Larry Fluckiger, Author at The Ring Finders

Lost rings in Provo: Found

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This is a sad story with a happy ending. Unfortunately, Jill’s mother passed away. After the funeral and the viewing, Jill lovingly removed the four heirloom rings from her mother’s hand and wrapped them in a tissue before the casket was closed for the burial. Later, at home with family and friends, there were lots of tears shed and lots of tissues used. Someone who was just trying to help gathered up all the tissues, including the one with the rings, tossed them in the trash, then took the trash bag out and threw it in a large dumpster. Jill, after having lost her mother, now had to face the additional loss of the heirloom rings. Her husband Nate knew he had to find the rings, but more trash was being added to the dumpster all the time, and the garbage truck was coming soon. He found my name on TheRingFinders.com, called me, and I came immediately. Nate had been pulling trash bags from the dumpster and arranging them so I could quickly scan them with my metal detector. As I detected possible targets, we would tear open the trash bags to investigate further. After a several minutes of searching, we found the rings! When she saw the rings, Jill grabbed Nate and cried into his shoulder for several minutes, overwhelmed with relief at getting the lost rings back.

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Lost ring in Central Idaho: Found

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I was on a metal detecting trip at a popular resort at a natural lake in Idaho. Tourists come from all over to enjoy the spectacular views of the Saw Tooth Mountains, and to play in the lake. In water about four feet deep, I retrieved a ring. It turned out to be a high school class ring. With many of the rings I find, I have little chance of finding the owner, but class rings are different. This ring had the name of the high school, the year of graduation, and the last name of the owner. I called the high school and left my name and phone number with a counselor there. She contacted the student, and a few days later I got a call from Marianne! She gave me her address and I sent the ring. Now it’s back on her finger, where it belongs.

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Lost ring in Zion National Park: Found

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Maria was on vacation, hiking through the Narrows in Zion National Park. About knee deep in the cold Virgin River, her grandmother’s family heirloom wedding ring slipped off Maria’s finger and disappeared into the water. Maria, together with friends and strangers, searched for the ring, but couldn’t find it. After she returned home to Connecticut, she found me on TheRingFinders.com. While she contacted the National Park Service for permission for me to find her ring, I packed my metal detectors into a backpack. I left home before 3:00 am, drove 4 hours to Zion, and hiked for an hour through the Virgin river, through water that got as deep as my chest, so I had to hold my backpack over my head to keep it dry. Thanks to Maria’s detailed instructions, I found the location where the ring was lost. I selected the best metal detector for that terrain and started searching. It was literally about 30 seconds into the search when I got a beep, and there was her ring! They hadn’t found it earlier because it was nestled between two rocks, but rocks won’t hide gold from a metal detector. It took another one-hour to hike back through river, and another four hours to drive back home. I sent Maria a video of me sealing her precious ring into a box and attaching a UPS label. Her ring is now back on her finger.

   

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Lost ring in Sandy: Found

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Addie and her husband spent an hour at the park throwing balls for their dogs. After they got back in their car, she was horrified to discover that her 14K gold diamond wedding ring, that had been her grandmother’s, was gone. Addie was recovering from a serious illness, so she had lost weight, and the ring was loose. They spent the afternoon searching through the grass, but they had covered a lot of ground playing with the dogs, so there was a large area to search, and they didn’t find the ring. Addie called me to ask for help. I brought my metal detectors and met her at the park. It took an hour and a half, but I found the ring hiding in the grass!

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Lost ring in Salt Lake City: Found

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Forbes and a friend spent an afternoon moving rocks and cleaning up brush for a project at Forbes’ mother’s home. The friend removed his gold wedding ring so it wouldn’t get scratched, and put in a pocket that unfortunately had a hole. The ring disappeared. They searched, but couldn’t find the ring in the gravel, dirt, or grass where they had been working. Forbes felt bad that his good friend lost his ring while helping out. They found me on TheRingFinders.com and asked for help. I brought my metal detectors to search the yard, but the ring was not there. They had filled an entire large rolling trash can with green waste, and we wondered if the ring might be there, even though they had searched through it all once before. We emptied the entire contents on to the street, and scanned it with my metal detector. We found the ring, then cleaned up the mess!

