Steve Thomas, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 4 of 4

LOST HEIRLOOM GOLD RING HONEYMOON ISLAND…FOUND!!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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STEVE THOMAS    DUNEDIN RING FINDER

LOST A RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE? PLEASE CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME (843)995-4719

THIS IS A FREE SERVICE, REWARD OPTIONAL BUT APPRECIATED

The Right Place at the Right Time!

I was detecting a section of Honeymoon Island called Dog Beach nearing sunset when I received a call from my sister with information about my father who was recovering from COVID. As I was speaking to her, two women approached me and asked if I helped people find lost rings. I was wearing my Dunedin Ring Finder cap at the time so I pointed to it and said “As a matter of fact…”. This is the second time in the last six months that I was detecting on my own when I came upon someone who needed my services.

As it turns out, a family of four (last name Beebe) with their two dogs were on the beach with a professional photographer at sunset when the son dropped his great grandfather’s gold and black onyx ring in the sand. Despite the fact that they were certain the ring was in an area of about 6’x6’, the Beebe family was unable to locate the ring after a frantic search. After about a two minute search, I got a 21 signal on my Equinox 600, then pin pointed the target and pulled the ring from the sand. What a joyous reunion! The photographer was pleased because she was working to take some great shots of the family in various locations as the sun was setting and needed to get back to work quickly. I took a picture of the ring at recovery, the photographer took a picture of me with the smiling son and the ring and she promised to send the recovery photo to me after I gave her my Ring Finder card. The photographer did not have any of her business cards with her and unfortunately I didn’t get her full name.

As of the date of this post, I have not received my promised photo and I have not been able to identify the photographer. If I “recover” this photo, I will update this post for the smile picture!

 

 

 

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LOST WEDDING RING RIVERVIEW FL…FOUND!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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STEVE THOMAS   DUNEDIN RING FINDER

LOST A RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE? CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME (843)995-4719

THIS IS A FREE SERVICE, REWARD OPTIONAL BUT APPRECIATED

 

Christmas in January! Dione contacted me on the night before Christmas Eve day with a story of a lost wedding ring. On the day before, she was driving on the entrance road to a strip shopping center while running some errands  when another car turned in front of her almost hitting her. After a brief confrontation with the other driver, Dione headed to her bank and then drove home. After arriving home, Dione realized that her wedding ring was missing so she and her husband Timm immediately retraced her steps including searching on the shopping center entrance road which had a grassy median. Dione had become convinced that her loosely fitting ring had flown off when she was having an animated discussion with the other driver. She  told me that she had also thoroughly searched her home to no avail. Despite their best efforts, Dione and Timm had failed to find the wedding ring.
I met Timm the next morning at the shopping center search location and became somewhat discouraged to see that there was very little grass on the roadside or in the median for the ring to hide and that this was a high traffic area. I searched for over an hour anyway under Timm’s direction and we quickly determined that either the ring was not lost here or was picked up by someone. I started talking to Timm about reaching out to the Sheriff’s Department as well as searching at home again when Timm said that it was possible that the ring could have fallen off Dione’s finger in their yard. I told Timm that I could search his yard as well so we traveled 15 minutes to the home. I was unable to recover the ring after a 30 minute search.
Before I left, I told Timm and Dione to continue their search in the home but try to enjoy their Christmas because they had several grandchildren visiting and we would reconnect after the holiday.
Later that evening I received a text from Timm with great news. Granddaughter Mila knew where the ring was because she had taken it from her grandmother’s makeup room. The best Christmas gift ever!

