fun night at Raymond James last night with the family at the Morgan Wallen concert. The traffic was predictably terrible on the way out and it was after midnight when we finally arrived home.

I checked my phone before bed and noticed multiple missed calls and a text saying a ring was lost. The location was back at the stadium where another concert attendee had lost her engagement ring after the concert.

Because of the time and location, I felt the ring wouldn’t have been found by anyone else and it would be best to meet in the morning to search with the help of daylight and rested eyes. We arranged a 7:00am meeting at the loss location. Timing was urgent due to the couple needing to catch a flight home home in the afternoon the next day.

In the morning, I met with the Erika and her fiancée, who hadn’t gotten much sleep. They explained the ring had flown off her hand, hit a tree branch and fell somewhere in the grass between the parking lot and sidewalk. It was obvious the grassy area had been extensively searched by hand by a group of people the night prior.

I got to work below the tree branch and located the ring in less than five minutes. It was exactly where they said it would be, but below the grass line into the soft dirt. The ring had been stepped on during the previous search! It was undamaged, but it was dirty and pushed well below the grass. It was not visible to the naked eye.

I’m thankful Erika quickly reached out to the ring finders and to Mike McInroe, who referred her to me to assist with this recovery!

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Lost Family Heirloom Ring Recovered on Treasure Island, FL

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Ring recovered July 8, 2024. I saw a post on a FB group for a family heirloom ring that was lost by a young lady at a dog beach on Treasure Island on July 6th. The ring was getting slippery on her finger and when she went to take it off and store it safely, she accidently dropped it into the water.

I attempted to searching the area where it was lost that morning, but the tide was high and current was strong. I just wasn’t able to make it out to where the ring was lost.

A couple of friends worked the area that evening at low tide, cleaning up all the junk (which also sounds like gold on a metal detector), but weren’t able to locate the missing ring. We were starting to worry that the ring may have been moved by the current, or worse, fell deeper into the channel.

I was on another recovery attempt on Treasure Island, but wasn’t having luck and running out of daylight, so I decided to try this recovery once more at low tide.

The small dog beach was mostly empty and the tide was low. I scanned the edge of the steep drop into the channel and after about 10 minutes hit a nice sounding signal. In the scoop was the lost ring!

I was able to meet up with Elaine at a nearby Starbucks who claimed the ring on behalf of the owner who had left for home (out of state) earlier in the day.

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Lost Wedding Ring Recovered at Honeymoon Island

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Ring recovered on May 21, 2024. This recovery was another that wouldn’t have been possible without the teamwork of ring finder Steve Thomas and another mutual friend, Scott Carlson who helped with my first recovery at Honeymoon Island.

Mitch lost his gold wedding ring while paddle-boarding between the jetties at Honeymoon Island. Mitch had seen it happen in slow motion. He changed hands on the paddle and his ring popped of his finger, dropped to the board and rolled off into the water. He helplessly watched it disappear into the water below.

Mitch had done something amazing – he dropped a pin on Google maps, which had nearly the exact location where he had dropped the ring into the water. He had contacted Steve Thomas, who was out of town at the time and was referred over to me and Scott for assistance.

Scott had spent a few hours looking for the ring in the late afternoon a day or two prior, but didn’t have luck in locating it. I followed up the next day, using that location as my guide. I got there as close to low tide as possible to get out as far as I could detect.

On may way out into the water, a group of children asked what I was doing with my equipment. I told them I was trying to find a ring somewhere in the water and they wished me luck.

I started zig-zagging the area I felt the ring was most likely to be and there were very few targets out that far. When I hit a loud signal, I couldn’t see the display on my detector as it was completely submerged under water, but I had a good feeling. It took 2-3 scoops and the ring appeared in my scoop!

On the way back to the beach, I showed the children the ring and they cheered for me for finding it! It was the first time I had a cheering section for one of my recoveries!

I got back in touch with Steve and Scott to let them know I located the ring. They passed along Mitch’s contact info and he promptly met me at the beach to receive his missing ring.

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Lost Earring Recovered in Lutz, FL

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Earring recovered May 8, 2024. Kim called me for help finding a lost stud earring in her backyard. The evening prior, Kim had inadvertently knocked the earring out of her ear swatting at a mosquito that was bothering her.

Interestingly she had located the earring back, then dropped the earring back and found it again, but could not locate the actual earring. As you can imagine, stud earrings are one of the most difficult items to locate due to their tiny size. I was impressed she found the earring back twice!

We moved a bench that was in the way and I adjusted my detector to the most sensitive setting I could go, despite getting some interference or « chatter » in the headset.

I started searching the area and on my first target, located a flamingo dangle earring which appeared as though it had been there awhile! This earring was not hers, and must have been lost by the previous homeowner. What are the odds?

