I got a text from my friend Jay N. who’s friend lost his wedding ring while boating at a local lake. I went out the next morning with my Ring Finder friend, Dave Boyer. After meeting Drew L. and his wife Kristin they pointed us in the area and in about 20 minutes with Dave and I doing a grid search, Dave came up with this beauty of a ring.
This is is why I love what I do! When Chelsea called from another state, I knew she was skeptical that I could not only find her rings here in FL but also return them. She explained that she had dropped both the diamond engagement ring and the diamond encrusted band from her Tacori wedding ring set on the beach while visiting Navarre. I knew what these rings meant to her both financially as well as emotionally and I could only imagine what was going through her mind. I couldn’t wait to see the smile on her face when I found them. Chelsea was on a huge beach and as is common, she was not sure where she lost them. She didn’t even know if they were in the Gulf or the dry sand. She also mentioned that they had purchased a metal detector and gone back another day and scoured the area with no luck. I reassured her that I had a few tricks up my sleeve and a couple of top of the line machines that could find her rings much deeper than the machine she purchased. She began to feel better and I asked my questions I needed to know so that I could start my search. I had to put in quite a bit of work on this one because of the size of the area but ultimately I was able to find both rings and put them back on her finger. As you can see from the picture, her husband Jason was just as thrilled as she was. I am so glad that I was able to find these for you. Thank you Chelsea and Jason for trusting me.
Matt called TheRingFinders for help getting his wedding ring back. Seems he was playing ball out in the waves with a friend when, while catching the ball, it smacked his hand sending his gold wedding band flying into the surf. The bad news…..it was at low tide…..the good news…..it was only knee to thigh deep, and since he called both myself and fellow ring finder member Tony Eisenhower, who brought his grandson, we had a team to help in the search.
We met Matt at the appointed time and place so he could show us the search area. The good news……thankfully he took some reference points to help narrow it down a bit……the bad news……fairly rough surf and quite a bit of kelp to tangle us. Out we went, Tony and me using our new Equinox 800’s and Tony’s grandson with the trusty Excalibur. After about 20-30 minutes and no signals, guess who finally gets a good sound? Yup, the grandson, showing us both up! Tony came over, scooped the nice sound, and success, Matt’s ring is back in the sunshine. Now Matt can head home to MN without having to come up with an explanation to his wife on how he lost his ring here in San Diego. A pleasure to meet you Matt, and thank you for the generous reward.
Kicking the season off with a successful recovery. Lost men’s Plat band, brief three minute hunt and it was back in the clients hand.
When I woke up on Tuesday, May 8th, I noticed I had a 6:30 a.m. missed call with a voice mail from Michigan. Robert, who had left the message, stated he had found me through The Ring Finders website and was wondering about the details in finding a lost ring. He also said his wife’s engagement ring was lost in my area. When I called him back, we discussed the details of the search. He stated that his mother-in-law had lost his wife’s engagement ring, probably had it on her little finger and it slipped off. One of his questions concerned this being a scam, I assured him everything was on the up and up and gave him a short version of my history. The conversation seemed to put his mind at ease and he gave me the description of the lost ring and the general location. Shortly after, I was on my way to Ocean Isle Beach.
During the forty minute drive, Robert sent me pictures of the rental house they stayed in, the beach access where they entered the beach, and the search area. Actually, there were two search areas, one possible area, and inside that area was a probable area. It looked like this might be a pretty big search, everything considered. I texted him about 10:35 a.m. telling him I was there, and I’d let him know when I found it. I also asked him when her ring was lost and he responded saying either the 1st or 2nd of May.
A couple of things I’ve learned while beach hunting and watching people, one – they don’t venture to far right or left from where they came onto the beach, and two – they “usually” veer to their right to find their spot. So, I grabbed my PI detector and went straight from the stair access to the mid-tide line, dragging my scoop behind me leaving a line in the sand. The PI was going crazy with all the trash in the sand making this search very time consuming. Luckily, I had brought my AT Pro and hiked back to the car to retrieve it. I was alternating my search grid from the left and right of my center line when I noticed two ladies walking out on the beach. True to form, they were veering to the right of the stairs and started setting up their chairs and stuff right where I needed to search. I nicely told them what I was doing and asked if they would mind setting up about 10 feet left in an area I had already searched. They didn’t seem happy but they moved, thank goodness. Two more passes on the right of my center line, and just about where the ladies would have been sitting, I got a strong signal with a 51 on the screen, exactly what I expected for a small lady’s white gold ring. I looked down at the sand as I waved the detector back over the spot, and actually saw the top third of the ring sticking out of the sand. BOOM!!! I had her ring.
