Jim Wren, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 16 of 31

Sentimental Silver chain with Medallion and Charms Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Ocean Isle Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Just before 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, I got a text message from Katie saying, “Hi. I lost my necklace at Ocean Isle Beach, just in front of Ocean Isle Inn, towards the end closest to the pier. It was lost yesterday evening, around 2200.” Knowing the tides, I knew 10 p.m. last night was right at low tide. I responded back to her text asking, what kind of necklace and was it lost in the water or dry sand? I also asked her to call me. She responded back describing the chain, medallion, and 3 additional charms that were on the necklace, she also added 2 photos showing the necklace. I asked her again to call me, and then asked again if it was lost in the ocean or wet sand. I also asked if she was still in the area to show me the location. Her last text said it was lost on the beach about 10-15 ft in front of the dunes. She also said she was in transit heading back to Raleigh. Then she finished saying, “I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly though, maybe I’ll get lucky somehow and if someone found it, they will see my post. Crazier things have happened, right? Thank you again”. As soon as I read 10-15 ft from the dunes, I knew I had almost a 100% chance of finding her necklace. Local detectionists usually don’t hunt that high on the beach, and tourists usually hunt right behind a hotel or resort. I text back that since it was in the dry sand, it shouldn’t be a problem and I was going to look for it.

When I got to the beach, there was nobody sitting where I needed to detect, which was a little surprising. I turned my Equinox on, and started an east/west grid line parallel to the surf and at the base of the dunes. I probably covered twice the area I needed to, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. My 6th or 7th grid line I got a shallow but solid 16/17 VDI (visual display indicator). I gently dug a scoop full of sand. As I’m lifting the scoop out of the hole, I see the silver necklace hanging out of the sand in the scoop. I reached down and pulled the necklace out of the sand and out came the medallion and charms. It was still all in one piece and I didn’t have a broken necklace, thank goodness! I took a picture of the necklace, medallion and charms, text “Found it!!” and sent it to her. Since she was driving, it took her a little while to respond but when she did, she was excited. Part of her text said “Literally in tears right now!!” Right then I knew this necklace had a lot of sentimental value attached to it. I ask her if there was a back story attached to the necklace, and indeed there was. After hearing her story, I knew, without a doubt, it was worth every second I spent looking, finding, and returning her very special treasure to her.

Katie, I wish you only the best. Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost necklace.

Jim

   

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First Day of Vacation, Alan’s Damascus Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Just as I was sitting down to dinner, I got a frantic call from Alan. He said he had just lost his wedding band in the ocean and asked if I could help find it. Looking at the tide table, it was just coming up on high tide at 8:15 p.m. which was in less than an hour. Alan said he had been playing with his 3 year old son in the water when his ring slipped off his finger. He also said he knew the exact area he lost it. This was looking like it would be a quick search and recovery with an outgoing tide, knowing where he lost it and playing with a 3 year old in shallow water. Well Mother Nature had a whole different plan. I told Alan I’d meet him at 10 p.m. and work the outgoing tide.

I met Alan just before 10 and he walked me out to the beach and pointed to the area he had lost his ring. This is when I realized Mother Nature had reared her ugly head. The wind was blowing straight into the beach causing 2-4 ft swells. The tide hadn’t gone out like I expected and it just wasn’t looking pretty to find a lost ring. Alan said he thought the ring was still another 40-60 ft out in the ocean from where we were standing. I started a parallel grid search along the beach, trying to work the outgoing tide, and then switched to a perpendicular grid. After about 30-45 minutes, I felt bad that Alan was sitting there watching. Knowing that his excitement rose every time I dug a target only to have it dashed when I pulled out a piece of junk. I suggested that he go back to his rental and I’d call him when I either got too tired or I found it, he agreed and left. I kept working the outgoing tide, and was being as careful as possible. It was dark, with a little bit of moon light, waves were still high, and the surf was still a little rough. I had worked my way out where I was about knee to thigh deep and got a great signal on my White’s PI. I was right in line with where Alan said he was, so I started scooping out sand. After 4 scoops of sand, I had the target in my scoop. I let the waves wash the sand out of the scoop and turned on my headlamp. Boom!! I saw a beautiful ring mixed with the shells. I wasn’t sure of what the ring would look like. Alan said it was a Damascus wedding band and was made from silver, copper, rose and yellow gold. What I was sure of is I had a beautiful man’s wedding band in my scoop. I walked out of the water and grabbed my cell phone. I tried to take a couple of pictures that I could send to Alan. It was close to midnight but I sent a picture with a text asking “Is this yours???” I got an immediate response saying “Coming out now!!! That’s it!!!!” I think it took him seconds to show up. He was very excited when I handed him back his treasure. He said his wife had gone to bed but he was going to wake her up and surprise her.

