I got a call to see if I could help find a gold pendant in Belmont Shore Monday evening. I showed up and was greeted by a couple guys, one being Jeremy whose pendant it was. Apparently they were wrestling on the sand which caused the chain to break.
I started gridding the area and after about 10 minutes I found his pendant.
-Surf City Ring Finder
This little adventure started on Sept. 1, 2025, just before 9 am, when I received a text message from Piper saying, “Good morning, my name is Piper K., and I lost my engagement ring yesterday at the beach on Surfside. We looked absolutely everywhere, and I think it’s gone for good. But I ended up finding out about ring finders, so I thought I’d give it a try. Is there any way you could help?” I called her and got a few more details like, time of loss, in the ocean or dry sand, if the ocean – how deep? She told me it was lost about noon and in the dry sand. She also mentioned that she had taken the ring off and put it on a towel. As they were leaving, the towel was picked up and shaken off. This is when she thinks the ring was lost. Thankfully she lost it before high tide, so we had a good shot at it around low tide. I asked her to send me the address, which she did. I checked the tide tables and text her that I’d be there about 7 pm. This would put us about 2 hours before low tide. She agreed so we had a plan.
I showed up at the address she provided and let her know I was there. Piper, her fiancé Jordan and her brother met me in the driveway, and we walked a short distance to the beach. Piper showed me the north boundary line, and I had Jordan mark off the south boundary line. I started a north/south grid and after about my 5th line – BOOM! I dug a scope of sand, dumped it out on the beach and spread it out with my foot. I saw her ring, picked it up and held it so Piper could see it. I love the expressions I see when they see their treasure after thinking it was lost forever.
Piper – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Have a safe trip home and I wish you and Jordan all the best in life.
Jim
This past week I had a total of 6 calls for lost items, which is a higher-than-normal call volume for my area. I conducted a search for 4 of the items (the other 2 were too far or needed a diver). I’m happy to report that all 4 items were found! All praise and glory to God! He is so good!!! Here’s the write-up of the first recovery. Please be on the lookout for the others.
I received a text message on Monday morning (August 25th, 2025) from Ellen stating she had lost her soldered engagement & wedding rings over the weekend while pulling weeds at her mother-in-law’s (Judy) house in Huntsville, Alabama. Ellen had taken off her rings (including a ring she wears on a finger on her right hand) and put them in her pocket. She put her phone in the same pocket and pulled it out periodically to change songs. When Ellen was done with the yard work, there was only 1 ring left in her pocket — the soldered engagement & wedding rings were gone. I told Ellen I would be more than happy to help search. We scheduled a hunt for Tuesday after I got off from work.
Ellen and her husband, Brad live in Birmingham, AL. Ellen had to be in Birmingham on Tuesday, but Brad was back in Huntsville for the day, so I met Brad at his mother’s (Judy) house around 4:30 pm on Tuesday. Brad and Judy showed me where Ellen had been working in the flowerbeds and another area around a tree. They were very kind providing some bug spray and a cold glass of ice water when I asked. Once I had my search area, I got to work with my Minelab Equinox 900.
I searched two piles of weeds, but didn’t get any signals. I moved to the grass area in front of the flower beds and had a good hit within a few minutes of searching. I looked down and saw that unmistakable glimmer of gold! It was Ellen’s rings!! I took a few pictures of what the rings looked like as is (pictures at the end). Prior to calling me for help, Ellen and Brad had bought a metal detector and tried searching. They had a few hits, but everything was below the surface. They were surprised that they missed the rings, but they were fixated on another target nearby, and the detector they bought was not the best for finding rings. Once you know the ring is there, then you think how could I miss it, but grass will easily swallow up a ring and it’s really hard or near impossible to spot with eyesight alone.
I went and got Brad and Judy and gave them the good news! They were both so happy and gave me a big hug. Brad Facetimed Ellen and I got to surprise her with the rings and show her in real time. Ellen was so happy, relieved, and thankful! She told me this was a huge answered prayer. I told her that I had been praying as well. What an awesome feeling! Brad and Ellen have been married for 26 years! Thank God for another successful recovery!
As I was getting ready to leave, my truck wouldn’t start – my battery was dead! Brad thankfully had some jumper cables and helped me get my truck started (I now have a pair of jumper cables in my truck, lol). Huge thank you to Brad for saving me there! I was able to get a new battery on Friday morning – just in time for a few more searches, lol…
This ring find began August 8th, when I got a call from Joel who was on vacation from Venice, California and staying at the Aulani Resort. While walking in shoulder deep water Joel’s Platinum Wedding Band came off and disappeared into the sand. Since I’m only 5’7″ and he’s 6’3′ I told him it would require scuba. I just had shoulder surgery and the doc hadn’t given me permission to scuba yet. Then when I got permission the waters of the lagoon were so murky we had to wait even longer. Finally, on Sunday, 24 August the conditions came together and I was able to dive. Joel had provided me a photo earlier of the approximate location and I used that to create my underwater grid using my red-orange neoprene rope as a guide. After about 30 minutes hunting I got a nice tone on the Manticore and I fanned my hand over the spot. Suddenly, jackpot Joel’s Platinum Band exposed itself. I ended the dive and went ashore to send Joel a pic of the recovered ring. He received the ring in the mail and sent me a pic with a « Shaka ». Aloha to Joel!
