The Ring Finders Blog | Page 308 of 931

Thirteen months is a long time! But for Greenfield, WI resident, Steven Mantsch, the agony of losing a highly sentimental ring in the waters of Tichigan Lake near Waterford those many months ago was still very fresh. The one-of-a-kind ring was hand made by his brother from an old silver dollar. Steven described how the coin’s stamping was still visible in places; United States of America… Now the ring lay somewhere in the deep mud amongst aquatic plants by a public boat dock. It happened like this.

Returning from a boating excursion, Steven stepped out of the boat onto the dock and brushed back his hair with a wave of his hand. As he did so, the precious ring slipped off his finger, bounced off the dock, hit a boat moored in the next bay and ricocheted into the water. Steven, along with friends in the area, tried unsuccessfully to extract the ring from the mud using nets and scoops. But the mud, some twelve to twenty inches deep, had swallowed the heavy ring, making even metal-detection challenging. To make matters worse, an aquatic plant harvesting machine later had been at work in the same area, stirring up the lake bottom. The ring certainly seemed lost forever.

Steven called me in response to seeing an advertisement on my car. It was a long shot, but would I consider trying to search for his ring? We arranged to meet on location, Saturday, July 31st. Beginning at 9:00 a.m., I entered the water and immediately sank into the mud. The suction constantly threatened to remove my shoes, making navigation a huge challenge. Aquatic plants wrapped around my coil making it almost impossible to “sweep” in the usual way.

Then there were the relics of bygone years, beer cans from before the age of pull tabs; the lake bottom seemed alive with metal. After a couple hours, I knew it was time to change tactics. I discarded my trusty Minelab Excalibur Detector and using a hand-held probe that vibrates in response to metallic presence, I began to systematically poke the mud, reaching down with my fingers and retrieving the targets. It was painstaking work, but finally, after 2 more hours of probing and feeling in the mud and weeds, I felt Steven’s precious ring and pulled it up to the surface! The silver was blackened after being in the water so long, but I quickly spotted its unmistakable lettering, “United States of America…”

This search was a most-challenging and memorable one! The time and the conditions seemed to join forces in preventing Steven’s ring from ever being discovered. But in the end, Steven’s perseverance coupled with technology, experience and patience, triumphed!

News of the find spread quickly around the public boat dock. Some of the same boaters and neighbors were present when Steven lost his ring over a year ago. It was a magic moment for sure. As for Steven, a glimmer of tears betrayed his joy and relief!

If you or a loved one has lost a ring, even a long time ago, chances are the ring is still there. Don’t give up hope. Steven didn’t.

This search and recovery experience was definitely a family affair! July 4th weekend found Minnesota resident, David Stoesz, relaxing on the dock of his brother, Michael’s home on Wisconsin’s beautiful Nagawicka Lake. An urge to take a swim reminded David that his Tungsten Carbide wedding ring needed protection. He had heard horror stories of people losing their rings in the water and so he carefully removed it and placed it in his hat for safe keeping. But as luck would have it, a wind gust blew the hat and ring off the dock and into the water! The ring disappeared in the deep mud and aquatic plants, its dark tungsten color working like camouflage making it impossible to see. Repeated attempts to locate the ring failed to bring it to the light of day.

I was contacted by David’s brother-in-law, Nate, who discovered me on The Ring Finders directory of metal-detecting specialists. He reached out on behalf of David. Nate didn’t want to give up on the ring and asked if I might try and find it. I made arrangements with David’s brother, the home owner, to do a search. Three weeks later on July 25th we met.

As is often the case, the area around the dock was full of metallic debris—old beer cans, rusty bolts, screws, pull tabs and aluminum, evidence of nearly a century of cottage life. Tungsten Carbide is a unique metallic composition which can make metal detecting even more challenging. It masks other metals. After nearly 45 minutes of searching and sifting through the mud and weeds, David’s wedding band finally lay in my sieve amongst shells and stones. It blended in so well it nearly escaped my notice. Michael, my helpful companion throughout the search, received it vicariously on his brother’s behalf.

It was clearly a case of family coming to David’s rescue. And I was privileged to have a part in keeping the story of David’s wedding ring alive and well.

Not many people have their very own beach-volley ball court in their backyard. But Delafield, Wisconsin resident, Travis McGoldrick has one. He was playing volley ball with his kids the evening of July 12th when a spike of the ball dislodged his wedding band. The ring just vanished! Despite raking and sifting through the sand, searching the areas close by, even renting a metal detector, the ring remained in its hiding place.

I received a text message from Travis on Monday, July 26th asking if I might help to locate his ring. That evening I arrived at his home and together we walked behind the house to view the volley ball court and surrounding grass, woods and gardens. Did the ring leave his hand in the forward stroke or flip behind? Either way, a heavy gold ring can travel quite a distance when propelled by such force. In my mind I prepared for a long evening.

Travis wasn’t certain about his ring’s metallic composition, whether it was made of gold, silver, platinum, or one of the newer titanium or tungsten carbide models. Knowing this information helps calibrate my equipment. Travis left me to start searching while he went to the house to double check with his wife about the metal. “She would know,” he told me.

Assuming the ring was made of gold, I started searching the sand court with my XP Deus wireless detector, beginning at one corner. Immediately, I encountered a heavy presence of electromagnetic interference from buried power lines in the yard. It took some fine tuning to overcome the noise. Such interference had hindered Travis’s search efforts with his rented machine.

Imagine my surprise when less than 10 minutes into the search an appropriate signal reached my headphones. More surprising was when It turned out to be Travis’ ring!

Travis returned from the house and confirmed his ring was 14K white gold. I responded by holding out his ring saying, “Well, that description matches this ring!” His wife of 15-years soon joined the celebration. And Travis’ smile tells the rest of the story.

Testimonial:
“Lost my ring playing sand volleyball with my kids. After multiple amateur attempts to find the ring with a rented metal detector I contacted Paul & he found it in the sand after 10 minutes. Wonderful guy and would recommend him if you find yourself in need of his services!”

Louise from Devon enjoyed a bite of luxury staying at the Haven Hotel, Sandbanks with her friend one weekend in June. It was the first time she had been away for years since losing her husband of 58 years & caring for him in his last seven. She doted on the ring he had given her all those years ago & was devastated to see it slip from her finger whilst swimming in the sea. Neck deep in water she could see it before it finally succumbed to the shifting sand, depth & waves.

Still upset it took 10 days for her to break the sad news to her daughter who took a chance to look for a potential miracle. When I received her call it was already 2 weeks since losing it in a notorious area of soft sand. Unsure of her exact position, difficult water depths to work in &  listening for the faintest signal made it seem a futile search. It was time to switch machines to the Whites Surf Master PI & patiently await a low tide..

During the following 2 weeks I spent 2 hours a time over five visits, digging over 100 holes. On my 11th hour, much closer to the shore the Surf Master gave a ‘Ghost Signal’. As usual I thought « another nail or bottle cap ». The signal grew stronger, passing 12 inches down a positive bleep and the from the blackened sand I caught a glimpse of gold! « A gold beer cap » I thought? Hurriedly I scooped again tossing the black dirty sand on to the shore. Proudly sitting on top in alls its crowning glory- there it was! I’m often asked ‘what’s the feeling like to recover something’? In this case utter relief, both physically & mentally.

I called Louise’s daughter Sarah to break the good news. So happy were they that the next day they drove an 8 hour round trip to collect it. I’m happy with every recovery I make but this one touched me more because of the sentiments the ring held. Later I was moved further when I learnt that Louise & Sarah had made a donation to the Margaret Green Animal Rescue beyond my furthest imagination.