Alan – Thanks so much for allowing and trusting me to help find your lost treasure.

Jim

  

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Diamond Stud Earring Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC.

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Just after 4:30 pm on Wednesday, I got a text message saying in part, “This is Vicki H. Can you please come and try to find my diamond earring. Thanks. We are on 6th Avenue. Just down from Maritime.” Instead of texting back and forth, I prefer to call so that’s what I did.  As her phone was ringing, I’m saying to myself, please let this be in the dry sand. When she answered, that was the first question I asked her, and her response was “Yes!”  Got her location and told her I’d be there in 10 minutes. I grabbed my Gold Bug 2 detector and headed out.

When I arrived on the beach, I met Vicki and her sisters Nan and Judy. They showed me the 10×10 ft area and said they had been looking for the earring for about 40 minutes before they called me. I tested Vicki’s other earring to ensure I could get a signal, there was very little metal to try and detect. After a successful test, I started a very slow walking grid line. I could tell that they had been looking for the earring and I was concerned that they either moved it or buried it deeper in the sand. I got a couple of bottle caps and some small pieces of foil but didn’t hit her earring on my first pass over the area. Vicki and her sisters reconfirmed the area and I started my second attempt. I got a faint bleep in the sand and hand shoveled the sand onto a plastic strainer I brought. I re-checked the area and the strainer with the detector and had the target in the strainer.  I started finger sifting the sand trying to feel the earring with no luck. As I stood up to detect the area again, I got a beautiful sparkle as the sun hit the diamond in the sand. I reached down and picked it up, and realized how easy it was to miss it with my fingers. I held it up in front of me and Nan noticed it first and then Vicki. There were big smiles and the “I can’t believe it” words from all three ladies.

Vicki – Thank you for calling me to help find your lost treasure. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Jim

   

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Gold Stud Diamond Earring Lost in the Grass, Found and Returned Ocean Isle Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Just before 2 p.m. Sunday, I got a text from Cori saying, “Jim! Hey it’s Cori in Ocean Isle! My earring fell off coming down our back steps. We cannot find it.” I called her and left a voice mail, and she called right back. I asked her if the earring was a gold stud and she said yes. I ask her to text me her address and I’d be there in 40 to 45 minutes. I had met Cori last year when she had called me for a neighbor who had lost a gold wedding band in a house fire.

When I arrived, she, her husband, and a couple of friends were in the back of the house. I made my way to the back yard and asked Cori what had happened. She showed me where she was standing on the stairs when the ring was dropped. She mentioned that she heard the earring hit the wooded steps before it disappeared into the grass. Lastly she said that they had been looking for it for about an hour. I grabbed my Gold Bug 2, and tested the matching earring while Cori held it in her hand. I got a good loud and clear signal. I started my search, took 2 steps and got a good signal. I got down on my stomach and started searching through the grass, without seeing the earring. I got up and took another couple of steps and got another good signal. Got down on my stomach again, and searched through the grass. This time as I’m gently spreading the blades of grass, I spotted her earring, upside down. All’s well that ends well!!

Cori – Thanks for calling me, so happy I could help.

Jim

    

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Fence Line Dispute Settled, Property Markers Found – Loris, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call from Leslie on Friday, July 30th, saying that I was referred to her by Joe Denton, local Minelab detector distributer. She needed to find a couple of property markers to settle a dispute with her Home Owners Association and wanted to know if I could help. I asked a couple of questions, got her address and agreed to meet her at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

I got to her house and we met in the driveway. We walked around the house to the backyard and she showed me the area in dispute. Leslie had everything ready; she had her plat survey, set up an umbrella to protect me from the sun, and some ice cold water. Surprisingly, there were no obstacles, like power lines, cable lines, metal fences or sprinkler lines in the area. And better yet, the end of one of the corner markers was sticking out of the ground. With that, it was just a matter of measuring off the distances between the markers from the plat. I used my Gold Bug 2 metal detector to find the rebar pole, dug a hole and pinpointed the actual poles. Leslie drove steel rods in the ground, sticking up about 6-8 inches, next to the markers. The two markers in question were found and marked, leaving Leslie a happy lady.

