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Noo !

I received the call while I was at work. The owner had just lost her wedding ring on the beach and was understandably very anxious to get it back. I tried to calm her nerves and explain what would take place before and during a search. We realized the search would have to wait until the following morning. The next day also happened to be her 10th wedding anniversary and I wanted very badly to make it one they would always remember. Since she would be unable to meet me at the site I instructed her to dig a large hole near the location (but not too close!) and to text me some reference photos of the spot to give me some background landmarks to help me discern the likely area of the ring for the search the next day. The owner did this to perfection (she had a crew of eager kids helping and they did a great job!) and provided me with some invaluable information to help make a successful recovery. After doing quite a few of these searches I was feeling pretty good about the odds of a recovery. The information I had received was very good quality and I had every reason to believe the ring was laying hidden near where the owner thought it was. With all of this I told the owner that, in my opinion, we had a very good chance of success but I couldn’t make any guarantees because the unforeseen « wild card » could always come into play and change everything.

I arrived at the beach at first light eager and confident but when I pulled up my worst fears were realized when I saw the infamous « wild card » directly in front of me. There, very near to the spot was a large tractor scooping and pushing sand across the beach! I ran out and flagged the operator down. After explaining the situation he obliged and headed towards the ocean and away from the search area. I shudder to think of what the outcome would have been had I arrived even a little later. Once the adrenaline had subsided I got out my phone and zeroed in on the likely spot using the photos I had to triangulate the ring’s hiding spot as best I could. The ring was platinum with diamonds encircling it which would mean it would probably be a very low and broken signal, I was going to have to check every single signal I got, no matter how small. With my discrimination setting at zero I proceeded to hunt very slowly and meticulously. Bits of foil and random pieces of metal garbage were everywhere but I had to check and retrieve them all. The ring, with it’s material and construction could « look » like any of these to my machine. 30-40 minutes in I was beginning to wonder if the ring, with it’s faint signal, may have been pushed too deep for the the coil I was using to « see ». I decided to search for awhile longer before putting on a deeper-searching coil which I had brought along for just this possibility. A couple minutes later I received a decent signal but not exactly what I was expecting from the ring. I wanted so badly to be able to give the owner good news that I asked the detecting gods to smile upon me as I brushed at the sand. There, down about 3″ was the beautiful ring sitting edge up ! The detecting gods were indeed smiling brightly upon all of us today. A happy anniversary for the couple and an awesome day for me 🙂

Yes !

I got a call today from Melissa B. saying that she lost her diamond bracelet given to her from her grandmother. She was visiting her mother and grandmother in Comstock Park, Michigan and Sunday, while packing up to go home to Miami, Florida, she lost the bracelet. Melissa looked up my name through the ring finders directory and gave me a call today. I told her I would try to get to her grandmothers house Wednesday and would get back to her. This afternoon I was able to go out to the house with my detecting friends Chuck R. and Dave B.. Arriving at the house I met her mom and grandmother and walked through the steps that led Melissa to loose the bracelet. « Melissa picked up her large carryall in the basement and with her bracelet in her right hand, walked up the stairs to the outside door and across the sidewalk to the SUV sitting in the driveway. Melissa opened the front passenger door and got in the car and noticed her bracelet was gone ». This is what we had to go on and the first thing I asked was « did you check the vehicle over, from the door jam to under the seats, did you empty your carryall, did you check your clothes? » Melissa said, « yes ».

We proceeded to check the bushes, flowers, grass along the sidewalk and drive. I went down stairs and on my hands and knees look under the heater vents, along the carpet to the carpeted steps and up and out the door. After doing this several times I called Melissa and told her it was not here. Just then while talking to her I looked down at the decorative block steps on the outside stoop and in a crack I notice several crystals that looked like what we were looking for. I called out to Melissa on the phone and said « I think I see it », her and I were very elated at that point until we pried the block loose and it was broken pieces of glass from the storm door. I apologized to her for getting her hopes up and told her we would continue our hunt.

After an hour or so of not finding it, I called her back and recommended that she call her sister who is now in Haymarket, Virginia and who drove her to the airport and have her search the car again and ask the housekeeper if she could keep her eye out for the bracelet. About 8PM tonight I got a call from Melissa who was home in Miami, she talked to her brother-in-law and he searched the SUV again and found the bracelet down between the front passenger seat and the console. This was a very happy ending to a frustrating few days for Melissa.

As a ring finder we don’t always find what we are looking for but with a little detective work and a lot of questions, we can help the one who lost the item eventually find it. I have posted a picture of Melissa wearing the bracelet and a picture of the bracelet held by her brother-in-law after finding it.

You can take steps to insure that your  rings or other valuable jewelry can be returned minimal effort and essentially without cost.  Many of theringfinders.com  members continually check internet sites and other listings for people listing their lost rings, etc. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand that it is our desire to return lost jewelry (or other items) to their rightful owner. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand that jewelry, including wedding rings, are located everyday in the ocean, sea or lakes by metal detectorists. Most of us would gladly attempt to return the lost item IF ONLY we had a notice of lost and/or information on the owner.  Two things would assist us in returning your lost items:

1) Have your identity or contact information inscribed on the piece of jewelry;

2) If you lose a piece of jewelry, list it on the web or various popular websites.

If you have lost a piece of jewelry anywhere, please contact theringfinders.com website for a listing of members located throughout the world.

Raoul called me and said he had dropped two rings in some tall grass in front of where he worked and could only find one of them. He had remembered seeing my Craig’s list ad and hoped I could help him. He also has and interest in the hobby and wanted some advice in choosing a detector. When I arrived, he showed me the small area in which the ring was located and I began to search. It was a relatively new industrial park and it was amazing how many signals there were in that small area. Most were junk signals but several were in the small gold ring range so there were a few to check out. After a pull tab and some scrap, I got a nice low tone on my E-trac and my pin pointer sniffed it out. You can see by the photo how well it blended into the grass. I’m surprised he eye-balled the matching band! It was a pleasure meeting you both and thank you for the reward.

Chelsea was with family and friends for an annual reunion in a small park on Lake Mango in Brandon, Florida. She had just recently become engaged and was ever so conscious of the beautiful engagement ring on her finger. To protect it she put it in the small hand purse she had with her and then went about her day enjoying all the folks who had gathered for the reunion. Disaster struck just as she was getting ready to leave the party. She looked in her purse for her ring and could not find it. She and friends looked everywhere she had been but could not find it. She left the park brokenhearted and spent a sleepless night trying to think of where it might have dropped out of her purse. The next morning Chelsea bought a metal detector and returned to the park with her fiancée Jarrod, and her “soon to be mother-in-law”, Susan and continued searching. As they searched, Susan looked on the internet and found The Ringfinders and contacted Mike Miller. Mike met them at the park and began the search. Chelsea was certain of the area where it could have most possibly could have fallen out of the purse and Mike searched that area for about 2 hours. It was hot so we took a break under a shade tree and when the break was over Chelsea decided to up out of the area and just have another look around. You guessed it!!!! As she reached the top of the bank she spotted something sparkling in the sun. It was the ring and she had found it all on her own. All of us were overjoyed and as you can see Susan and Chelsea had big smiles once again. Best wishes to Chelsea and Jerrod on their future life’s journey together.