Jim Wren, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 21 of 31

Beautiful 1K Diamond Engagement Ring Lost in North Myrtle Beach, Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I received an email, and then a follow up phone call, from Kim saying she had lost her engagement ring and asking for help in finding it. She said she lost it around 1pm that afternoon. Looking at the tide tables, the next low tide would be at 1:30am the next morning. I got the resort address and told her I’d be right over so I could get an idea of what my search area needed to be. After seeing what I was up against, I told her I’d be back at 1am.

The search area wasn’t all that big, so when I got back at 1am, I started a perpendicular search going from the wet sand to the water line. I kept expanding my search area both north and south and wasn’t getting many targets, and definitely no ring. Kim and her husband came out to the beach around 2am and I confirmed the search area. I decided to change tactics and started a parallel grid line with the beach and still nothing. Finally around 3am, I called it a night. I had a big family reunion starting later that day, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it back out at the next low tide. I told Kim that I was going to contact both Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach, and Jim Brouwer and see if one or both could cover for me. Around 8:30am I got a call from Jim saying he was available to search. Shortly after we hung up, Matt called and said he wouldn’t be able to help. I contacted Kim and told her Jim would be there to search and he’d be calling her shortly.

Sometime around 2pm Jim called saying he’d found her ring. I must have walked right over the ring, missing it. That happens sometimes, but thankfully Jim backed me up and Kim’s ring made it back to where it was suppose to be.

Jim, Thanks a million for helping me out!

Kim, sorry I added a little more stress by not finding it in the first place, but thank you for trusting us to help find your lost treasure.

Jim

White Gold Engagement Ring and Anniversary Ring Lost at Ocean Isle Beach, NC – both Found and returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

When I checked my email first thing this morning, I saw mail from Debbie saying she had lost her rings at Ocean Isle Beach, NC and was wondering if I could help. She had put her phone number in the email so I called her to get the details. She said that she had been in the soft sand, took her rings off and put them on top of a cooler. At some point someone lifted the lid on the cooler and the rings fell into the sand and disappeared. I was so excited these were lost in the soft sand, and not chest deep in the ocean.  I told her it’d be a piece a cake and I’d be there in 35-40 minutes.

I met her on the beach and she gave me an area she thought she had lost her 2 rings. One was her engagement ring and the other was an anniversary ring. I drew a line in the sand with my scoop, and started a grid search. On the third row I hit a high signal, which wasn’t what I was looking for for a white gold ring. I dug a scoop and spread the sand out with my foot, when I did I was then getting two separate signals, one the low sound I was looking for. I took a scoop of sand, lightly shook it out of the scoop and saw her engagement ring. I showed her her ring and she flew out of her beach chair with a giant smile on her face. I got a quick hug and went back to get the second ring. I spread out the sand again, this time with my hand and saw her anniversary ring. She now has both rings back and couldn’t be happier, she was sure they were gone for good.

Debbie, thanks so much for trusting me to help find your lost treasures. Have a great rest of your vacation and a safe drive home.

Jim

  

Two Lost Ring Calls While On Vacation, both Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

It seems to never fail that as soon as I leave town, the lost ring calls start coming in. These calls were no different. I was in Connecticut when I received a call from Nancy stating her son, Michael had lost his Tungsten wedding band in the soft sand at Holden Beach, NC. I advised her that I was out of town, but I had a couple of people that I could contact who could help. I tried contacting my son-in-law, Donnie and couldn’t get a hold of him. I then tried contacting a good friend, Jim Brouwer and he wasn’t answering his phone either. Both of these guys have helped me in the past, so I was confident they’d help, if I could only get a hold of one of them.

In the process of trying to get a hold of one of these guys, I got another call from Peggy. She said her daughter, Vanessa had lost her White Gold Engagement ring in the soft sand in North Myrtle Beach, SC and wanted to know if I could help. I told her the same thing I told Nancy, and that I’d get back to her.

Donnie called me back and I let him know what was going on, as well as gave him the contact information for both Nancy and Peggy. Within about 30 minutes, I got a text from Donnie that he had found Vanessa’s engagement ring and was on his way to Holden Beach, about an hour drive. It was about an hour and a half later that Donnie text me again saying he had found Michael’s ring. It was a great day all the way around.

Donnie, thanks so much for covering for me, I really appreciate it. You made two people very happy!