 

 

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LOST IPHONE ON HONEYMOON ISLAND…FOUND AND RETURNED!!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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STEVE THOMAS    DUNEDIN RING FINDER

LOST A RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE?
CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME. (843)995-4719    THIS IS A FREE SERVICE, REWARD OPTIONAL BUT APPRECIATED

 

A few days ago I was detecting on Honeymoon Island. I found the usual handful of coins and scrap metal but as I was leaving the beach, I found an iPhone buried under about 2 inches of wet sand. I quickly removed the phone as the tide was about to cover it again and took my recovery photo in dry sand. I could not determine at that time if the phone was operational but it looked new. I stopped by the state park office on the way out to see if anyone had reported the missing phone to the park service but the office was closed. I returned home and cleaned the phone as best I could and attempted to charge it. The phone soon displayed a message which indicated it was lost and provided a phone number to call. Unfortunately, the number provided was the number to that phone but at least I heard a voice message which provided the first name of the owner. After about 30 minutes of online research with the assistance of my wife, we were able to email and Facebook message the owner who lived in our area. There was no immediate response but we also located a  friend of the owner in our research, contacted her, and she in turn contacted the owner’s fiancée. It wasn’t long before we received a call from the grateful owner. She said that she had lost the phone the day before. As it was fairly late in the evening by the time we made contact, we made the exchange through the local sheriff’s department.

Carolyn, I hope your phone is fully operational and I am glad I could return it to you so quickly after you lost it!

 

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LOST DIAMOND EARRING TRINITY, FL …FOUND!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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STEVE THOMAS   DUNEDIN RING FINDER  LOST A RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE?  CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME (843) 995-4719  THIS A FREE SERVICE, REWARD OPTIONAL BUT APPRECIATED!

 

I received a call from Russ who found my contact information on the Ring Finders website. Russ’s girlfriend had lost a diamond earring in the yard of their home. She was certain that the earring fell from her ear as she was walking around outside after dark talking on her cell phone. They searched for a while with a flashlight but could not locate the earring.

I went to the home the following day and after confirming with Russ that the house and all vehicles had been thoroughly searched, I began grid sweeping the thick St Augustine grass in the area where Russ’s girlfriend thought it most likely she had dropped the earring. I made several adjustments to my Equinox as apparently this area contained a lot of junk from the fairly recent construction of the house. After about an hour of search, we expanded the search area into the second most likely area of the yard. Two hours and several additional search areas later, I had failed to recover the earring, just finding several pieces of scrap. I asked Russ to search his home and vehicles again as well as talk to his girlfriend about other possible locations to search. Russ also said that he would have his girlfriend who was not home at the time provide me with a photo of the other earring in the pair when I returned to search again in the next day or so.

Several hours after I returned home, I received a text from Russ, and you guessed it, he had found the lost earring in his home under a ledge in the shower! (For reasons that I can not include in this post I was not able to obtain a photo of the earring). Russ said that even though I didn’t find it, I brought him good luck.

Russ, thank you for allowing me to assist you in your search for your girlfriend’s earring and for rewarding me for my efforts.

 

 

 

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LOST WEDDING BAND HONEYMOON ISLAND, Fl. …FOUND!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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STEVE THOMAS  DUNEDIN RING FINDER    LOST A RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE?   CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME (843)  995–4719
10 MINUTES FROM HONEYMOON ISLAND

 

 

Last Friday I was enjoying some beach time with family including our daughter who was visiting from Texas. It had been several days since Tropical Storm Eta had passed and the beaches had unfortunately lost a lot of sand, making for some good detecting. I had the usual questions from people I passed nearby including “find anything today?” and “what’s the most interesting thing you have found?” As I walked out towards the jetty to see if my son had caught any fish, I noticed a lady who was sitting in the edge of the water. As I got closer, I thought I heard the lady talking to herself but then I realized that she was speaking to me. The lady, who later introduced herself as Vilma, asked me if I helped people search for lost jewelry on the beach. I told her of course about what I did as a Ring Finder and asked her what she had lost. Vilma sadly explained to me that about two months ago she was on this same beach with her family including her recently wedded son Oscar. Oscar lost his white gold wedding band while helping a another family with their umbrella after the wind suddenly kicked up. Vilma’s family had searched several times for the ring but had not used a metal detector or service. Vilma had promised Oscar that she would somehow find the ring and she had prayed for God’s help.

