Uncategorized Category | Page 542 of 585 | The Ring Finders

     Deanna called me at 7:30pm and asked me if I can find her husband’s tungsten carbide wedding ring. After getting some preliminary info, I told her I would meet them in about an hour. I arrived at the beach and found them still on the sand where they had pitched an umbrella earlier in the day. Always a good sign when people stay where they lose something. Seems her husband was vigorously brushing sand off his hands and the ring went flying. I started my grid right where he was standing while doing the brushing and branched out from there.

     After a few junk sounds and expanding the search area a bit, I found it about another 15 feet closer to the water, 2 inches down, and dead center in the tire track made by the lifeguard truck! They were both overjoyed to get it back. When the dust had settled a bit and I was getting ready to do some photos, they asked me if I’d like to find another ring. After my rhetorical question « you lost another ring? » I found out that it belonged to Deanna this time and it was lost in the sand too, about 20 away from where they were sitting. After a minute or two, I found it and handed it to her. She then said that it was just one of a two ring set she lost at the same time! About 5 feet away, the other ring turned up too.

      After verifying that there weren’t any more items to be found, we gathered up our stuff and went over toward the boardwalk to take the photos. I’ve found a few double ring losses before, but that was my first triple, and my first for both husband and wife! It was a pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.

     This ring find is out of this world….some of it anyway.  Kyle called me with the tale of woe of losing his wedding ring at the main beach in Coronado. Seems he took his ring off to keep from losing it when he went out in the surf, and placed it in his hat for safekeeping. After he came back out of the water, the hat went back on the head and ring went into the sand. After realizing what had happened, he searched and sifted for quite a while without success. An internet search brought him to The Ring Finders and my number. He lost the ring about 3pm on Thursday and called me Friday morning at 10:30. Knowing that beach gets searched frequently, I grabbed my gear and headed down there for hopefully a quick recovery before the crowds hit the beach or another detector found the ring, not knowing it’s significance or who may have lost it. Upon arrival, I met Kyle and he showed me the search area. There were already people camped out in some of the area but most was still open. Kyle described the ring as a tungsten carbide band with a meterite inlay. (my first)  I ran a grid in all the open areas and then sniped around some of the blankets and tents but the ring wouldn’t show itself. I did find a few coins and good sounding junk, so, I figured another detector probably didn’t find it but was puzzled as to why I hadn’t. It was starting to get pretty crowded, so, we called it a day. I told Kyle that I would contact some people I know who work that beach to see if they might have come across it somehow. I met a fellow club member there and asked him, but he hadn’t found a ring like that. Kyle left, and I hung around for a while longer, expanded the search area a bit,  hoping to hit an area still uncovered by blanket. After another hour or so, I gave up and went home, but decided to return later when the crowds left for the day.

       At about 8:30 that night, I headed back down to give it another try. I arrived at 9 and began another grid over the main blanket line area that was covered earlier. I found a few coins, a key, and then a « big » hit, literally. It was can sized or bigger but the numbers were wrong and all over the board. I scooped a bunch of sand out and the first target I found was a bit of foil. After cursing under my breath, I swung the loop over pile again and got a nice 12-13  reading on my E-trac. I then sifted out a nickel. Rats! I was about to kick the sand back into the hole when I passed the coil over the pile again, I hear a loud signal but, again, the numbers were jumping from 25-35 on the ferrous side and 35-50 on the conductive side. Those are usually iron junk sounds, and for a moment, I though of just ignoring it but, since it was already out of the ground, I went ahead and scooped it anyway just to get it out of the sand and into the trash where it belonged. Lo and behold, it was Kyle’s ring! That had to be the worst ring sound I ever heard. After inspecting the ring and determining that it matched Kyle’s description, I discovered that it was marked Zirconium/Meteorite inside the band….not tungsten carbide. With today’s assortment of jewelry metals, it’s more important than ever to know what you’re searching for. If you have a call to search for a ring with a meteorite inset, you need to dig iron sounds! That is not going to make some areas fun to search.

         I called Kyle with the good news. He was very happy I found the key to getting  him out of the dog house with his wife. It was almost 10pm at this point so we decided to meet up the next day for the return. As you can see, he’s a happy guy now. It was a pleasure to meet you Kyle, thank you for the reward, and more importantly, your service to our country.

While detecting on the beach at Grand Haven State Park, I was approached by two people who had lost rings.  Joe had lost his Stainless Steel ring on the volleyball court and had about a dozen people on their hands and knees looking for it.  I found it in less than a minute to great applause.  About an hour later, newlyweds Byran & Rebecca R. asked if I’d help find Bryan’s white gold wedding band he’d lost while building a sand castle on the shoreline.  Again, it was found in less than a minute.  Glad I could help.

Joe

Bryan & Rebecca R.

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.