Pete McGhee, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 6 of 12

Lost ring in Garden, Found after Two and a Half Years…

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Two and a half years ago, Mary was doing some gardening at the retirement accommodation where she lives in Whangarei. Some time after weeding, gardening, and repotting a fern, she noticed her gold wedding ring of some forty years was missing.

Staff members at the time searched through the garden and fern, with no success.
As is often the case, the ring was given up as lost.

Recently on hearing about my recovery service, one of the staff members contacted me to see if there was any chance of finding it.
Mary was apparently sceptical about a recovery given the time that had elapsed though.
Her confidence was boosted when shortly after the enquiry, I successfully recovered a ring lost in a farm paddock that had been missing for an equivalent period of time.

I duly arrived at the accommodation and was met by Mary, who talked me through the loss.
Constantly assessing the different locations I was shown, I shifted them up and down my mental list in order of probability as we went.
After a few further questions, I had a good idea of the likely scenarios that might have led to this lost ring and got kitted up.

A quick reconnaissance sweep of the garden yielded only the usual decomposing nails, bits of brass and plumbing that are the usual background in urban searches.
Molesting the poor fern with the pinpointer was only met with silence from the probe. Cross that one off the list, which meant it wasn’t where it was supposed to be – they rarely are.

I returned to the car to get the ‘big guns’ out, time to get serious.
10 minutes later, in the lawn, a beautiful gold signal sounded in the headphones. I parted the grass and moss and after wiping the surface mud off, there was the shining edge of a ring.

It must have been lost while Mary was gardening then knelt or stepped on, into the soil surface. This would have prevented it from being found by the many searchers and almost certainly saved it from death-by-mower.

I left it there and tapped on the door of the unit.
When Mary came to the door, I simply said, « I’ve got something of yours ».

I let Mary pick it out of the soil where it had fallen two and a half years ago.

Had it not been for a caring staff member who took the initiative to contact me, it would still be lost.

Many rings lay in gardens, lost but not forgotten.  Waiting for an experienced Ringfinder…

 

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Lost Wedding Ring Found in Surf Two Days Later

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Two days ago, Scott had been fishing from a remote beach in Doubtless bay. While packing up, he noticed he had lost his white gold wedding ring during the day.

Thinking he had lost the ring while gutting and cleaning the catch in the water, he spent some time looking for it. With light failing and the propensity for rings to sink quickly in mobile sands, he was unable to locate his lost ring.

Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to tie a small orange fishing float to some grass at the edge of the dunes…and contacting an experienced Ringfinder as soon as possible meant that the chances of recovering it were as good as they get.
So, a little after 4am this morning, I pulled out of the driveway and started the 2hr drive north to meet Scott at 6.

Given the remote location, it was likely we would only get one shot at this and I wanted to maximise the lower half of the tide in case it became a protracted search.
Big thanks do have to go to Scott for making the effort to meet me on site at ‘daft o clock’, it is so invaluable having the ring owner present at searches to discuss the circumstances of loss.

Our little convoy bounced up the rough road up onto “Puwheke” – not an insignificant hill on the Karikari peninsula, and a prominant landmark visible from many kilometres in all directions.
Once parked up, Scott pointed far into the distance…distance being the key word! The route we would have to take around the hill and down to the beach looked like one of those that somehow always feels like it’s uphill in both directions with gorse, steep slopes and wet, slippery rank grass growth.

The beach itself was very pleasant though, the sort of sand you see on deserted tropical islands – nice flat hardpacked white quartz sand (The quartz crystals actually ‘squeak’ with the friction if you scuff your foot in the dry sand).

One and a half kilometres from the cars, we arrived at where he had lost his ring. A small dayglo fishing float glowing orange in the grass.
While I got setup, Scott marked out some boundaries and I made a start in the dry fluffy sand. At least, in the middle of nowhere there was no trash or background chatter to mask any signals. A rare luxury with recoveries.