I asked Vilma to show me the area where the ring was lost and she led me to a location no more than 200 feet away but close to the current dune area and a beach access. Vilma was very certain that this was where Oscar lost his ring but significant beach erosion had occurred from the storm. I began sweeping a grid area maybe 20 feet wide and 100 or so feet from the dune line towards the water. The area was somewhat rocky due to the storm removing several feet of sand. I reached the water, turned around and was headed back towards the dune line when I happened to run into Chip, the person who assisted with my last ring search several days before with his Garrett. He wished me luck and continued to move north up the beach. I continued my sweep toward the dune line and within 15 feet or so of the dune, my Equinox 600 registered a 11-12 target about 4” down. I know from previous experience that 11-12 could be a pull tab and a 13 could be either a bottle cap or a nickel but I had found gold in this range so I dug into the somewhat rocky sand. Incredibly, I uncovered the ring, held it up to Vilma, and said “is this what you are looking for?” She stared at the ring for a moment and then let out a scream of joy that could be heard by everyone reasonably close. Vilma ran to me, hugged my neck and wouldn’t let go. So much for social distancing, lol!! After many “thank yous” to me and to God, Vilma left the beach trying to figure out the best way to surprise Oscar with his ring. Afterwards, I actually had to explain to several groups of people who I had already spoken to about what I do as a Ring Finder that finding Vilma’s ring was not a set up because there is no fee for my services, only an optional reward!! I am convinced that God used me to answer Vilma’s prayers that day. I love my retirement job!

 

 

 

 

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Lost Wedding Ring Honeymoon Island, Fl. … Found!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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STEVE THOMAS – DUNEDIN RING FINDER    LOST YOUR RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE? CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME (843) 995-4719  lostringdunedin.com

 

I received a text from Tammy last Saturday evening asking me if I helped people find lost rings on Honeymoon Island, Dunedin Fl. Tammy and her husband live in Illinois and were visiting her sister Becky and parents in Dunedin for her birthday. Earlier that day, they were enjoying some beach time when Tammy removed her wedding ring (white gold and diamonds) to apply sunscreen, either laying it on her towel or in the cup holder of the chair. Several hours later, Tammy and Becky moved their chairs to a less windy location but Tammy didn’t realize that her ring was missing until she had left the beach. She guessed that either the ring had flown off the towel when she shook the sand off or it dropped from the chair when she folded it up. Tammy returned to search for the ring but was unable to locate it before it got dark. Becky posted the lost ring on several neighborhood sites and Tammy had found me and the Ring Finders through an internet search.

I met Tammy and Becky at Dog Beach on Honeymoon Island on Sunday morning. My wife Jan came along to outline grids and for moral support and Becky’s neighbor Chip helped search with an older Garrett detector. They were certain that the ring was lost at their first beach location but the the first grid area was still several hundred feet long by about 75 feet wide (fortunately, tides would not be an issue). I searched this area while Chip searched an area further south. After several hours of finding only pull tabs, bottle caps, and a few coins, I quickly searched Chip’s area again while he moved north of the first search area. I swept some of the north area as well including their second beach location which was easily identified by some beach vegetation before we decided to take a break after about three hours. Tammy was obviously discouraged and had not slept much the night before. She was scheduled to fly back to Illinois at 6am Monday morning.

I went home for about an hour and returned to the beach to renew the search. I swept the first area again and then went further south than I had previously searched. I continued to recover some beach trash as well as coins but I was digging every target. I then moved back to the north search area to work a new grid. After another two hours of searching, I had yet to recover the ring and I needed to leave to meet friends for dinner. As I walked even further north towards the beach access still swinging my Nox, I registered an 11-12 about 4” deep. I had similar targets earlier but dug only scrap. I was so tired of digging with the scoop I just kicked the spot with my foot until I uncovered the target which of course turned out to be Tammy’s ring! Call it just pure luck or maybe divine guidance, but I walked over the exact spot while leaving the beach! At first I just looked in disbelief and then looked around for someone to celebrate with but unfortunately I had the beach to myself.