Leslie – Glad I could help.

Jim

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Man’s Wedding Band Slipped off in the Ocean, Found and Returned Holden Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I woke up this morning to a text message saying, “Good morning. My husband and I got married on OIB 6/11. We are vacationing in Holden beach with friends this week. Late yesterday afternoon he watched his wedding band slip off in the ocean.  We had a nice guy come this morning at low tide with a metal detector, but no luck. He recommended getting in touch with you. Are you available to help find my husband’s wedding band?” I called the number attached to the text and talked with Francine. I asked the usual questions, “what time did he lose it, how deep was he, and does he have a good idea of the area.” She responded he had lost it around 6 p.m., about knee deep, and was sure of the area. I knew the tide at Holden was at 4:55 p.m. the day before, so he lost it about an hour after low tide. It’d be a challenge but not impossible. I told her I’d be up there at 4 p.m. which would give me a little under 2 hours to search before the tide changed.

When I arrived, Chuck met me in the drive way and introduced himself as the husband who lost his wedding band. He confirmed everything Francine had told me, so I told him to lead the way and we’d try our best to find it. I could tell Chuck was distraught over losing his ring, and who wouldn’t be. Chuck and Francine led me past the swimming pool, where many of the friends were hanging out. We continued across the boardwalk and out on the beach. Smartly, Chuck had lined himself up between a post and trash can on the beach when it happened. Since we weren’t on a part of the beach that had public access and a lot of trash, I decided to use my White’s PI. I started a grid search from the wet sand out into the surf, which was building and getting a few larger waves. As I finished my second grid line, I confirmed with Chuck about the post and trash can. He thought I should move over to my left and line up with an umbrella that was up on the beach. It was getting late and I figured the umbrella wouldn’t be up much longer. So, I moved over a few more feet and lined up with the corner of a beach house roof to help keep my grid lines straight. Those few extra steps made the difference. I walked back out in the surf, turned around and was making my way back to the beach for the next line. About 20 to 30 feet from the beach, I got a solid loud tone. Since it was the only signal I had gotten, I felt pretty confident it was Chuck’s ring. I dug a scoop, the target was still in the hole, two more scoops and I still didn’t have the target. Without looking, I knew Chuck and Francine were watching me with great anticipation. Took a fourth scoop and had the target. Instead of shaking the sand out in the water, I carried the scoop up to the beach and dumped it. Ran the coil over the pile, got the signal and spread the sand with my foot. I don’t know if Chuck or Francine saw the ring, but I did and reached down and picked it up. I washed the sand off it and handed it to Chuck. Francine excitedly screamed and jumped in Chuck’s arms. Within a few minutes everyone that had been sitting around the pool was now running down the beach with excitement. What a warm wonderful feeling seeing Chuck and Francine so happy and excited, this is exactly why I do this.

Chuck and Francine – Thank you so much for allowing and trusting me to help find your treasure. Sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of your vacation!!!

Jim

  

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Lady’s 14K White Gold Engagement Ring Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Sunset Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This adventure started with a Sunset Beach NC Face Book post saying in part, “on vacation and a friend had lost an important piece of jewelry, and we’re looking for someone that has a metal detector.” Someone responded to her post with my information. So, about 8:30 Friday night, I received a call from Victoria.  She started with telling me about the Face Book posts and was calling to see if I could help. I was ready! She also said the ring was lost in the dry sand, on the right side of the pier. She added that it was very unlikely the high tide would not reach the ring. I suggested we meet in about 30 minutes. I think Victoria was a little apprehensive about meeting a strange man, at night, on a dark beach, which I totally understood. She wanted to meet at noon the next day, which I had concerns with. Knowing that Sunset Beach is a big tourist destination in the summer, parking would be an issue. There would also be shoulder to shoulder people on the beach, at noon, on a Saturday. I also know that Sunset Beach is heavily detected by both locals and tourist. She understood, but noon it was.