I continued on and got a faint signal a few minutes later and just a couple feet from where the flamingo earring was found. I had to search deep into the grass to locate the item, and was pleased to see it was the missing stud!

The type of grass commonly found in Florida can be very thick, and small items will easily fall through to the bottom and become obscured, as in the case of this stud earring. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible to find with the naked eye.

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Heavy Gold Ring Recovered in Land O’ Lakes, FL

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Item recovered May 6, 2024. I received a message from Jennifer, who was referred to me by Steve Thomas, who happened to be out of town.

Jennifer lost a valuable and sentimental ring in a lake in Land O’ Lakes while skipping stones on the water with her son. Her son did own a metal detector and tried to locate the ring, but unfortunately the detector was not waterproof and quit functioning. It was late in the day and we had made arrangements to meet at the lake the following day.

I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous venturing into a lake in FL due to the presence of alligators, especially during mating season. However, the lake conditions were great – clear visibility and calm waters. I started methodically gridding the area from ankle to chest deep water and from right to left. The search area was about 50 yards in length.

It took about 30-40 minutes to find the ring in about 2.5 feet of water.

Thank you to Steve Thomas for trusting me with Jennifer’s request for help in your absence!

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Sentimental Gold Ring Recovered in Tampa Yard

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Item recovered February 22, 2024. I received a text from Vincent about a ring that his girlfriend lost in the yard while walking the dog the night before.

The ring was given to his girlfriend by her grandmother 25 years prior, who was now terminally ill and wasn’t doing well. Losing the ring during this stressful time was very difficult for her.

I made plans to drive over after work to search for the ring. I was given the general area where the ring was lost and started searching the area slowly while visually inspecting the area.

I had a few signals that sounded good, but didn’t produce the ring I was searching for. 20 minutes later and about half way into the search area, I hit a strong target and immediately recognized it as the missing ring lying in the grass!

Vincent and his girlfriend we very excited to have the ring back in their possession.

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Lost Necklace Recovered in Tampa Park

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Item recovered on February 1st, 2024. Recovery requests tend to slow a bit in the winter months in Florida. Fewer people in the water and at the beach when the temperature cools and water temps dip in December and January.

At the end of January, I did see a post on a local facebook group about a boy who lost a brand new silver necklace in the woods at a local park that is just a 10 minute walk from my house. The necklace was a recent Christmas gift from his grandma and he had been searching for it every day after school for a week. I offered to meet up with the boy and his mother at the park later that day so they could show me the general area where it was lost.

At the park, we retraced the path the boy took through the woods on his bike (to the best of his recollection). I had found a few coins and other metallic junk, but no necklace. After 20-30 minutes, we were back to where we had started when I got a very good signal that had a high target id consistent with silver.

Pulling back a few leaves revealed the shiny silver necklace that was lost. The young man had recalled pulling a « wheelie » heading into the woods and that must have been when the necklace fell out of his pocket. His face lit up when he saw his necklace had been found!

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Custom Made Wedding Ring Recovered at Honeymoon Island

  • from Tampa (Florida, United States)
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Item recovered on July 4th, 2023

I began metal detecting around the time of the pandemic as a way to get out of the house for some exercise. I wasn’t a ring finder – I didn’t even know there was such a thing!

After getting through the learning curve – finding lots of trash, to identifying coins, then targeting jewelry and really learning my machine, I stumbled upon a post on Craigslist at the beginning of June, 2023. A post that another metal detectorist made on behalf of the gentleman, Jacques, who had lost his ring.

I felt this would be a good challenge – like a scavenger hunt with a metal detector and a chance to test my skill! I reached out to the person who made the post, who shared additional details with me and I was off on the hunt.

Jacques was an older gent who lost his ring in the water at Honeymoon Island on day 1 of his vacation. He spent the rest of his time trying to find his lost custom-made wedding ring, even renting a metal detector himself. He had seen another person metal detecting there the day the ring was lost and others had tried to find it, with no luck. Hope seemed to be running out that the ring was either found by someone or claimed by the sea forever.

I searched for this ring on 3 separate occasions, twice in June and finally found it on July 4th, 2023. It was a perfect day for metal detecting – beautiful weather and calm water. Jacques’ ring was the very first target I hit that day, but I didn’t recognize it as the one due to the photo that was provided and the condition of the ring from being in the water for over a month.

After I got home and cleaned up the ring, I consulted with some local friends – people with much more experience than I had and we determined it indeed was the ring Jacques had lost!

What came next would drastically change my metal detecting « hobby » to one of helping people recover lost items as a ring finder: the phone call to Jacques to let him know his ring had been found.

Words cannot described how happy Jacques was to hear the news after giving up hope his ring was lost forever! I had the ring packaged and overnighted to Jacques and he confirmed receiving it the next day.

I joined the ring finders group a few months later and truly enjoy helping reunite people with their lost items! I hope to be able to continue doing this as long as I am able.

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