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Lost ring in Arches National Park: Found

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Kevin and Kristen brought their children from Vermont all the way to Southern Utah to visit Moab and the beautiful red rock country. While they were in Arches National Park, Kevin took off his 18K gold wedding band so it wouldn’t get scratched as they climbed around the famous Double Arch. Kristen held the ring, but unfortunately, it disappeared into the soft, red sand. They looked around in the sand, and some helpful onlookers helped out, too, but they couldn’t find the ring. Kristen contacted me through TheRingFinders.com, and we talked through our options. Metal detecting is against the rules in national parks, so Kristen and Kevin talked to several rangers to ask for permission for me to find the ring in the park with my metal detectors. They made several calls to several people at several locations, and they were able to get permission!

It’s more than a 3-hour drive from my home to Arches National Park. I left my home at 5:00 am this morning and met up with Kristen, and with Matt, an Arches National Park ranger who was assigned to accompany us as we looked for the ring. Matt’s job was to make sure we were careful, and to let other Park visitors understand that we were metal detecting in the Park with permission. After about 10 minutes of searching, we found the ring in the sand! Metal detecting in a national park was a unique experience for me. I’m grateful to the National Park Service and to Matt for being willing to give us permission and help to find the lost ring and save a family vacation!

 

 

 

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Lost ring in Logan Canyon: Found

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Sadly, Ryleigh’s mother passed away when Ryleigh was in high school. Her mothers engagement ring, a beautiful gold solitaire with with a large diamond, was set aside for Ryleigh’s own future engagement. That day came last week, when Ryleigh and Wolf got engaged. A few days later, while on a family fishing excursion at Second Dam in Logan Canyon, the ring slipped of her finger and dropped into the water near the boardwalk. They searched for hours, scooping up mud and carefully spreading it out and searching for the ring. When that failed, they rented a metal detector and searched again. Then they found me on TheRingFinders.com. I made the two-hour drive to Cache Valley the next day, met Ryleigh, and started searching. My metal detectors are much better than the kind you can rent, and I’ve found hundreds of rings, so I know how to search in all types of areas. The water was icy, and the mud was deep. This is a popular fishing area, so I found over a dozen fish hooks, several lead weights, and other trash, but after about 30 minutes of searching, I found the ring deep in the mud! Maybe someday Ryleigh will be able to pass the ring on to her own daughter.

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Lost ring in Spanish Fork: Found

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This is another remarkable story. Courtney and Dave wanted to learn the metal detecting hobby, so they invited me to their old family homestead in Spanish Fork, Utah. The family has lived on that land for over 100 years. I brought extra metal detectors for them, and we started searching to see if we could find any relics. The first good find was an old silver dime, but then I found an old, antique ring. It had two rubies and three elephants, each with a tiny diamond eye, and it looked like it had been made in India. It was gold-plated silver, and it looked like it had been in the ground for maybe 100 years. Inside the ring were the initials « EJ ». After a little looking on FamilySearch.org we learned that Courtney’s great-grandmother’s name was Eleanor Jane. This must have been her ring! I’m sure that Eleanor would be happy to know that after being lost for four generations, her ring has been found, and is now a treasured family heirloom.

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Lost ring in Zion National Park: Found

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Jeff and his wife came from Texas to Utah to hike one of the most spectacular trails in the world, Angels Landing in Zion National Park. The narrow trail drops hundreds of feet on both sides. It leads to the top of the Landing, with 1500-foot cliffs dropping on three sides. It was on that trail that Jeff felt his sterling silver class ring slip off his finger and disappear into the shallow snow. They couldn’t find it. He was confident that if he had a metal detector, he could recover the ring. Although I have done searches in that area before, and I was willing to make the 4-hour drive each way, Jeff wanted to try first on his own. He came to my home to borrow one of my metal detectors. I showed him some of the simple operational features. He drove back to Zions, and found the ring!

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Lost ring at Utah Lake: Found

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Preston went to a popular Utah Lake beach to enjoy the November sunset. While he was there, he removed his 14K gold ring and held it in his hand. When he returned to his car, he realized that he no longer had the ring. He returned to the spot where he had been sitting, but he couldn’t find it. He got a metal detector and searched in the sand again, but still couldn’t find it. That evening, his wife found TheRingFinders.com and gave me a tearful call. I was out of town, but told her I would be home the next night, so we arranged to meet. My plane landed at 7:30 pm, and I met them at the American Fork marina at 9:00 with my metal detectors. After about 10 minutes searching, there was the ring! His wife texted me, « Thank you so much, Larry, for finding my husband’s ring and making time to help us out today! We are amazed how quickly you found it! We really appreciate it. »

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