Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders

Ring lost at Mission Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Emily was brushing sand off her hands when a special ring, given to her by her mother, slip right off and was instantly swallowed by the fluffy dry sand. She searched for it, but, couldn’t find it in the dark using her phone light. She was advised to contact TheRingFinders.com. I received the plea for help the next afternoon. Emily wasn’t able to meet at the site until the next day, but, being a Saturday evening, the ring might get found by someone else if we waited that long, so, I got the description of the search area and hurried down there to hopefully find it before some other lucky detectorist did. Super busy beach required me to park and hike about a mile to the search area. Not knowing the exact limits of the search area, I picked what I thought would be the extreme edge of one side of the square and began my grid search. First target was a promising 25 on my Equinox 900, but, ended up being a pull tab. Second target was a solid 19 and a beautiful Tiffany ring was inside my scoop. Emily and I met the next day for the reunion of ring and finger. A pleasure meeting you Emily and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in Chula Vista found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Dania tossed a handful of items toward some bushes, which accidentally included her diamond ring. It should have been in a very small area, but, try as she and Jeff tried, it couldn’t be found. An online search found TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. Jeff called asking for help and we arranged to meet at the site the next afternoon. I arrived on time with my wife and a friend who also detects. A quick search with my large coil over and around the suspected thorny bush reveal nothing. Pin pointer time! My friend and I armed with a couple of pin pointers started poking inside the bush and as close to the ground as we could without getting totally impaled on the thorns. Only some scrap metal was being found when Jeff offered to go get a broom handle to tape to one of our pin pointers so we could probe further inside the bushes and reduce the number of our battle scars. I asked him to move his truck from in front of where we were working so we could expand the search area without interference from all that metal close by. Soon after moving his truck, Dania spotted the ring sitting right on top  of the asphalt in the parking spot next to where their truck had been parked! The ring must have hit something and ricocheted 90 degrees over to that spot. Doesn’t matter how the ring was found, just that it was found. Everyone happy now! A pleasure to meet you folks and thank you for the reward!

Ring lost in San Diego Bay found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Scott was kayaking back in August, and while paddling close to shore, his dog decided to jump out of his kayak and into the water. In the process of getting his dog back inside, Scott’s wedding ring came off and into the drink. He tried to find it, but, with a mucky bottom and poor visibility, we know how that ended. He and his wife Caitlin found me online and asked for help. We met at the site during a minus low tide at 11:30pm. Even though it was a small area to search, there was tons of metal junk and some deep silt/mud at that spot in the bay. Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with it after an extensive search. They thanked me for trying and I told them that I would keep it on my list and would try again whenever I was in the area. My next opportunity came about a month later at another minus low tide at night. Again, I found all sorts of junk, but, no ring. I was thinking it might be in deeper water, but, in walking out deeper, you would sink up to your knees in mud. Not going to be possible to search out there. Fast forward to November and another opportunity to hit the area during a daytime low tide. Went back over the same area and found tons more junk targets, but, after a half hour or so, success!, Scott’s wedding ring came up from a foot deep and into my scoop. A text later to an incredulous Scott and Caitlin where I found that they would be visiting again in town around Christmas. They asked me to hold on to it until then which I gladly agreed to. They came by the day after Christmas and picked up the ring. A pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost at Fiesta Island found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Bree contacted me saying that her husband Luis (they just got married in July) lost his wedding band while playing with their dog on Fiesta Island. She couldn’t meet me there to show me the search area, but, sent me a google map with a pin at ground zero, which was by a fire ring where they had set up. Going by the map and GPS, a buddy and I reached the area and started a grid. This beach is REALLY junky, so, small coil time and slow sweeping was the name of the game. Nothing right around the fire ring, so, we expanded out from there. Another pass or two and Luis’s ring came to light. Bree came and picked up the ring and plans to surprise Luis with his ring at Christmas. A pleasure to meet you Bree, and thank you for the reward.

Pendant lost in Palm City found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Tyler was playing ball at his schools soccer/football field when his necklace was snagged, broken, and his gold pendant fell into the turf. A search ensued, but, it wasn’t found. His mom Michelle talked with the groundskeeper who claimed to have a metal detector and would help them. This delayed a search for 3 weeks while the groundskeeper looked for his detector without success. Michelle then found TheRingFinders.com online and contacted me for help. We met early the next morning at the school and they escorted me to the proper field and probably loss location. I expected lots of misc junk on this decades old school, but, the field was pleasantly free of it for the most part. I started with a large coil to try and cover the fairly large search area more quickly. I’d use a smaller coil if necessary as the pendant was smaller than a dime and was probably not going to give much of a signal. There had been dozens of games played on that field since the loss, so, the pendant might have been stepped on and pushed down into the turf a bit, or, it could have even been spotted and picked up by someone. We kept our hopes up however, and after a half hour or so and a few junk targets acting like small gold, I got an even lower target I.D, number of 8 on my Equinox 900 that I was doubtful of, but, I decided early on I would check every target that was close to what I guessed would be the number. It wasn’t right on top of the ground, but, after peeling back a small trap door plug, Tyler’s pendant was staring up at me. I called them over to let them see and retrieve it. A happy Tyler had his precious pendant, given to him by his father, back again. A pleasure meeting you and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in San Diego found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

While toweling off at the beach, one of  Gokul’s diamond stud gold earrings was snagged, popped off, and into the soft sand it went. Try as he might, he just couldn’t find it. He searched online for help, found TheRingFinders.com, and called me the next morning asking if I was available to search. Sure, I was available, but, Gokul decided to personally try again with a small sieve to sift the sand in the search area for his earring, and would call me back if he still needed help. An hour and half later, I got the call. I grabbed my gear, stopped and picked up my buddy Dave and headed to the site. We found Gokul at the search area and got the story on the loss. He had a match to the lost earring, so, Dave and I at least had something to go by. Wow, not much of signal on this little earring. As I started my search, I immediately got a decent signal which turned out to be the earring back. Ok, that’s a good sign that we’re in the right area. Shortly after, Dave got an iffy but repeatable signal and turned it over to me since I had the pin pointer. After chasing the signal a bit, I finally zeroed in on the signal. Success!  A happy Gokul could now head home with both his ear lobes complete. A pleasure to meet you and thanks for the reward.