1 September 2025. Yesterday, Labor Day Sunday, Nick lost his wedding ring at the beach. It was a special ring because it had been his father’s as well as his grandfather’s. While he felt somewhat resigned to the loss, his wife Hannah didn’t give up easily. She searched the internet in the evening and fortunately found the RingFinders. Nick called me this morning and we arranged to meet at the beach within about half an hour.
At the beach, Nick described where his family had been sitting the previous day and where he had been in the water for a relatively short time. He had not noticed his ring was missing until they returned to their B&B. This left a range of possibilities for where the ring was lost but the most likely was the beach. Where to search first? The tradeoff is between the dry sand (easy to search) and the water (more difficult but also more likely). I started easy, but after 10 or 15 minutes it was apparent that the ring was not in the area where Nick and Hannah thought they had been sitting.
Next, the water. Nick told how he had been wading and sitting in knee-deep water off to the west of where their beach chairs were. The current tide level was lower than it had been the previous day so I started with a long swath at the wave’s edge – no result. With further discussion, Nick felt that he’d been at a break in slope a bit farther out so I moved there for the next swath. This location was somewhat concerning because it contained thick, loose sandy gravel that was being moved about by wave action, raising the possibility that the ring could already be deeply buried and possibly beyond detector range. Fortunately within a few minutes I heard that sweet signal of success and had Nick’s ring in my scoop!
I dumped the gravel but left the ring in the scoop and walked up the beach to where Nick stood. I didn’t mention the ring but told him about the bad bottom conditions as I approached. Then the part I love the most – I held out the scoop so he could look inside, and suddenly all was well with the world!
We wrapped up with some very happy conversation and pictures. As it turned out, Nick, Hannah and their daughter were packed and ready to drive home, ending their Cape Cod vacation. I’m really pleased that I was able to change that ending from a sad to a joyful one as they hit the road!
Nick’s 3-generation wedding band.
A happy family ready to head home from their Cape Cod vacation.
On Saturday, August 30th, I received a call from Tabathia saying her husband Matt had lost his Citadel Ring in the surf and asked if I could help find it. She explained that Matt was rinsing his hands off at the ocean’s edge when he noticed his ring was gone. She also mentioned that they got caught in a rainstorm and had to quickly pack up and run for the car. I agreed to help and took a look at the tide tables. Neither that evening nor the next morning was going to work. We agreed to meet at 6 pm on Sunday and I could work the outgoing tide. Tabathia sent me a text with the address and confirming some of the other details.
Sunday evening, I sent Tabathia a text telling her I was on my way. She responded they were also on their way and would give me an update. I was about 15 minutes out and got a text from Tabathia saying, “The parking lot is a mess and full. If you want to text when you are close, I can try to get up there to get you a space.” As I was driving down the street to get onto the beach parking, the cars were lined up bumper to bumper. As I got closer to the lot, I noticed a parking area that was chained off with a man across the street from it barbequing. I took a shot and rolled down my window and explained to him that I was going to look for a man’s Citadel ring on the beach and pointed to my sign on the side of the car. Without hesitation, he walked across the street and moved the chain so I could pull it the spot. He wished me luck and I made my way to the beach to meet Matt who was waiting for me. As Matt and I made our way to meet Tabathia and their 3 children, he showed me the area his ring should be in. I met Tabathia and went to work searching from the top of the slope out to about thigh deep. After doing the slope with no luck, the 3 of us came up with plan B of searching the top of the slope. Matt and Tabathia, both showed me the approximate area they had been set up the day before. I did about 5 lines and hit a monster of a signal, a couple of scoops of sand and I saw Matt’s gold Citadel ring in the sand. I picked it up, walked back to where they were sitting and held it up for them to see. Their expressions were priceless, which is why I love finding people’s lost treasures and getting it back where it belongs.
Tabathia and Matt – Thank you for calling me to help find Matt’s hard-earned ring.
Jim
30 August 2025. Sometimes you’re lucky. I received a call from Philip, who’d been referred to me by my RingFinder friend Rick. He told me that Jen had lost her 2 kt oval diamond engagement ring in the dry sand where they were sitting and asked if I could come with a metal detector to find it. I of course said yes and arrived at the beach 15 minutes later. As (good!) luck would have it, they had found the ring just as I arrived, so all was well.