Jim

 

 

Beautiful White Gold Wedding Band and Anniversary Ring Lost in North Myrtle Beach SC, Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I received a very early morning message from Brianna saying she had lost her rings and wanted to know if I could help find it. I replied asking the usual questions about time, location on the beach, and any additional details. By 10 am I hadn’t heard anything, so I messaged her asking her to call me. If the rings had been lost in the water I had a small window of opportunity because low tide was at noon. She called a short time later and gave me the details. She said that her family had been sitting near the high tide line and she had put her rings in her grandmother’s bag for safe keeping. Her and her husband had gone swimming in the ocean and having a good time. After leaving the beach, and some time later in the day, she asked her grandmother for her rings. Guess what, no rings in the bag! While they were still at the beach, her grandfather, Frank, had gone in the bag and removed his cell phone, so they concluded that’s when the rings had to have fallen out. I told her I had a couple of things to do and I’d text her when I was on my way.

I arrived about 30 minutes later and met her and Frank walking down the sidewalk towards the beach. Once on the beach, I asked a few more questions including what I was looking for. Brianna showed me a picture of the ring and I asked if it was white gold, she responded it was silver. Looking at the picture, I was pretty sure I was looking for a white gold ring, but I kept both options open so I knew what to look for as far as numbers on my Equinox. Frank pointed out two areas they had been sitting at, so I started a grid search in the one that he was pretty sure was where he grabbed his phone. The beach was already very crowded, and my search areas were shrinking. I searched the 10X20 foot area finding only a few junk targets. I started searching the second area and Frank said that Brianna thought they were a little further out towards the water in the first area, and Frank thought they might have been a little further south. Ok, I finished up the second area and moved back to the first area and extended the search out to cover both Frank and Brianna’s areas. In the course of doing the grid, I had to ask a couple of groups if they would mind moving a little so I could search the areas they were in. Once I explained what I was looking for, I had no problems. Just a few steps past one of the groups I got a strong signal with a 10 on the Equinox 800, which was exactly what I was looking for with a White Gold ring. One scoop and I had it out of the hole, spread the sand out with my foot and saw the sparkle of diamonds looking up at me. I picked it up, blew the sand off, and turned around holding the ring up for Brianna to see. I could see her shock, eyes the size of quarters, and mouthing “you found it?” By the time she ran down the beach to me, the tears were flowing. Evidently, she had told a number of people on the beach what was going on because I got a nice round of applause and people wanting to see her ring once I gave it back to her. All returns are fantastic, but these types are extra special. Grandpa’s out of the dog house, big smile on Brianna’s face, all is good again!

Brianna, thank you for trusting me to help find your treasure, enjoy the rest of your vacation, and have a safe trip home.

Jim

 

      

Grandmother’s Silver Ring Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

George called me saying his daughter, Anna’s friend, Karsen, had lost a ring in the dry sand and was wondering if I could help find it. George told me they were in Myrtle Beach, so I needed to contact Matt Fry, the TRF for Myrtle Beach, since this was his area. I tried calling Matt, both at his shop and his cell phone a few times each, and wasn’t getting any response. I called George back and got the address of the resort they were at and told him I was on my way.

I met George on the beach, and he explained that Karsen had taken her 3 rings off and put them on a towel. Unknowingly, Anna picked up the towel, as they were leaving, and the rings were tossed into the sand. They were able to find 2 of the rings, but couldn’t find the ring that was Karsen’s grandmothers. After about an hour of searching, George was talking to one of the lifeguards who mentioned that there was someone that would come out and help find the ring. The lifeguard couldn’t remember the name, so George started searching Google and found my website. Once George pointed out the area, I turned my machine on and within a couple of minutes I got a strong 17 on my Equinox. I dug a small scoop of sand and saw the tiny silver ring on top of the sand in the scoop. I handed the ring to George, who called Anna telling them to come back down to the beach from the resort. Within minutes Karsen was on the beach with her ring back where it belonged.

George, thank you for trusting me to help find Karsen’s ring, and have a great rest of your vacation.

Jim

   

Man’s Silver Maggie Lee Pendant and Chain Necklace Found and Returned Sunset Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I was on a ring search on Sunset Beach when a young man, Arkhum, came up to me and asked if I would mind looking for his Silver Pendant and Chain Necklace. He told me he’d lost it the day before and knew the area where it was lost. I followed him up the beach to the dry sand area where he pointed out the area. About 3 steps, I had a strong signal, dug a scoop of sand and had it. I handed him back his necklace that his wife had bought him. He was very happy to get it back.