I texted Tammy a photo of the ring and received an exclamation point filled reply. Coincidentally, my wife and I were to have dinner with friends that evening at a home near where Tammy was staying so I returned the wedding ring to her that evening.

Tammy, thank you for allowing me to help you recover your precious wedding ring.

 

 

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LOST WEDDING RING AND BAND ODESSA, FL. …FOUND!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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Steve Thomas – Dunedin Ring Finder  Lost your ring or other metal valuable?  Call me ASAP anytime (843) 995-4719

 

Since almost the beginning of the year, I have received only two calls for lost rings. In both cases, the ring owners were certain that the rings were lost inside their homes. Also in both cases, I agreed to assist but before I was able to search, both owners recovered their own rings.

Several days ago I received a call from Morgan who said that his wife Melissa had lost her white gold and diamond wedding ring and band in the yard of their townhouse. The band had been made from her grandfather’s wedding ring and he was her best friend until he passed away several years ago. Morgan was out of town but gave me Melissa’s number so I texted her and set up a time to search the next morning. Melissa had already searched her home and car and was certain that she had pulled her car keys out of a small pouch on the way out of her front door or somewhere in her small yard on the way to her car and the ring set which was also in the pouch must have flown out. Melissa also purchased a metal detector on Amazon and tried to search on her own. I did also find out that the grassy area where she probably lost the set had been cut since the set was lost but the grass was not bagged.

My son Grayson accompanied me with an ancient Bounty Hunter and I had my Equinox 600. After a good bonding time search of about 2 hours in thick St Augustine grass, thick Bermuda grass, an area of shrubs on either side of the porch, and some potted plants including on our knees with a pinpointer, we found scrap metal and a survey stake but were unable to find the ring and band.

Before we left, I asked Melissa to search her home and car again as well as consider other possible search locations. (In a search, you can’t ask too many questions.) I told Melissa to call me if she thought of any other outside locations and I would search them. I asked her to consider looking in places where she didn’t think it was possible for her to lose the rings.

The following morning I received a text from Melissa and she informed me that she had located the ring set! She had searched her home and car again but then remembered that she had used her mother’s car the day she had lost them and that is where she found the rings.

Melissa, thank you for contacting the Dunedin Ring Finder to assist you with your search.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hearing Aid Lost in Dunedin, Florida…Found

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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  • When I became a member of The Ring Finders last month, I mentioned in my bio that locating a lost hearing aid was what led me to join an international group of metal detecting specialists who help reunite people with their lost rings and other metal valuables.
    In December, a neighbor asked me to help her find her grandson Ben’s hearing aid that he had lost while playing in the yard with his sister. I began my search in an area where Ben’s grandmother said that he began to chase his sister around the corner of the house. After a 30 minute search in thick St. Augustine grass, I located the hearing aid which was mostly plastic but contained sufficient metal to allow detection. The hearing aid had a $5,000 replacement value but my neighbor’shugs and smiles were priceless.
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Lost Ring in New Port Richey, FL…Found!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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I received a call from Ron in New Port Richey regarding a special horseshoe gold and diamond ring that he had lost in his side yard yesterday while out with his dog. After a twenty minute search through grass and leaves, I detected the ring under the leaves and about an inch of soil. The smiles and hug made my day! If you have lost a ring or a valued metal possession, don’t give up; call a member TheRingFinders

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Lost Ring Dunedin (Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island), Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs… FOUND

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
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Hi, my name is Steve Thomas and I have just joined theringfinders.com. I have been metal detecting off and on for over 40 years. I have recently retired from the Myrtle Beach SC area where I have much beach detecting experience.  The joy of reuniting people with valuables once thought gone forever is why have I chosen to use my hobby to help others. Please contact me as soon as possible if you need any assistance locating a lost possession.

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