Uncategorized Category | Page 552 of 582 | The Ring Finders

I was driving over to pick up my sister, niece, and grand niece to take them to the airport when I get a call from Alex asking for help finding her husband Luke’s wedding ring. Seems it slipped off his finger at the beach while he was shaking out a towel. They noticed it missing right away and hadn’t left the spot so I figured this would be a quick and easy recovery. Being a bit short on time, I hot footed it back home, grabbed the detector, and headed over to their location. I was only able to search for 1/2 hour before I had to leave and make my airport run. I figured that would still be plenty of time….ha….it never works out that way! That ring wasn’t about to give up that easily. I left and promised to be back in about an hour and a half or so. When I came back, they were still waiting there patiently and I resumed my search. I crossed my previous pattern and expanded it a bit but still no ring. I then started searching across the other side of the sidewalk and even up into the ice plant. Did I mention that all the concrete was steel reinforced? It became pin pointer time along the edge of the concrete where it met the sand. Still no ring but I found an Ike dollar coin! My first in years. I then got back on the big detector again and expanded the search area in the dry sand. Made just one more pass to the west and « bingo » a nice big shallow hit. Sure enough, it was his ring. A happier couple you will never see….even though it was getting dark! Nice to meet you two and thank you for the reward.

 

This is a combined effort of mine and Stan Ross’s. Stan got the initial call from Matthew about a ring he lost at Coronado beach in San Diego. It was supposedly lost within 5 ft of a certain fire ring within a group of 8 fire rings in a big square pattern. Due to a miscommunication of some sort, Stan search 4 of the rings without success only to find later that it was lost at a different ring. Since Stan lives almost 100 miles from that beach, he called me and asked if I would be interested in heading over and giving it a shot since I was fairly close by. I said sure, but in the back of my mind I’m thinking « oh boy, a fire ring! » (not). Sure enough, when I get there and start hunting (the proper ring this time), it is just carpet bombed with nails and other debris all around the pit and out several yards. To make it worse, the fire ring itself has steel reinforcement in the concrete so hunting up next to it would need to be relegated to the pin pointer and scoop. After several hours, coil and setting changes, and hand scooping around the fire ring, I almost gave up but I continued a grid pattern out farther and farther from the ring. At about a radius of 20-25 feet away I get another multitarget tone with readings all over the place. Every now and then a good « gold ring » reading would poke through so I figured, what the heck, scoop and see what it is. My detector said it was only 2″ down so I just took a shallow scoop of sand but didn’t find anything. I next took a full scoop and started to shake out the sand. First thing visible was a screw top, then a melted piece of aluminum can, then a new condom still in the foil wrapper, and then at the bottom was a gold ring! That baby was hiding real well but the E-trac managed to sniff it out even with all that extra junk trying to mask it. The inscription matched so I knew I had Matthew’s ring. I contacted Stan and Matthew and since Matthew lived out of town, I got his shipping info so I could mail the ring to him. That is always a great phone call to make! I was only able to photograph the ring so you’ll just have to use your imagination to see Matthew’s smile! Thank you Matthew for the nice reward and thank you Stan for the referal. I owe you at least a good meal so think of a place! Here’s Matthew’s ring…

 

Whilst enjoying rock climbing on the scenic cliffs of Portland, Dorset with his wife and friends- Mr Phil Haigh accidentally spilled the contents of his rucksack down the rocky slopes. Unfortunately the wedding ring he had so carefully placed in there also fell from the bag and seemingly disappeared. A friend of his read on Facebook of his loss of his wedding ring and gave him the Ring Finders address after seeing the recent Television story.

The walk down the slopes was breathtakingly beautiful and walk to the location was difficult in places. The ring was recovered in seconds in the long grass and a very appreciative Mr Haigh and wife made a very generous donation to the Air Ambulance to which I am most grateful.

The 8th August 2013 had been a beautiful day in Swanage. The high temperatures and school holidays had brought many to the beach to enjoy the sun, sea and sand. All though, bar one lady- Mrs Pamela Knight on holiday to see friends for a few days. She had dropped and lost her ring into the sand and watched in horror as it quickly sank and disappeared.

I knew this time of year and idyllic conditions brought the beach treasure hunters down in their masses so time was against us. Arriving the same day at the location already there were four other detectorists combing the beach-luckily they hadn’t found it and within 10 minutes I found her lost ring in the sand.

Mrs Knight was overwhelmed as she thought she would never see her lost ring again. She paid me a huge thanks and made a kind donation to the Air Ambulance.

Tuesday I was contacted by Josh P. about his fiancée’s lost engagement ring, as I was on my way up to Traverse City, MI I was unable to help him until today. His fiancée gave him her ring before she washed her hands and he put it in his pocket for safe keeping. He was on his way back to their apartment when he crossed a 20 foot wide thicket filled with pricker bushes and tree branches and felt something hit his leg and soon discovered he had a hole in his pocket. The ring fell out just before he exited the thicket and he thought it was lost for good. After looking for a while he went to the internet and found my name through the ringfinders directory and immediately gave me a call.

My detecting partner Dave B. and I got to Josh’s apartment around 10:30am and began to unload our detectors. No sooner did we have our detectors on and a good ring sound rang out and in the tall grass under the prickers we found the white gold diamond ring. Josh’s fiancée wasn’t there but he promised to send me a picture of her holding the ring. Josh was a very happy guy and was getting a new pair of pants without holes.

I first heard about a man, Dick L., who lost his retirement ring that he received from Oldsmobile after working there 39 years, while doing some yard work either at his church or his home. It was a year ago and his granddaughter, Lindsey, wanted to make it right for him so she hunted around for another ring just like the one he lost and then surprise him at a family gathering. A TV reporter from her town found out about the ring and the presentation to her grandfather and put the story on TV. For the first time in his 83 years he was speechless brought on by the caring act of his granddaughter and getting a likeness of his ring back.

I saw the story on Fox 17 and thought to myself I can find that ring. I called the TV reporter and asked her if I could contact Dick L. to see if I could find the original ring, she was so excited about the possibilities of finding it that she called Dick and he agreed to meet with me. Today my detecting friend Dave B. and I went to Portland after finding another ring for a gentleman that morning. We met with Dick and he took us over to the church where he had done some fencing and yard work last summer. He explained how he took a dirt pile and spread it out, filled in some holes and then sifted some of the dirt to take home and add to his lawn. A year ago the summer was very hot and his front lawn needed seeding and top dirt added to it to help out an almost dying lawn. After digging, raking and detecting for over 3 hours at the church we decided to take a look at Dick’s front yard. This summer the yard was very green and well manicured. An area not larger than 25′ by 50′ we started a grid search where he said he added top soil. In less than 5 minutes the ring was found setting in a small divot covered by some dead grass. How the ring escaped the eyes of it’s owner for a year and repeated mowing’s is amazing.

Dick’s granddaughter, Lindsey, accompanied us on both site searches and became a little teary eyed after the find knowing her grandfather was reunited with his original ring and Dick was again speechless for a moment. Lindsey contacted the TV station and they were able to get a reporter and cameraman out for the follow-up story. It became a nice lawn party with Dick’s wife, Lindsey, their other daughter and several neighbors driving by wondering what all the commotion was with the TV reporters doing there.

The funny thing is I told Dick this was going to be my 32nd story and he said that is my old football number « 32 ». It was this Irishman’s lucky day. By tomorrow this small town of Portland, MI will know « the rest of the story ».