The first search line went straight down the beach and out into the shallows. Unsure how long I’d be searching, I was trying to stay dry at this stage of the exercise, the ocean waters not yet warmed from summer.
I turned and started the return line back to the beach. Three paces – and I got a clean tone, the sound was either that of a deep lead fishing weight, or a relatively shallow gold ring. I knew which it would be! Time to dig.

The white sand easily flowed out of the scoop, leaving Scotts ring nestled in the corner.

The ring safely back on Scott’s finger, we started the long walk back to the cars.

Uphill all the way…

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Ring lost swimming at Taupo Bay. Found!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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I occasionally get calls from people that I have previously recovered lost rings for, usually along the lines of, « I’ve done it again… », or, « A friend/neighbour has lost their… »
Krista phoned me to say that a guest had been swimming at Taupo Bay and had lost his Gucci ring in almost exactly the same spot that I had recovered her own treasured heirloom ring at the start of this year.

It was late afternoon and the light would soon be fading, however the tide was falling so I had to try and catch the first low tide that night.
I arrived at Taupo Bay and was relieved to see that this popular surf beach had virtually no break today – I knew the area of loss would be exposed at low tide, however that wouldn’t be until about 10pm so I waded out and made a start.
The water hadn’t warmed to summer temperatures yet, but was definitely warm enough that the wetsuit wasn’t needed. A very strong cross current was feeding a rip nearby and sand was being visibly moved along the beach and at times sucked from under my feet. One of the reasons that water recoveries have to be carried out as soon as possible.

As I worked the search patterns Hayden, the `lossee`, and Krista settled in to watch the worlds most boring spectator sport.
The high probability area yielded nothing and as both tide and night fell, I started to expand the search out to 20m…30m… back across the area they had been swimming.
Several hours and multiple overlapping grid patterns later, I was convinced it wasn’t where it was supposed to be (they almost never are).
The others had long since left me to it so I texted to advise a no-find… So far.

On the drive home, I replayed the search over and over in my mind. Re-analysing the circumstances of loss against the fact that the ring was not located despite a near 100% probability of detection over the entire swimming area.
Hayden said he had been sweeping his hand through the water, and he had felt it come off.
The ring had to have been airborne, unseen by Hayden – hidden among the water spray/droplets.
Stated to be ‘silver’, I have found that this can mean it just looks silver and can be anything from platinum, white gold, or titanium. All with very different densities and responses. As an example, if you had two rings in your hand, white gold and titanium, and threw them, the gold would travel much, much further than the titanium due to the greater mass.

How far would a ring go? The original search area had discounted the lighter titanium.

Back on the road early next morning for the hour drive to Taupo Bay again in order to catch the next tide. When I don’t find a ring it becomes a personal challenge. It’s partially this tenacity which enables me to find rings which others have tried for and given up, or missed, due to inexperience or unsuitable detectors.

I had the luxury of daylight and a large tide window this time.

Some time was spent painstakingly eliminating several dozen unlikely but must-be-confirmed signals in amongst a buried jumble of fragments of reinforced concrete and other ‘hot’ rocks with high metal content under the sand. All metal targets were proven to be trash.
Then I moved onto a wider area search based on a couple of underarm throws of my test rings – in the opposite direction to where they had been swimming.
30 minutes later I got a very clear silver tone – The scoop went in, and from 30cm under the sand on the edge of yesterdays rip current emerged Hayden’s lost sterling silver ring.

I love sending texts that simply say, « FOUND! » – They’re usually followed immediately after by my phone ringing with an excited and unbelieving voice at the other end 🙂

 

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Ring Lost in Whangarei Paddock for Two Years – Found!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Nearly two years ago, Jono lost his wedding ring in a farm paddock.
He had been walking back across the paddock towards the house, after working in one of the outbuildings. Idly playing with the ring as he walked.
Once back at the house, he noticed it was now missing.

