Metal Detecting on Whangarei Roadside to Find Lost Ring

I was just doing a casual beach detect at a very small, unassuming patch of sand tucked away on Whangarei Harbour in New Zealand. It is the sort of place that would struggle to have 20 people squeezed into it on a busy summer day.

After I had been detecting for maybe thirty minutes, a beach-goer wandered up and asked if I would be able to find his wifes ring.  Quick background of,  « It fell off her hand outside the car as we turned at a junction, six months ago – I saw it rolling across the road ».   This was a new scenario for me!

I said I’d give it a go.

Packed up and followed the gentleman to the scene. I was envisaging a sea of can pull tabs, the usual metal detritus that litters the roadside, and possibly a flat and chewed ring.

When we got there, I didn’t have my usual high vis gear with me, so it was a very cautious operation to ensure neither I or the detector got clipped by a passing wing mirror as I nosed the coil in and out of the undergrowth and leaf litter. My helper made life easier by shifting all the crushed cans and foil packets he could – But there were plenty of scraps left for me!  After four to five minutes and another crumpled up bit of foil, I got a hint of a clean tone under one of the plants. I couldn’t get the beach coil in properly, so scuffed the leaf litter out into the open, and left behind, lying in the dirt was his Precious.

Happy faces all round back at the beach!  A quick pose for a photo, and I went back to where I left off twenty minutes earlier.

The beach smiled kindly on my good deed and gave me an old and ornate silver ring shortly after – This would have been lost well before there were RingFinders to save the day!