Reese Burnett, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 4 of 6

It was a warm day for November in Minnesota – about 65 degrees.  I got a call in the late afternoon and told Evan’s wife I’d leave soon and get there by 6:00.  It was nice out, so I decided to do something a little different and take my 1966 Corvette on the 35-mile drive to find the lost ring.

Evan was playing with his kids in the leaves he had just raked off his backyard deck when he noticed that his ring was gone.  He and his wife searched the area as best as they could, but just couldn’t find the ring.

The search took all of about 10 minutes.  Evan was thrilled to get his ring back and, being a previous Corvette owner himself, wanted his picture taken with the car!

Well, this was the fastest and easiest lost jewelry search I’ve ever been a part of.  I really didn’t have to do anything but show up!

Julie woke up Sunday morning to find that the platinum and diamond tennis bracelet that she always wore and was given to her by her husband, was gone.  She freaked out and searched everywhere at her home but not finding it eventually made her realize that she must have lost it the night prior in St. Paul, at her friend’s house.

Julie called me Monday afternoon and we agreed to meet a few hours later at the friend’s house.  I got there early and sat in my car waiting for her.  After a few minutes of waiting, I saw Julie walking towards my car so I proceeded to get out and meet her.  As I was getting out of my car, I heard a shout of glee as Julie noticed the bracelet sitting in the street a few feet behind my car!

The bracelet had sat for approximately 40 hours in the road on a busy neighborhood street!  I was very happy for Julie.  She was very fortunate to get her lost bracelet back!

Sam was playing volleyball in the water with friends and family when her rings that were welded together flew off her finger and into the water as she was setting the ball.  Everyone did the best they could to find rings, but came up empty-handed after a few hours of searching.

Sam called me up and left a message so I texted her and we made plans for me and a buddy to meet her husband and his friend at the lake the following day, a Thursday.

We thought it would be an easy hunt, but there was quite a bit of iron in the lake bottom making it hard to pick up targets.  Another problem we had was we were both using the same kind of metal detector and they were interfering with each other, making it hard to pick up signals.  We searched for a few hours and had to give up because it was getting dark.

The next day, we made plans to meet there again around 11:00 and to bring scuba gear in case the ring was deeper than we thought.  We got there around 9:30, that following Saturday – two buddies and me – to get started early.

Mike stayed out of the water to avoid interference while Matt and I gridded the area for about 45 minutes.  We were getting worried that we weren’t going to find the ring when Mike decided to join us.  He entered the water and immediately dug the ring in about 4 feet of water!

Sam and her husband pulled up right when we were getting dried off and packing the gear back into the vehicle.  Sam was super thrilled to get her ring back and we were all thrilled to give it to her!

This may be the best find of my life and the story is not over yet: In the spirit of The Ring Finders Network, I was able to donate a significant historical piece to the local Army Corps of Engineers.

I was metal detecting in a lake for fun when I found a really old ring stamped sterling that said War of 1917 on the face. I really had no idea what I had, but when I got home I realized that I had found a ring worn by a WWI Army veteran!

I posted a picture of the ring online and a gentleman from the St. Paul Army Corps of Engineers contacted and told me how excited he and his colleagues were about the find.  To make a long story short, the ring is now on display at the St. Paul Army Corps of Engineers office.

They had the ring professionally cleaned and that started a new chapter to this story.  Although I had cleaned the ring with electrolysis and polished as best as I could, the cleaning at the jeweler revealed a name and a 7-digit number!  The Army Corps is now working with their historian to find out who the person was and to see if the family can be located.

Here is a picture of the face of the ring and one of it sitting on display at the St. Paul Army Corps of Engineers:

This was one of quickest hunts I’ve been on.  Nate was working in the yard and while working in the bushes near his front door, he noticed that his wedding band was missing.  He searched with his hands the best he could in the bushes and mulch but couldn’t come up with the ring.  Then he rented a metal detector only to find that it beeped constantly, giving him no clue where his ring was.

Nate emailed me and I called him quickly and left the house right after dinner to go get his ring. He knew right about where it was and I was able to find it in under 10 minutes.  It was great to see that ring in Nate’s hand, where it belonged!

I was not able to get a picture of Nate with the ring, but he was very happy to get it back.

I’ve gotten hugs for finding lost rings before, but I will say that this is the first time a guy has been so excited about getting his ring back that he hugged me!

A week prior, Terrence was carrying the Christmas tree from the house, around to the back, through the garage and down the driveway to set it by the garbage can, when he lost his loose-fitting wedding band. When his wife contacted me, I met Terrence at the house that same evening.

I started the search near the front door, following Terrence’s path to the garbage can.  There were several large metal objects along the way that interfered with the search but, at the very end of the path, the ring was found near the garbage can area under the snow and pressed down into the ground.  I almost didn’t dig for it because, in most cases, a recently lost ring is laying on top of the ground.

Terrence was completely thrilled to get his ring back, hence the hug.  He said that it meant the world to him!

Tim took his boat out on the lake, anchored it near shore and was tossing a football with a buddy when his platinum ring flew off his finger into the water 3 weeks before his 10th wedding anniversary.

It was his wife who emailed me and set up a time to meet.  I took a buddy with me (to increase the odds of finding the ring) and we met Tim and his buddy at the boat launch after work.  Tim had a fast boat; we got up on an insta-plane and headed straight to the site.

Tim had used his phone to drop a pin where the ring was lost, so we anchored there and started the search.  After about 45 minutes, I switched my search method to having Tim stand in the water at the farthest point from shore where the ring could have been lost while his buddy stood at the closest point toward shore.

It wasn’t the search method that helped find the ring.  It was Tim and his foresight to use his phone’s GPS.  I found the ring in chest deep water right where Tim had said he had lost it.  Tim was thrilled and that ring went back on his finger immediately.  This will certainly make Tim’s 10th anniversary even more meaningful and memorable.

It had been a while since I had gotten a Ring Finders call and this one will be remembered for a long time.

Jordan was messing around on a floating dock at his brother-in-law’s lake home when his ring flew off his finger.  He jumped in the water to mark the spot, left a boat anchor where it hit the water and began diving down to search for it.  The water was chest deep and after several hours of searching, Jordan went online to find the nearest Ring Finders contact.

It took three outings to find the ring because the spot where it was lost was full of old cans.  They were everywhere and between me and three buddies who each came on separate occasions, we must have pulled out 100 cans or can pieces.

The third time was a charm: my buddy pulled out the ring in chin deep water next to the floating dock!  But Jordan was not present, as he had left town with his family for a vacation to Canada that same morning.

Pictured below is Jordan’s brother-in-law, Kyle, a few of the cans and the ring.  I have not yet informed the owner that the ring was found and as I write this, Kyle is busy with a scheme to have some fun with him before he lets him know.