Platinum Ring Lost Swatting at a Bee .. West Los Angeles, CA. .. Recovered

 

 

Jannae’s husband was standing on the back porch of their home when a bee came at him. He swatted at the bee and his platinum wedding ring went flying somewhere in the yard or possibly below the wood decking. They had just celebrated 10 years of marriage a month before and this ring was a gift from Jannae to her husband.

I met Jannae the next morning to search for the ring. The gardeners were there but holding off cutting the lawn until I went over the grass with my metal detector. The ring was not in the lawn and there was no sign of the ring under the patio decking. The gardeners had a ladder that they used to check the rain gutter on the roof. I also checked all the potted plants with my handheld pinpointer. 

There was a wall with some shrubbery 8ft. high about close to the patio. We shook the plant several times trying to dislodge the ring if it had hung up in the upper portion of the plants. Not having any success by shaking the plants, I asked the gardener if he would use his leaf blower machine to blow into the plants. After about 15 minutes the ring came bouncing onto the ground below the plants. This was another lesson for me. It has happened at least three other times on other searches, where the ring was definitely hung up in a bush. Platinum is heavy and this ring was probably 20 grams. It was hard to believe that it didn’t fall through the plant. Also, just shaking the plant was not sufficient enough to dislodge the ring.

The process worked, we eliminated the lawn, under the porch area , the potted plants and even the rain gutter on the roof. The shrubbery was our last chance. 

Jannae was so happy that the ring was found and planned to surprise her husband after he gets home from work.