1920s Platinum Diamond and Ruby Ring Lost in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), Found and Returned Myrtle Beach SC

Shortly before 3 pm on Saturday, May 18^th, I received a call from Ashlee asking if I could help find her mother, Alison’s ring that had been given to her by her grandmother years ago. Ashlee said that the ring had been dropped from their elevated dock into the ICW. I knew the tide was coming in but wasn’t sure of when high tide would be. Ashlee said she had been under the dock doing a reach and feel search and the water was about waist deep. I told her I was just finishing up another search and I was on my way.

It took me about 20 minutes to arrive and I met Alison, her granddaughter, and Ashlee in the driveway. As we walked around back, Alison described her ring and showed me the location where the ring fell through. I asked if it could have gotten stuck in the planks and was told the granddaughter heard a “plunk.” I got a few more details and walked down some stairs into the water. This was a perfect search scenario, water was warm, soft sand bottom, no waves and not above my knees. Walked out to the location, swung the detector twice and got a solid 12 (perfect number on the Nox 800 for Platinum). Took a scoop of sand and as I pulled it out of the water, I saw Allison’s beautiful ring sticking out of the sand. As I’m walking up the stairs, I hollered at Allison saying, “where you at?” She said something like, “you find it?” I held it up for her to see. She was so grateful she had her ring back. What a thrill for me to be holding a beautiful ring with 100 years of history. I found out that Alison was going to pass the ring down to her granddaughter but not for many many years. Ashlee told me that her great grandmother had lived in England with her husband (Ken and Lillian Scott) and that’s where the ring came from.

Ashlee – thank you for trusting me to help find your mother’s ring.

Alison – so glad I got to meet you and return your lost treasure.

Jim