I arrived about 10:30 a.m., figuring I’d be lucky to find a parking spot. Surprise, I got the last ‘free’ parking space on the Island, I think.  Since I had an hour and half to burn, I started detecting the beach. About 11:30 a.m. I text Victoria telling her ‘I was there,” and She immediately responded saying, “we are parking now.” We met up on the beach and Victoria introduced me to Jennifer, the young lady that lost her engagement ring. Victoria led the way across the top of the beach until we reached the area. Victoria had the presents of mine to tie one of her hair bows to a tiny bush growing up through the sand at the bottom of a sand dune. Jennifer wasn’t sure how far her ring may have flown off her finger when she had turned around while they were packing up to leave. I confirmed with Jennifer that I was looking for a white gold ring as I turned on my Equinox. On my second line, I got a solid 6 on my VDI, meaning ‘white gold.’ I looked over at Jennifer as I scooped up the sand. I gently shook the scoop to empty the sand out and saw some shells and Jennifer’s beautiful engagement ring at the bottom of the scoop. I walked over to Jennifer, held out the scoop, and let her remove her ring. She got a big smile on her face when she saw her ring.

Victoria – Thank you for contacting me.

Jennifer – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Jim

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Man’s 14K White Gold w/Diamonds Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned in Myrtle Beach, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I received a text from Brian on Thursday, July 15th, saying “I lost a men’s wedding band, white gold with 6 diamonds, in the ocean behind Anderson Ocean Club. Can you help?” I replied asking him to call me. This hotel was in Myrtle Beach, which is Matt Fry’s area. Matt had just called me within the last hour saying he was going out of town for the weekend. Matt also said that if I got any calls for Myrtle Beach to go ahead and take them, and if he got calls he’d pass them to me. I planned on getting Brian’s information and then calling Matt to see if he wanted the call before he left town. When Brian and I talked I got additional details. He lost his ring the day before, right at high tide, in waist deep water. He also knew the area he had lost it. I tried calling Matt a couple of times without success so decided to take this search. Looking at the tide tables, it was right at low tide. I called Brian back and asked him if he could meet me in about 30 minutes to show me the area, he agreed. As I tell my wife I’m heading out for a ring search, I get the look (all husbands know the look!!) as she says “Now? Dinner’s ready!!” I told her its low tide and I’ll heat dinner up in the micro-wave when I get home. I must say though, she’s a real trooper. Never complains about the crazy hours I have for ring searches.

I met Brian on the beach behind the resort and he showed me the exact location of where he lost his ring. I’m thinking this should be pretty easy. He lost the ring waist deep at high tide, and it’s now low tide. Logically, the ring should be right there on the down slope to the low tide line. One thing I’ve learned doing ring searches, logic and Mother Nature do not work well together. When Mother Nature throws in the wind, the waves, and the sand movement she’s in full control of the situation and anything lost in the ocean. I started a grid search parallel to the beach working the slope out to the low tide line. At some point, I told Brian that he didn’t need to stick around, if he wanted to go back up to his room or take the family to get something to eat I’d call him if something came up. I searched for over two and an half hours, using 2 different detectors, without finding Brian’s ring. I called Brian and told him I was done for the night and would be back in the morning, Friday. I could hear the distress in Brian’s voice, which made it harder for me to stop searching.

Friday, I’m trying to come up with another game plan for Brian’s ring, when I get another ring search. Ironically, this call was at the same resort but on the north side. I asked this owner to meet me at 3 p.m. since he had other business to attend to. So, now I had two ring searches in the same area about 100 yards apart. I didn’t feel I could do both searches, giving a 100%, by myself. I called Jim Brouwer and told him the situation; he agreed to help but would be about an hour late. When I got to the beach to do the searches, Mother Nature was up to her antics again. Strong winds with big waves that were crashing up on the beach. There was no way I could do a search until the conditions calmed down. Over an hour later, things calmed down some and Jim had shown up. I asked Jim to search for Brian’s ring while I searched for the 2nd ring. I asked Jim to search for Brian’s ring because sometimes a different detector, with a different technique, and different ears makes a difference. After finding the 2nd ring, I joined Jim to look for Brian’s. After 3 hours, we still didn’t have Brian’s ring. Again I called Brian with the bad news.

I couldn’t make it on Saturday, but Sunday I got out early in the morning, an hour before low tide, determined to find Brian’s ring. I started a perpendicular grid search at one of Brian’s landmarks that he had pointed out to me on Thursday. My plan was to search from the top of the slope out to knee deep water across the beach to Brian’s second landmark. I was half way through the area and out in the   ocean about shin deep, when I got a great signal on the White’s PI. One scoop and I had the target out of the hole. I spread the sand out with my foot and saw a monster of a ring. Bingo, with the description Brian had given me on Thursday, there was no doubt I had Brian’s ring in my hand. It was still early in the morning, but I took a picture of the ring and sent it to Brian, and followed it up with a phone call. No answer! Called a couple more times with no answer, must have been too early. I was hoping that Brian and his family were still in Myrtle Beach and not on their way home to Michigan so I could hand him his ring. Brian finally answered the text with “Wow.” I called him, and although he had just been woken up with a ringing phone, he was very excited. Unfortunately, they left Saturday and were about half way home. I got his address and his ring will be on its way home tomorrow. There’s no way to describe the feeling of finding something for someone who had probably given up all hope of ever seeing their treasure again.