Ring lost at Pacific Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Elise was enjoying Labor Day at the beach, but, after rubbing some lotion on her hands, her precious gold ring given to her by her sister, slipped right off and into the soft sand, turning the sweet day suddenly sour. The next day after an online search brought her to TheRingFinders.com, she contacted me for help. Even though our local beaches get swarmed by detectorists on a holiday weekend like this, it was still worth a try, so, I got all the particulars and agreed to meet her at the location. Elise sent me a photo of the ring showing that it wasn’t an actual ring in shape, but, a horseshoe shape. Knowing that now, the I.D. number would be impossible to predict, but, probably a lot lower than if it were a complete circle. I started my grid and scooped anything that wasn’t iron. After a bunch of gum wrappers reading 1-4 on my Equinox 900, a few other bits of foil, a couple of coins, I get another sketchy 2-3 reading. Probably another gum wrapper, but, surprise, surprise, it was her ring. A happy Elise can now go home and relax now that the lost has been found. A pleasure to meet you Elise, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost at Pacific Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Joey was in town visiting from up in Napa, Ca. back in early July, and lost his 18K gold and 950 platinum wedding ring in the shallow surf at Pacific beach. I got the call a couple of days later and met him at the location. I gridded the entire area and then some, but, came up empty. I figured that someone else may have found it in the meantime as it’s a popular area to detect. I told Joey that I would keep it on my list and would check with fellow club members and others I know who detect that beach to see if they may have found it. Fast forward to the middle of August, and my friend Rick contacts me and says he may have found the ring I was looking for. We compared notes on the ring details, and it sure looked like a match, but, I went ahead and contacted Joey to get more info from him. Everything seemed to match, so, success! It turned out that Joey had some friends that were coming down to San Diego  and could pick up the ring instead of having to ship it. It just goes to show you that you should never give up, as a ring can turn up anytime in the future when the conditions are right. The ring is on it’s way home where it belongs. A big thank you to Rick for giving up such a nice ring, and thank you Joey for rewarding him.

Ring lost at Mission Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Anais and family were visiting here from Spain and spent the day at the beach. Anais decided to try a bit of surfing, and left her wedding and engagement ring with a family member while she went into the water. Unfortunately, when she went to reclaim her rings, one of them was missing. All manner of searching came up empty and a call for help came to me after they searched online for a solution. Knowing the location, I wanted to get right on that search before someone else happened onto the ring. We agreed to meet at 11pm on the boardwalk close to the search area. Even though it had only been a few hours since the loss, the beach always looks different at night vs the day. Landmarks such as tents, cones, sand castles, etc. can disappear or be moved, so, it took a few minutes to get oriented and zero in on the spot. Once there, with their best guess as to where the X should be, I started a grid. After five minutes and only a couple of junk signals, I got a nice solid 28 on my Equinox 900. That sounded so good and I said that this is  likely it! Yup, after filtering out the sand and dead sea grass out of the scoop, A beautiful engagement ring was sparkling under my headlamp beam. I handed the ring to an emotional Anais who teared up, hugged me. and then cried with joy in her husband’s arms. A pleasure to meet you both, have a good resumption of your trip, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in San Diego found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Chelsea contacted me about a ring lost by the husband of her friend Rebecca 3 weeks ago, and most likely lost in a volleyball court. Rebecca had taken off the family heirloom ring to play the game, and gave the ring to her husband to place in his pocket for safe keeping. After the volleyball game, a game of basketball, and a walk in the park, they discovered the ring missing from his pocket. Not much I can do in a paved basketball court, so, the most likely place to start would be the volleyball area. Normally volleyball courts are detected often, so, it was not likely still there, but, always worth a try. In this case, the court in not in a high use area, so, the odds were getting a tad better. I also learned that a detector was already used to try and find the ring. The odds were now getting worse again until I found out it was just a cheap kiddie detector and the person using it didn’t have much experience using one. The odds went up a bit again. My wife and I met Chelsea at the site and she relayed as much info as she knew while we walked to the court. Once we got there, I noticed that even though it was a sand court, it was fairly hard packed. The odds just dropped again. Hopefully it was a lot more fluffy when the ring was lost as a ring wouldn’t sink into this surface very easily. I fired up my Equinox 900 and was hit with all sorts of interference signals when I started sweeping the coil across the sand. There must be all sorts of big metal down deep under the court. That actually improved the odds to someone with some detecting experience. A novice would be overwhelmed, but, I’ve learned a few things over the years about dealing with bad conditions. Knowing that the ring is a fairly recent loss, and should be relatively shallow, I mainly just turn the sensitivity way down to help eliminate the deep targets. Knowing what the ring should read and sound like also helps in this situation. I made it maybe 8 feet along one side of the net when I got my first likely signal. Sure enough, it was the ring we were hoping to find just two inches down. My understanding is that the ring is going to be a surprise reveal to Rebecca from her husband. A pleasure meeting you Chelsea. You’re a good friend for taking charge of this, and thank you for the reward.