Love making those returns! Received a call Friday night for a lost men’s wedding band at Siesta Key just an hour before. Lucky for him we were coming into low tide, lost in knee deep water. After searching for around 15 minutes I found the ring. I’m always glad when they call right away, giving us detectorists a better chance to find it.
The freezing temperatures kept everything, well… nicely preserved. No odors, no mess, about as ideal as a garbage recovery can get!
On a Sunday evening, I received a text stating “We lost a wedding band, we think in our backyard, and were wondering if you could come out and find it.”
I asked a few of my standard questions regarding how the ring had been lost, and why they thought it was in the yard. Steph told me her husband had the ring on in the morning. After working out in the yard all day, he came in to shower and he realized the ring was missing. They searched through the house and didn’t find it, so she did an internet search and found the Ringfinders.
I was able to go out to their house the next morning, so we agreed on a convenient time.
I arrived and met with Steph. She walked me through the yard work her husband was doing, and the area the ring could have been lost in. She thought it may have been lost while he had been planting berry bushes, or trimming some bushes. She also told me they had purchased a metal detector off of Amazon Prime, but were frustrated because they just kept getting noise everywhere they searched.
Searching the front yard area and flower beds, I only found some aluminum scrap and a penny. Also no indication the ring was buried under any of the berry bushes Ryan had planted.
Moving into the backyard area, I focused on the raised area above the lawn, I hit some promising targets, but were just junk.
A bit away, I received a scratchy sound on the Manticore, but good VDI numbers, and perfect response on the 2D mapping. Leaning in I could see the faint outline of a ring.
Confirming this was the missing ring, I snapped a photo, and found Steph, who was in the house. I asked if she would come out so I could explain how I was searching with the metal detector. I handed her the penny I had found, and she said she was hoping it was the missing ring. We went into the backyard. I ran the detector over a couple of bad targets, then over the ring. I told her that’s the ring, but she still didn’t see it. Kicking a little of the yard debris away, she was able to pick up the missing ring!
I asked if it was alright if I took some photos for the Ringfinders website, and Steph said she was hopeful that they would be added with a successful recovery.
Steph told me she was sure they wouldn’t have found the ring without my help.
Steph was going to use the penny I had found to give Ryan a hard time for losing his ring. He was very sad to get home and just see a penny on the counter, and not his ring, but very happy to actually have his ring back.
While doing yardwork involving raking and brush pile organization his ring was found missing later in the day 
after his work was done. He tried searching with a metal detector for a few days on his own with no luck. Searching and wondering where his ring was lost a brush pile and immediate area was searched. After a 1/2 hour search his ring was located in the midst of a brush pile and returned. He was ecstatic! many thanks to you for calling me and allowing me the opportunity to help return your ring!
Romani called when he lost his wedding ring. He was shaking out his towel getting ready to leave and realized his ring was missing. He was not sure when it came off but thought it might be around that area. While still on the beach he found my number on Ringfinders web site. I was able to meet him and his family on the beach and after a short search I found the ring. We were both thrilled and his family gave me a big cheer. Such a rewarding hobby!
This adventure started just before 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 30, 2026, when I received a call from Rick about a lost ring. He said his wife Rona had lost her Engagement Ring somewhere in a field. They were in the process of checking out of a Howard Johnsons Hotel and loading a truck to continue their trip when her ring slipped off her finger. I asked him to send me the address, and I’ll send him my ETA once I got on the road.
It took just under an hour and a half to get to the address; unfortunately, Rick had been given the wrong address to give to me. I quickly asked Siri for directions to the nearest Howard Johnson, which ended up being another 3 miles down the road. Once I drove the 3 miles, I didn’t see a Howards Johnson in any direction. I pulled into a gas station and called Rick. Luckily, he was standing in the field across the highway and saw me walking around the gas station parking lot. We finally met next to the field where the ring was lost, which maybe was half a football field. He showed me the suspected loss area, where the truck was parked and the area he and Rona had been. Looking at the whole situation, loss was that day, grass was short with bare areas I’m thinking this would be more of a visual search. None-the-less, I turned on the Equinox 800 and tested Rona’s Wedding band, a solid 13 on the VDI (visual display indicator). I started a north/south grid search starting at the curb and working towards the Howard Johnsons. There were a lot of targets, but they were all trash, mostly pull tabs which were ringing up as a 13 on the 800 and bottle caps. Rick was sure of the area it should be in, so I shortened my grid lines. It finally got dark enough to use head lamps for a visual search, thinking that gold ring should shine when the lights hit it. I finished up the area and moved to the far end of one side and started an east/west grid, moving my grid line further out from my original grid lines. Before I did, I talked to Rick and asked him if he would get my other head lamp and start a grid search of his own, going back over my search area. As I got finished with my first east/west grid line, I saw Rick and Rona arm in arm bent overusing their phone flashlight and my headlamp searching like pros. I stopped to see how things were going and as I was talking to Rona, Rick rose up and said, “I just found the ring!” He showed both Rona and me and boom, with the light shining on it, it was obvious as could be. I joked with Rick that he needs to become a ring finder now.
Rick and Rona – Thank you for contacting and trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Best wishes to both of you. Take care!
Jim