Jen described how the ring went flying off her finger as she was putting on sunscreen. The ring disappeared in the fine sand, which is not unusual, and it can be very difficult if not impossible to recover with just finger sifting if you’re not certain where it landed. A dry-sand loss, however, is a lucky situation because a metal detector, when used by a trained eye/ear, can make recovery quick and easy if the location of the loss is reasonably constrained. It becomes much more difficult with a loss in the water, where tides, wind & waves, rocks, shifting sand, and location uncertainty can greatly complicate a search.
I snapped some pictures of Jen and her ring and we expressed thanks all around, particularly that that beautiful diamond was back on her finger. A lucky day!
Jen’s beautiful engagement ring.
Jen with her engagement ring back in place with her wedding rings.
July 29, 2025 Debbie and her husband were out house hunting. My home was on the market and the Open House sign attracted them. While touring the home they noticed my metal detector and struck up a conversation with my realtor about my water detecting prowess. Little did they know the knowledge of my hobby would be beneficial to them within a few days when Debbie saw her wedding band slip from her finger into the beach sand as she was applying sunscreen lotion.
The smart idea of marking the area with shells and a few small rocks after hand searching the sand would be of help in locating the area the next day. A better marker media would have been anything metal i.e. coins or soda cans. Debbie had paced of the distance from a wooden structure to the point of loss. At home they called Tom, my realtor, for my contact information. Jack had to leave a voice message which Tom later played back to me over the phone. I took the information and called Jack. I had to leave a message on Jack’s phone as he did not answer. A bit later Debbie called me and we set up a 6:30AM meeting on the beach.
I arrived a bit early just as the beach sweeper went by, grooming the beach for the holiday weekend crowd. With my new VX9 detector, on its first search, in one hand and my scoop in the other, I looked for the land marks but they had been swept away. I took what information I had, started to pace off 35 feet but that would have put me in the water, somethings never go well. I had been on the beach for less than five minutes when Debbie and her girlfriend showed up. After a bit of an introduction and pointing to the area, Debbie started to pace off the 35 feet. I watched as she paced the 35 feet by putting the heal of one foot to toes of the other, repeating it 35 times. I followed, detecting the sand as I went. About five feet (60”) from where Debbie’s 35 “feet” ended and even closer to my last drag mark in the sand I had my second signal of the morning. A quick scoop and my searching was finished.
“Lets go back to the car so I can get more information.” Looking puzzled, I had to tell Debbie to look into my scoop. Yes the ring was the second target and the ring was in my scoop. All in less than a minute! Debbie and her friend Lynn were told I was good at finding a lost ring, but this morning I was great. But Debbie had one more up on me when she said she had a cup of coffee for me in the car. I often mentioned my thirst for coffee but no one had ever had a cup ready for me.
At the car we talked and the recent happenings just continued to amaze us. Jack and I are both retired sailors and worked with submarines during our tours of duty. This year is Debbie and Jacks 30th anniversary. She had lived on Cape Cod and I live here now. I could not convince her that she and Jack should buy my house, it was meant to be – not. If the house was smaller – maybe. At least all is well and Debbie has her ring back for the upcoming anniversary. What a wonderful way to have at the start of another day on Vacation Land.
I received a text from a gentleman about a gold wedding ring lost in his backyard, by a friend of his, during an obstacle/drinking event that involved a slip n slide and a bat spin!
Needless to say the ring flew off at some point and they couldn’t find it.
After arriving and getting the layout it took about 10-15 mins to find it!
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Ring count for 2025: 139 (23 – recoveries)
GOLD – 26 (15 – recoveries)
GOLD/SILVER – 2 (2 – recoveries)
PLATNIUM – 3 (3 – recoveries)
SILVER – 36 (3 – recoveries)
VINTAGE – 2
JUNK – 72
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“DIG IT ALL, SAVE SOME RINGS & BURY THE DRAMA!”
Thank you for reading my blog, please tell your friends about TheRingFinders.com
A Fist Pump Serve…..
….was all Dennis could hope for as he spiked the ball down to score the winning point on the volleyball court as darkness fell upon the game. With a successful win the players congratulated one another with high 5’s and danced around on the court. After Dennis got home he noticed his ring missing. Rushing back to the court he looked around in the dark with no luck. On site he showed me what went on. I had 3 places the ring could be. Either side of the court or the opposite side of the court out in the thick grass. I elected to start in the area he was standing when the final serve was given. My MXT metal detector was wanting to score but gave no signals until I was right under the net. A very nice signal came thru. Pushing thru the sand with my pin-pointer metal detector revealed his ring! Dennis was totally surprised that the ring was there and felt even more victorious that this meeting at the net scored another memorable victory of a different kind that will last a lifetime.
Jonathan