Retracing his steps failed to locate it in the grass, and he reluctantly gave it up as lost.
After reading about my recent recoveries, Jono decided it might be worth trying to retrieve the ring and gave me a call.

He wanted it, hopefully, to be a surprise for his wife so he cunningly organised the search for when she wasn’t home 🙂
I met up with Jono shortly after she had left and we went through the details of the loss, and where he thought it might be.
While he went to turn off the electric fence, I showed his young kids how the detector worked, giving each a turn on the headphones while I waved my hand with my own wedding ring over the coil.
It was a struggle getting the phones back off the youngest, who was transfixed by the detector chattering away due to the overhead powerlines.

The search area was going to be a corridor across the paddock. Starting at the fence nearest the house, I began to work my way across the paddock towards the shed.
Early in the search, I unearthed one of his childrens toy cars – so someone was happy already 🙂
Stock had pugged the ground fairly badly, so I was listening for a deeper target. After a few false hits I got a clean non-ferrous tone about 15-20cm down.
I dug the small spade in and turned a clod of soil over. In the bottom of the upturned plug was his ring.
Still shiny in the sunlight after its time underground.
Smiles all round.

Ironically, Jono is the immediate neighbour of another recovery I had previously done.
Jono lives directly over the road from Luke who had his wedding ring sucked off his finger by a calf he was feeding a couple of years ago. Also found and returned, again from a paddock, and just a couple of days before his anniversary.

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Gold Ring Found in Doubtless Bay Chicken Coop

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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I was recommended to Kim and Kevin after Kevin had lost his Great Grandfathers ring, passed down to the eldest son through the generations. His father sadly passed away recently and Kevin became the new custodian.  Understandably, the ring carries a huge sentimental attachment.
Kevin wasn’t sure where, or when, he had lost it.
He just knew that it wasn’t beside the sink after he’d finished washing his hands after working in the garden that morning.
He had a few sleepless nights before the day of the search!

On site, I retraced Kevins activities. I made note of each area of interest and ranked them as to the likelihood of holding the ring as we wandered around the property.
There were three probable areas, but I had brought the remote camera with me, just in case it got all forensic with nooks and crannies (Or « Crooks and Nannies » as I like to call them).

First up was the garden where he had been planting seedlings and weeding. Lots of wisps of wire and assorted metal with the big coil, I switched to the small handheld coil.
This was better in among the random signals, but slow going to ensure every coil sweep was overlapped to avoid missing a single square inch.

Then I headed down to the chicken run where he had spread some hay out.
Several problems were encountered in here; The abundance of metal chicken mesh in close quarters, the fact that every time I stopped to investigate a target under the hay at least one chicken adopted me as a fancy perch with foot-warming function… and, let’s just say I was glad I was wearing disposable gloves as well!

Despite the assistance in removing various invertebrates, the chickens and I did not locate the ring in the run.Spotting fresh straw had also been placed in the nest boxes, I moved outside – thankful to be vertical and chicken-free.
I worked my way through each of the nest boxes, when my fingers closed on a heavy, round ring buried under the sawdust.

I left it under the watchful gaze of the chooks, while I took my gear back to the car then called out to Kevin.
« I’ve got something of yours! »,  and led him and his wife to the chicken run.

I opened up the nest box and Kevin reached in to retrieve the ring.

It remains a mystery how and why it came off here, as it is a tight fit on his finger and the nest box was not a ‘likely’ area.
We could only assume that the strings when carrying the bales had worked it down his finger without him noticing – only to drop off as he fluffed up the sawdust.

Regardless, Kevin had now been reunited with his Great Grandfathers ring.

Job done.