There was one more hiccup getting his ring back. Brian had asked me to UPS overnight air it back to him. Unfortunately, there was a “mechanical breakdown” with either a plane or truck along the route. So, Brian had to wait one more agonizing day before his ring was back home and on his finger where it belongs.

Brian – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure.

Jim

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Man’s Tungsten Wedding Band Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I received a call from Angel saying her brother-in-law, Lee, had lost his wedding band in the sand. She said that he knew exactly where it was and it was above the high tide mark. Perfect! She also stated they had looked for quite a while with no luck.  I got the location from her and told her I’d be there in about 30 minutes, I was just sitting down to dinner.

I finished dinner, grabbed my detector, and text Angel  I was on my way. We had been having heavy storms all day, and it was still raining when I pulled into the parking lot. Angel, her husband, Kiel and Lee were standing in a parking garage out of the rain when Angel hollowed “Jim.” The rain was getting harder as we walked out on the beach. Lee walked ahead of us, and made his way across the top of the beach and starting pacing off steps seaward to where he lost his ring. He stopped and said, “Right here is where I was using my hands to dig a hole with my son. I was throwing the sand out in this direction.”  I turned my Equinox on, took a couple of steps and hit a target. Its VDI wasn’t what I was looking for so I passed over it. I took two steps and turned around and went back to the target. I’ve put a bigger coil on this machine and have found my VDI numbers are a little higher than they are with the standard coil. It took about 3 or 4 scoops of sand to get the target out. Evidently, when Lee was filling the hole back up, he buried his ring. I spread the scooped sand out and didn’t see anything. I ran the sand through my fingers and spotted his sand filled ring on the ground. I picked it and gently tossed it his way. His shock was apparent. Huge smiles from everyone. Lee told me that yesterday was he and his bride’s 1 year anniversary.

Angel – Thank you for contacting me!

Lee – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. A belated Happy Anniversary to you and your wife.

Jim

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Man’s Palladium Wedding Band Lost, Found and Returned Myrtle Beach SC,

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a text message a little after 11 a.m. on Friday, July 16th, from Mike saying “Hi Jim, Mike here. I just lost my wedding band at Myrtle Beach near 26th Ave North, by the Anderson Oceans Club and Spa. It’s a size 11 palladium band. I lost it in the water about 30 minutes ago. Any chance you can help?” I called him to get some more details, like how deep he was in the water, and whether he could meet me to show me the area. We agreed to meet on the beach at 3 p.m. He and his wife were in town from Maryland on a short trip, so he was limited on time. He lost his ring about an hour before high tide and low tide wasn’t going to be until a little after 7 p.m. I had a second lost ring at the same location, about 100 yards apart that I had gotten the day before. I was hoping I could find this ring and then re-search the other area for the second ring. Then I got to thinking, maybe Jim Brouwer would like to help. That way I could search for this ring and have Jim cover the area for the second one. When I talked to Jim, he jumped at the chance but couldn’t be there until a little later.

I got to the beach on time and met Mike. He showed me the area, confirming that his wife had marked the area when he lost his ring. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up which caused large waves coming straight into the beach. There was no way I could walk into the surf let alone try and detect. I sat there for at least an hour watching the waves crash onto the beach while waiting for Jim. After a while the conditions calmed down enough that I could detect. I gave Jim a description of the other ring and showed him the area. We both went to work trying to find these rings. With the information I got from Mike, I really expected to find his ring on the slope. After 2 hours of searching the slope and going out knee deep in the ocean, I hit a good target. I was using my White’s PI detector, so every signal sounds really good. I was expecting to dig up another bottle cap, which is about the only thing I was finding. I had the target in my scoop and shook the sand and shells out of my scoop and saw his palladium ring. I took a picture and sent it saying Bingo! He showed up about 45 minutes later with a big smile on his face knowing his ring was going back on his finger where it belonged.

Mike – Thanks for trusting me to help find your lost treasure.

Jim

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