Jim

   

Mother’s Gift Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned on Holden Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I and my wife were on our way from dinner when I decided I wanted to spoil my granddaughters with some Krispy Kreme donuts just before bedtime, cause that’s what grandpa’s do. As I was paying for the donuts my phone rang. Noticing an out of state number, I was pretty sure this was a lost ring call. When I answered, Jennifer said she had lost a ring on Holden Beach and wondered if I could help find it. I asked my normal questions of: where was it lost on the beach, dry sand, wet sand or in the water, and at what time. She replied it was at 5 p.m. but she wasn’t exactly sure where. She knew she had the ring on when she got to the beach. She also said she was with her triplets at the water’s edge and then when she was leaving the beach she was putting shoes on one of the babies and noticed her ring was gone. She continued by saying that a pretty good size wave was coming in and she was scurrying to get the kids out of the way and thinks it may have fallen off then. I got a little excited when she told me what time she lost it, because high tide was at 5:23 p.m. and it’d be after 9 p.m. when I got there, so I wasn’t going to get wet! I told her I’d be there in an hour.

When I got to the address she sent me, she was outside waiting. I got a few more details as we walked out to the beach. She told me this ring was her mother’s and that her mother gave it to her for a birthday present and for the birth of her triplets. The ring was White Gold and was extremely sentimental to her. Just to be safe I turned my detector on as we walked to where she was with the babies just to make sure it hadn’t fallen off as they were leaving. We got to the spot and I started a grid search right at the cut line for the high tide. Within a few steps I got a good 8/9 and started digging. I was down at least 6 inches and thought her ring couldn’t possibly be this deep in 4 hours. Figuring the target ‘can slaw’ (pieces of a beer can that have deteriorated over time with the sand and water movement), I did about 3 more grid lines towards the ocean. With no other signals, I was sure the ring was in the hole. I went back and took 3 more scoops of sand out, checked the hole and knew I had the target in the third scoop. As I spread the sand on the beach from the scoop, Jennifer said, “There’s my ring.” She reached down and grabbed her ring and did a very excited happy dance. She was beyond excited and so were I and her father-in-law, Mickey, who had come out on the beach to watch. The feeling of returning someone’s treasure is incredible and is exactly why I do this.

Jennifer, thank you so much for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Have a great rest of your vacation and love those babies!

Jim

 

Wedding and Engagement Rings Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned on Ocean Isle Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I received a late night email from Lindsay saying she had lost both her wedding and engagement rings the day before in the ocean, and asked if I was available to help. I had just gotten back home from an unsuccessful 4 hour search for another couple’s engagement ring. So, I had already planned on going back during low tide the next day and try again. I had also asked Jim Brouwer if he wanted to help because of the large search area, which he jumped at the chance. I responded back to Lindsay that I would be available, but I had another search I had to do first. I told her that I should be done by 10 am and I’d call her. I also asked her what time she lost her rings and how deep she was. Luckily, she lost them about 2 hours after high tide and was waist deep. With that information, I knew I wasn’t pressed to get to her location before the tide change, and we had a good chance of finding her rings.

After finishing up the first search with no luck, Jim and I drove the 30 minutes to Ocean Isle Beach. I called Lindsay and told her we were on our way. When we pulled in the driveway, Lindsay was anxiously waiting. I asked her to tell me the story of what happened and basically she got hit by a wave and her rings came off. I asked her what the rings were made of and she said white gold, so Jim and I knew we were looking for low numbers on our machines. Jim literally drew a line in the sand with his scoop to divide the search area in half, and jumped in the water to work the incoming tide. I started a grid search in the wet sand working parallel to the tide line. After a few grid lines, I thought I might be to high on the beach and moved to the water line and did about 3 grid lines in the water. Again rethinking the situation, I moved back out of the water and started another grid line just above my water line grid. About 5 steps and I got a very weak and erratic tone. The numbers on my Equinox were jumping from 1 to 3, a little lower than I was looking for, and nothing solid. I took a scoop of sand and still didn’t have anything solid. One more scoop, and I had a good 4-5 on my machine, but I couldn’t see anything. I shook a little sand out of my scoop and saw the tiny engagement ring. I gave a wink to Jim to let him know I had one of the rings, and then rinsed it off and called Lindsay over and let her reach in the scoop and pull it out. I confirmed, with her, that both rings fell off at the same time, and went back to the same hole. The hole was empty, so I slowly ran the coil around the area and got another very weak signal. A little more digging and moving the sand around and I saw the tiny wedding band lying in the sand. Washed it off and again let Lindsay remove it from the scoop. To say she was extremely happy would be an understatement. I got big hugs from Lindsay, and a very happy handshake from her husband, Drew.