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Lost Ring in Whangarei Paddock – Found!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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At the start of this year, I carried out a ring recovery at Tutukaka for Lorelles husband who had lost his signet ring in the water.
I certainly didn’t expect a message from Lorelle seven months later, asking me to find HER ring…
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She had taken the ring off to put moisturiser on and had transferred the ring to another finger.
Later, she had been tending to her pony at their home in Kamo, feeding hay, taking covers off, you know the sort of horsey things – and all in nice soft mud.
As Lorelle told me the story over the phone, I was sticking pins in the mental map and by the time she got to, « When I got back to the house, it was missing » I had already formed a good idea of where and how I would be searching.
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I drove down this morning, and met her husband at the paddock with an icey southerly blast tearing through.
We ran through the story again, from his viewpoint this time, which confirmed the likely area to be the long grass between the car and the pony.
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He had already tried with a borrowed metal detector but had been unable to locate the ring. This is where an experienced metal detectorist with the right skill set to know not only where to search, but also how to search makes the difference.
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The 33kV powerlines overhead were certainly upsetting my machine, and some tweaking was required to filter out most, but not all, of the interference.
I started the search pattern where the car had been parked and within 5 minutes, parted the grass to reveal a beautiful emerald ring.
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It was a long journey for a five minute search, but it could well have taken five hours…or more – You can never tell until that elusive ring is safely recovered.
Lorelle now has her ring back on her finger, and no doubt there will be some friendly banter between them about each losing their ring !
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Wedding Ring Lost in Whangarei Harbour 5 Months ago – Found!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Caroline sent me a message a couple of days ago explaining her husband had lost his gold and platinum wedding ring while swimming off Waikaraka Beach in Whangarei, would I be able to assist?
The catch was, he lost it five months ago and it could have been anywhere within a couple of acres of rocky shore, or possibly further out in the harbour silts.
The big plus was, being an inner harbour beach, there would have been no significant wave action and subsequent shifting of sediments that would occur on the ocean coast.
The negative being that being so shallow, there was a good chance it had landed somewhere that dried at low tide and it had been picked up while it lay on the surface.
I duly arrived just after noon on Saturday and followed the falling tide down, extending the search out into the harbour to the point where the mud started getting deep.
After five hours, with the tide rapidly reclaiming the beach and night falling, I reluctantly called it quits.
I sent a message to Caroline advising I had unfortunately been unsuccessful, and started the long drive home.
That night, I couldn’t get one specific area out of my mind – I hadn’t been as thorough as usual in this region due to excessive oysters and the fact I was wearing neoprene boots.
This mental splinter hassled me to the point where, at 2am, I got back in the car and drove the 100km back to Whangarei for the 4am low.
There was no moon, but sufficient glow from the city lights to work. A cold 3°C morning without a breath of wind made for a surreal experience, wading through the glassy shallows (in heavy duty boots this time) under a cloudless southern hemisphere Milky Way.
It took about an hour and a half to search the area, but sure enough, next to a collection of submerged rocks lay Hughs ring.
Stained from its time in the mud, I gave it a polish after I had wandered back to the car and dried off.
Once warmed up and with some sleep, I messaged Caroline the good news at a more civilised hour.
She was down there in a shot!
Hugh was working elsewhere on their property at the time, but Caroline was going to put it next to his breakfast plate for when he returned 🙂
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Fathers Gold Ring Lost – and Found.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Last week, Mike was clearing out some perishables prior to heading away for a few days, throwing the bread from his deck out to the feeding frenzy of seagulls on his front lawn.
Afterwards he noticed his irreplacable gold and pounamu (Maori: NZ Jade) ring handed down from his father was missing from his finger.
A search of the lawn failed to locate it, so he turned to me for help.
Mike had to start his journey south, so he sent me the address of his property and I would travel up after work that afternoon.
On arrival, I was met with a very short and well manicured lawn – Nowhere for a large ring to hide, although rings can settle in unusual orientations, or bounce and tuck themselves under vegetation to break up the typical ‘ring’ shape that the brain doesn’t register when visually searching.
I quickly cleared the likely area where it may have landed on the lawn then started to work outwards – garden edges, against the fence and in amongst the shubs.
My concern was that a seagull may have picked it up with, or instead of bread only to drop it in a random direction and distance.
I had just about cleared the entire area in front of the house when I picked up a strong signal beside the gate at the entrance, and there it was.
Another couple of feet and it would have been on the public grass verge outside the property, another few yards and it would have been on the road…
It seems the seagull theory may indeed have been correct!
I texted Mike the good news that his ring was now safe and secure, he replied that he would collect it on his return.