At 12:55 p.m. I texted Robert a picture of the ring, asking “Look familiar?!?! and then called him. When he answered his phone, I asked him if he got my text, he said he had but hadn’t looked at it yet. I told him he needed to look at the text. I heard him gasp, and he said something like “oh my goodness, I can’t believe you found it.” Before we hung up, we worked out the details to try and get the ring back to him, in Michigan, by Mother’s Day so he could surprise his wife, Abbey. Unfortunately, the ring didn’t make it back in time, but Robert had a backup plan. For Mother’s Day, he had her open 4 boxes inside one another, each box contained a picture. The first box had a picture of my book, “Teardrops in the Tides; The Journeys of a Ring Finder.” The second box had a picture of the search area. The third box was a picture of my scoop in the sand where I found her ring, and the forth box had a picture of her ring. Robert shared with me that Abbey was so happy she cried.
Robert, thank you for trusting in me to help find Abbey’s ring.
The smile on Abbey’s face says it all, how can it get it better. Robert also sent Abbey’s Mother’s Day surprise!!!
Jim
The evening of May 20th ended on a sad note for Milwaukee residents, Preston and Johannah St. John. Johannah’s wedding rings took flight into the night behind their new home, disappearing into the thick foliage. The means whereby the rings went airborne shall remain shrouded in mystery or just left to the imagination of the reader. Despite crawling on hands and knees, Preston and Johannah could not find their love tokens—the rings seemed lost forever.
A quick search on the Internet pointed Johannah to a fellow Ring Finder in the region. He contacted me with the details the next morning and after a quick phone call a search was arranged that evening.
As luck would have it, rain fell in torrents all day, turning the ground into a soggy mess. But just as I pulled into the St. John’s driveway the clouds seemed to sense the urgency of the hour, took pity on us all and turned their showers elsewhere. The search was made all the more challenging by the presence of iron trash and a large cast iron pipe buried in the ground. To ferret out the signals of small gold rings amidst a ferrous cacophony made me glad for my discerning XP Deus detector. Soon the first ring, a fine band, came to light. A half hour later and some 30 feet away, the solitaire similarly cried uncle.
I was making my way back to the car when Johannah appeared. Her body language and facial expression betrayed fast-fading hope. At first I played the part of a futile search but then her pained disappointment was too much for me. I opened my hand to reveal, first the solitaire, and then the band. Tears and a hug followed. Gotta love this hobby.
Thanks, Preston and Johannah, for letting me recover your rings! As for just how they took flight… that shall remain our secret.
Got the call yesterday from Angela, an assistant to Lyn, who lost 3 rings playing with her dogs near her Medina home. After getting the necessary info, which included great photos of the location, I hurried out to find them. It was a high profile location, so time was of the essence!
Due to the great info I was provided, I thankfully found them with an hour or so. If you lose a ring, take pictures of the spot you were at, in the direction you think it flew off, this info is invaluable to a Ringfinder! Since they were unable to meet me there, it really helped to have these pictures so I could get to work finding the rings as soon as I arrived.
The rings were pretty far from the point she was throwing from, so Lyn must have a strong pitching arm! All were within 6 ft of each other.
A plain silver band, a neat Tiffany & Co. palladium ring, and a classic Trinity ring from Cartier… white, rose and yellow gold, it was a family heirloom so I was glad I could find them.
Please contact me quickly and I’ll have a better chance of reuniting you with your lost items!
I got an email a few days ago from a young man going to Middlebury College. His girlfriend, also a student there, was out running on a path and lost one of her pearl stud earrings. These earrings had been given to her many years ago by her mother, so they meant a lot to her. She didn’t need any more stress at this time, because she is graduating in a few days and had lots of papers to write and finals to take. They both looked hard for the earring, but because of all the crushed white stones on the running path, it was nearly impossible to find.
I went down early this morning, met him there, and he showed me where the path was. He was so thoughtful, willing to stay and help and even got me some coffee. She was working hard on homework and couldn’t be there for the search. I knew he had some papers to write, so I went to work and told him I’d call when I found it.
