Jes Muse, Author at The Ring Finders

FOUND! Ring of former Empress of the Imperial Court of San Francisco!

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

I was scrolling through my notifications on Facebook recently when I noticed one of my friends tagged me in someone else’s post. I clicked to see what it was and actually two of my friends had recommended me to help find a lost « item » in a park. I inquired further and found that the lost item belonged to former Empress of the Imperial Court of San Francisco, celebrity drag queen and legend of the LGBTQAI+ community of San Francisco, Ms. Donna Sachet!
Anyone who has had « celebrity » clients can tell you there is an extra sense of anxiety that comes with finding items for them. And this case was no different.

I met Donna and her dog, Peanut, at the location and together we walked over to where she was seated on a picnic blanket tossing a ball for Peanut the day prior. She shared with me a photo of the large gold ring and told me she was presented with this ring when she won the Empress contest years prior. It was important to her. I understood the importance, it marked an accomplishment. An accomplishment that recognized her work in the community. Over the decades, Donna Sachet has performed as a singer and has raised and donated thousands upon thousands of dollars for various organizations in San Francisco, not the least of which was an organization that I worked for for over 3 years in the early 00’s – The AIDS Emergency Fund.

I had been working for events that raised funds for HIV/AIDS and/or Breast Cancer organizations for many years already by the time I moved across the country from NY to San Francisco. It was through my work in NY  that I was able to secure a job in SF before I even arrived from NY. That job then lead to the AIDS and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund where I stayed for over 3 years before G.W. Bush cut government funding through the Ryan White CARE Act forcing the Emergency Fund to restructure. Unfortunately for me, that restructure did not include a position for me.

As a woman I always found it difficult to be recognized or seen when in a crowd of cute gay men working or meeting some of the folks who helped us raise money, so I didn’t expect Donna to remember or recognize me from those days. But our long list of mutual friends made sure we connected to help her find her ring.

I was running my new Legend and the ground at the park was  extraordinarily trashy. It took a while for me to adjust to the Legend since I’d only been out with it twice before and this was it’s first ring hunt. After close to an hour, Donna left, with tears in her eyes, thinking she would never again see her Empress ring.

Fortunately, I don’t give up easily. I put my hat on backwards, changed from my sunglasses to no glasses (a risky decision usually), put my headphones on (which had been off so Donna could hear the signals too) and within 20 or so minutes I located the ring.

I suspect it’ll be a while before Donna forgets me now!

Empress Ring

RING FOUND

Gold Earring Found!

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

I was called out by a woman who lost her earring in the thick grass and clover at the Marina Green in San Francisco. She gave me the approximate area that she believed it was lost in. Using landmarks to walk a grid it took about an hour to locate, which considering the size of the area, was quicker than I thought it might be. She was very happy. Her hands were shaking as she tried to pay me my call-out fee and a generous finder’s reward. It was a nice end to the day. Always a pleasure to reunite folks with their precious items – usually more sentimentally than monetarily.

Small gold earring found

Small gold earring found

Platinum in Pacifica

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

It was on Day 10 of me having Covid that I received a call to help this couple find the husband’s wedding ring. Despite having cabin fever, I tried passing the call off to my buddy Brendon, but he was at a friend’s BBQ so I took a home Covid test, saw that I was FINALLY testing negative, and decided to take a shot at finding this ring.
The owner had been out on the beach with his dog and the ring slipped off as he tried to distract the dog from the washed-up dead bird just a few feet away.

I found the ring pretty quickly, which is good because I was still fighting the Covid-related exhaustion. It felt great to be out of the house, in the fresh air, and to be able to return the ring to it’s owner. His wife was definitely happy. He was one of those guys that doesn’t show a lot of emotion, though he was surprised at where I found it and how deep.

Plat ring

Another Busy Sunday Afternoon!

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

For reasons that are probably easy to figure out, the weekends can be very busy for Ring Finders like us. This past Sunday was no exception for me. I received two calls within 5 minutes of each other. I had someone working on my house and it was almost dinner time so I sent the first caller to my buddy Brendon. When the second call came in, knowing Brendon would already be on the first call, I asked the woman if I could call her back. I checked with my contractor, and my wife, and decided I could probably make it out to find the second caller’s ring.

Forty minutes later I found myself at Baker Beach once again!
I swear, the sand there just SUCKS rings in like quicksand.

I met these clients on the beach after parking my car. I reviewed with them what they were doing when they lost it and where they thought it might have gone. Within a few short minutes, I had found the ring!

If only all of our ring finds were this easy and quick!

 

Baker Beach 8/28/22

Ring from Husband!

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

This woman called me crying. She had lost a ring that her husband, who had been incarcerated, had given her. He received the ring from his uncle so it was a family heirloom of sorts. She and her two sons were out at Baker Beach (yep, Baker Beach again!) and the ring, which is too large for her fingers, flew off into the sand. They had all tried to find it. The beach was cold and very windy. They weren’t dressed for the weather having driven down from out of the city. One of her sons had gone to the car because he was freezing by the time I arrived. The sun was setting so we had to get to work quickly. I can hunt in the dark but the police kick you out of there at sundown. I traversed this section of beach three or four times and she started to lose faith. I told her I wouldn’t give up and she shouldn’t either and then I finally hit on the signal. Tears of sadness turned to tears of joy!

Ring Found!

It’s not just RINGS that we can find!

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

We can find anything metal and when I got a call from a woman who was visiting old friends from out of town and lost her COMPANY cell phone on the beach the night before, I knew I had to get out there to help her.
She thought she knew where she lost it but she had looked there herself already. I asked her to show me the path she traveled and sure enough we found it in less than 5 minutes!

Lost Phone!

Lost at the Beach!

Found Olympic Ring!

  • from Pacifica (California, United States)

After a marriage proposal on the beach, an Olympian lost a ring commemorating her participation as the first female to represent Puerto Rico in Rowing on their Olympic team. Her fiance found me here on The Ringfinders and I went to find locate it. Baker Beach is Federally regulated so we aren’t allowed to detect there normally but going on a quest to find a lost ring?! I was going to get it done no matter what.

And I did!

Found Olympic Ring

V. Toro’s Olympic ring from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Video short here https://youtu.be/x2bUdwwQMSM