The Ring Finders Blog | Page 975 of 1062

Brenda B. called me today just as my wife was taking fresh biscuits out of the oven for strawberry shortcake. I told my wife I would be right back because Brenda lives a couple miles away. So I jumped in my car and headed for Brenda’s house. Upon arrival I drove up to a newer development of homes with well manicured lawns and in the middle of her lawn was a screw driver sticking out of the grass. I rang the doorbell and met Brenda, she told me her daughter lost the charm off her necklace while playing in the lawn with her boyfriend. The screwdriver marked the spot where she thinks she lost it. I set up a grid and started in line with the screwdriver I moved back and forthe for about 10 feet both ways. It is amazing how many coin hits I got in a newer lawn but that is not what I was looking for. I expanded my search out about 20 feet and there it was in direct line from the screwdriver 20 feet away. All is well and I suggested that Brenda buy her younger son a detector to find some of those coins.

Got home 45 minutes later and the biscuits were still fresh and warm.

Day trippers to Swanage, Mr & Mrs Rob Evans had enjoyed the day playing with their children on Swanage Beach. Skinny dipping in the sea, building sand castles and playing catch are the biggest causes, I’ve found, to losing jewelry on the beach.

I had received the phone call from Rob after he had found me on The Ring Finders earlier that day. Unfortunately I was out of town on another ring job and wouldn’t be able to make it until the early evening. We met that evening and I was given a run down of where the family had been so we could assess the search area. Unfortunately there was a possibility it could now be under the advancing tide- not a problem but makes things more difficult!

The beach was unusually high in trash due to the storms turning things up. After about an hour I was beginning to consider ‘plan B’ when I received a strange ‘mixed’ signal from the Minelab CTX3030. I recall receiving it earlier and ignored it thinking it was foil. I even said to Rob as I used the sand scoop « don’t get your hopes up its’s probably trash »! Relieved, though a little embarrassed, there at the bottom of the scoop lay the white gold engraved ring AND a large rusty screw!!

A very grateful Mr Evans contacted the air ambulance and made an extremely generous donation. Thanks Rob!

Sunday. The sun is shining, the tide will be low. I thought it would be a perfect day to head off to make yet another attempt to find a lost watch on Boscombe Beach. As I was getting off the Chain ferry I received a phone call from Leo Fung of Bournemouth.

Leo, his new wife and friends had been enjoying the weather on the beach having been married only 24 hours earlier. Whilst playing with a football, Leo felt the ring slip off and caught a glimpse of its direction. They searched the beach extensively for a while until someone remembered seeing me on the BBC news. A quick Google search on their smartphone revealed my number, a phone call and I arrived within half an hour. Within 30 seconds we found the ring, new shiny and very nearly lost. It was the heaviest white gold ring I think I have ever recovered and I’m very relieved to have recovered it for them.

Mr & Mrs Fung made a kind donation to the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance to which I am most grateful.

After reading an article in the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance magazine of my Ring Finder services; Mr Brian Marchment of Somerset decided to give me a chance to find his wedding band he had lost 3 months earlier.

The drive was long, three hours in fact, accidents, diversions and road closures too!  The location was easy to find, the garden was even easier to navigate. Tidy flower beds, stone walls, gravel paths and many uncomplicated areas that seemed easy to detect.

After speaking with Mr Marchment about the day of his loss and replaying it, we decided where the search was to begin. Within 30 seconds of searching, between the brick path boundaries and grass the detector let off the gold ‘growl’. Laying out of sight, camouflaged by the gravel, lay our ring.  Mr & Mrs Marchment were very pleased having been married decades and made a generous donation to the air ambulance.

I was on my way home from my daughters house when I got a call from Laura B. I could tell she was tearing up as she told me she lost her engagement ring at the park. She was turning the ring around on her finger when all of a sudden it popped off and landed in the beach sand. Searching frantically with her mom and husband to no avail they decided to go to Walmart and get a detector but they didn’t have any so they searched the web and found the ringfinders. I told Laura I could make it to the lake in 20 minutes and changed my course and headed that way.

Arriving at the lake I was greeted by Bob the park manager and he directed me to Laura who started tearing up again. She showed me where to search and I began. I used my Fisher F75 and got so much interference that I had to go to my Bounty Hunter Time Ranger on All Metal setting. I was looking for a white gold ring with and heirloom diamond given to her by her grandmother. I started to grid a 10 foot section without success and went the opposite direction still came up empty. I asked her once again to stand where she lost the ring and show me how she lost it. I then expanded the search to 20 feet and went one way then turned the grid the opposite way. Laura’s mom, Karen, followed me this time and as I swept the grid she noticed a glimmer in the sand from the sun, I must have kicked up the sand enough while missing the hit and mom said « there it is »!

Tears started to pour from Laura as she hug her mom and then me thanking me so much for coming right away. Mom was the real hero this time.