A big thank you to Jim for his help, he’s always ready to lend a hand.

Lindsay and Drew, thank you for trusting Jim and me to help find your lost treasures. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. You now have one more chapter to add to the story of your rings.

Jim

 

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

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

Dana called me about 1:30 pm telling me her husband, Steven, had lost his gold wedding band the day before and was wondering if I could help find it. I asked her what time he lost it, was it in the dry sand, wet sand or in the ocean, and if in the ocean, how deep was he. She replied that he lost it about 6:30 pm, in the ocean, and was about waist deep. Since he lost it a couple of hours before low tide and it was almost high tide when she called, it’d be best to wait until later that evening to attempt the search. She agreed and I told her I’d be there around 7:30 pm. I got the feeling that it might be a large search area, so I called Jim Brouwer, who had helped me earlier in the morning on two other searches, and asked him if wanted to go on one more. He agreed, so we set the time to meet at Dana and Steven’s resort.

When we got there at 7:30 pm, we met Dana and Steven and got the details. It was a pretty good size area and Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating with some fairly large waves crashing the beach. We cut the search in half and both started grid searches. Jim was doing a parallel search on his side, and I was doing a perpendicular search from the shore to about knee to thigh deep in the ocean on my side. After about an hour, something came up and Jim had to leave. Shortly after he left, I started doing grid lines parallel to the beach. Right around 9 pm, it was dark, and the waves were getting bigger. I figured I’d do a few more search lines and call it a night, thinking I’d be back within the next day or two. Dana and Steven came down to the beach to see if there’d been any progress in finding Steven’s ring and I explained what my plan was. About 10 minutes later, I got a strong 13-14 on the Equinox, most 13-14 numbers are pull tabs, but occasionally a gold ring will pop up. That’s exactly what happened in this case. I took a picture of the ring and sent it with a text saying “BINGO” to Dana. I got an immediate reply saying “Yay!” It didn’t take them long to show up. A very happy couple and another saved vacation.

Dana and Steven, thank you for trusting in me to help find your lost treasure. Have a great rest of your vacation and a safe trip back home to Texas.

Jim

  

14K Gold Family Heirloom Wedding Band Lost at Oak Island, NC, Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I got an email around 9:30 pm Sunday night from George saying that he had lost his gold wedding ring that had originally belonged to his grandfather. His email also stated that he had placed the ring into a zipped pocket of a beach bag on Friday, but didn’t discover the ring was missing until he and his wife, Jen, started packing up to leave on Monday morning. As Jen was packing the beach bag, George remembered his ring was in there and told Jen. Jen checked the bag, didn’t find the ring but did discover a hole in the pocket the ring was suppose to be in. He was wondering if I could meet them tomorrow, before they left to see if I could find it. Unfortunately, I’ve got to go out of town the next morning for a day trip so I wouldn’t be able to make it. I called him, letting him know I couldn’t make it tomorrow, but I could make it tonight. He agreed, gave me the rental house address and I hit the road for the hour drive to Oak Island.

When I arrived, both Jen and George were sitting on the front stoop of the house waiting for me. I got a few more details from Jen and George, and George and I crossed the street to the beach access. Once there, George pointed out the area they had been sitting at over the course of the last 3 days. I started doing a grid line parallel to the surf. I was on my 6th or 7th line when I got a strong signal showing up as a VDI of 18 and I knew it had to be his gold ring. Dug a scoop of sand, dumped it on the beach, and spread it out with my foot. Ran the coil over the sand and saw the outline of his ring at the same time my Equinox rang out. I reached down and picked up his ring, turned towards George and held my arm out. I had my headlamp on and saw the expression on his face like, there is no way he’s holding my ring. He seemed hesitant to come see what I was holding and when I handed him his ring he was completely overwhelmed. Think we both dropped a tear or two. We left the beach and were going to surprise Jen, but George couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. At some point after we found his ring, he made a comment that he was sure it was lost forever.

George and Jen, Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. I’m sure the ring has a very long history and story attached to it, and now that story can continue with just a little added anxiety thrown in.

Jim