I had about 30 minutes of light left so headed to the local beach where I have a couple of outstanding historical losses. Unfortunately I have many people who only learnt of my service months or even years after their loss of a precious item of jewellery on the local beaches. Whilst most are not viable for an immediate search effort, they all get added to my ‘Black Book’, and any time I am in the area I try to commit some time to searching for these. In the dynamic marine environment this is definitely a waiting game until sand and tides conspire to put the ring or necklace within range of the coil. This has taken up to 5 years for one particular ring, 3 years for another… Unfortunately sometimes they may also be found and ‘collected’ by a non ringfinder metal detectorist and added to a private collection of ‘treasure’.

The sand was silent on this occasion, although a few dozen pieces of metallic litter were removed from the environment (can pulltabs, corroded cans, bottle caps, fish hooks and an old fishing knife…Any litter found is always removed, primarily to improve the environment, but also to enhance current and future search efforts).
I was privileged though to be able to view some awesome transient ta moko sand art by an unknown and very talented artist, already partially lost to the stream flowing over the beach by the time I encountered it. It was still pleasing to see that people were consciously walking around, rather than over the design.

A week later I caught up with Mike as he made his way home. During a poorly timed torrential downpour, it was a very swift handover but I managed to get a quick photo for my collection of folks I’ve reunited with their lost taonga (Maori: treasure).

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Keyfob Missing in Long Grass for Two Days at Doubtless Bay, Found.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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It’s not always about reuniting a sentimental piece, sometimes it just avoids an unnecessary hassle and expense of replacement 🙂
Two days ago Gayle was showing some friends around the property.
In their travels she took her jacket off and tied it around her waist, the car fob safely inside the pocket…
When they returned to the house, Gayle realised the key fob was no longer in the jacket. Nor was it in the car, or to be seen on the nicely mown lawn – which meant it was somewhere along their route across the rough grass paddock, or one of several possible routes up and around a headland.
After retracing their steps with no luck, Gayle gave me a call.
I headed straight up as soon as I left work, and Gayle braved the rain to show me the route she thought they had walked.
A quick cursory sweep along the probable route yielded nothing other than an old beer can, tent peg and hinge spring, so I started the comprehensive search beginning at the area of highest probability.
Five minutes later, the detector gave a solid « this should be what you’re looking for » signal and I parted the grass to reveal the wayward keys.
Sitting end on, and tucked into the kikuyu thatch it would have been very difficult to spot by eye.
I held the keys up and Gayles face broke into a smile.
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Wedding Ring Lost at Russell Beach – Found

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Paul phoned me at work yesterday, « Is this Pete with the metal detector? »It transpired he had been enjoying a swim at Russell in the Bay of Islands, and had put his hands down into the beach gravels, and lost his wedding ring.He had lost it around high tide, so I arranged to meet him on site at low water later that afternoon.
Russell beach is a very steep, highly mobile pea-gravel, your feet sink up to the ankle as you walk and it ‘eats’ rings.  I have done a few lost ring recoveries here and they are always deep.
Paul had done the right thing though and acted promptly to contact me, as well as being able to meet me on site which always hugely increases the chances of a successful recovery.
I arrived shortly before he did, and decided to make a start. I selected an area as the most logical place for him to swim and started on the low tide mark – No sense in getting in the water if it wasn’t necessary.
Paul turned up in a few minutes and confirmed I was in the right area.  He then marked out the boundaries for me.I started my first grid pattern and within a minute I had a handful of gravel containing his ring!
It’s nice to have an easy one once in a while 🙂

 

 

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