The odds were against me. Finding a stud/post style earring is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, partly because of their shape and partly because there’s so little metal in them. They give off very faint signals. We were lucky she lost them in an area that wasn’t deep grass or brush. It started raining pretty hard, and after about an hour and many junk signals, I got a signal that was from an earring backer. The problem was it was the wrong backer. But shortly after I got another signal that gave the right numbers on the ID display. I bent down close and there was the pearl! I was so glad to find it. I emailed him a picture and told him I’d continue to look for the correct backer. Soon they both showed up, she was so excited. She also told me that the backer I found was the one that she had been using, probably why the earring fell out.
We had a nice visit after.
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RIGHT WHERE WE SAID IT WASN’T!
Memory is a funny thing, especially under stress. So I often end up finding rings outside where they are « sure » to be!
So was it with Jayce and Jacqueline’s ring!
Jacqueline called me and I could hear in her voice she was feeling almost sick to her stomach.
It was her – and her extended family’s – first day in Hawaii and they’d gone to a tiny beach in the exclusive Kokio area to enjoy the ocean.
She’d noticed her wedding and engagement rings were loose, so carefully took them off – and also took Jayce’s wedding band – and placed them all in a pocket in her bag under the tree her large family was sheltering under.
She was thinking about the rings for a long time while enjoying the water and sunbathing – and sure enough, when she checked they were safe-and-sound, saw that her diamond ring was missing! How could it have fallen out?!
Her husband Jayce and other relatives of the family looked for hours through the sand under the little tree where they had lost the ring. Carefully they made a pile of stones and debris outside the area Jacqueline had been in, as they carefully sifted the sand with their fingers.
When they called me, they’d all but given up hope. I got there just an hour before sunset so got right to work. I decided to search where they were sure she’d lost it. Carefully, I made a careful search, being sure not to leave an inch uncovered. Every time I dug, Jacqueline’s father came over to inspect, disappointed over and over at the pennies and other junk I uncovered. Jacqueline couldn’t watch the repeated false alarms.
As I often do, I expanded my search area beyond where the ring is « sure to be ». I carefully searched the pile of rubble they’d made and listened carefully in case it was under it. « It’s not going to be there, » a few of them said as I got even further from the tree.
Then…I heard gold in the headphones and looked at her father. Jacqueline’s sister saw the look too and I dug with my sand scoop, ran over to see. On my third scoop, a diamond wedding ring…! Her father reached in and pulled it out. Suddenly they were all clapping and laughing – « It wasn’t there all along! » They almost cried in unison!
In the end, what had made the carefully placed ring disappear? A tiny hole in her bag had let the ring slip out.
The family left and I took a few photos of the quiet beach – and the little rock pile and said our little slogan – « We Save Marriages! » Glad to have looked for the ring where it wasn’t!
Yesterday morning, while I was at work, I got an email and a voicemail from a woman very much needing help finding her wedding ring. She had been working in their back yard moving branches and brush. She rented a metal detector and searched with that as well as by eye. Her property has been a residential yard for probably over 150 years, therefore was full of metal scraps and nails, making it very difficult for an inexperienced person to operate a metal detector. Her husband went to work, but the ring was heavy on his mind, too. He found a link to The Ring Finders website and emailed it to her.
I called her as soon as I got out of work and we made plans for me to come right away to do the search. The weather was beautiful and the drive was nice to the old Vermont mill town nestled between some very steep Green Mountains. Their house was on the edge of the town, with Springtime lush green fields, a huge barn and waterfalls in the back yard. What a place to raise their children.
She showed me the areas where it should be and I got to work. After about an hour and a half, No luck with one of my favorite detectors. The raspberry and blueberry patch was so thick I decided to use another detector with a small diameter search coil. In about a half hour I got the solid ring tone and moved the weeds and twigs and there it was!
The ring was extremely sentimental to them, because it was custom made using diamonds from a mother’s, grandmother’s and great grandmother’s old rings. It sure was beautiful. When I handed it to her she broke down with happy and relief tears and gave me a huge hug. Her husband was happy and offered up some beer to celebrate. Her older son even gave me a hug. As always, I was extremely happy for them.
They invited me to come back some day and hike the waterfalls and do some « archeological » digs on the old trail by their house and up to an old cellar hole.
I love this hobby!!
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