bay of green bay lost ring Tag | The Ring Finders

125-year-old Engagement Ring recovered in Sturgeon Bay

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
I had great success recovering a lost heirloom engagement ring last Friday in Sturgeon Bay. Its owner, Gena, had given it and her wedding band to her father while she went tubing. Somehow, it flew out of his pocket somewhere between the boat, the launch, and his house, though the wedding band was still there. She put a notice in « Door County Lost » on Facebook, and someone saw it and contacted me about it. That put the search in motion.
I interviewed everyone, and traced the likely loss point back to when the most hand movement occurred, which was probably the yard. (I didn’t want to jump in the water at the launch without checking the yard, first, because launches are full of lost metal of every kind: keys, cans, phones, sunglasses, boat parts, lures, coins, pop tabs, and other junk, which necessitates a lot of scooping and sorting.)
Gena’s father had cut the grass, so I was running my Minelab Equinox stock coil over the clippings before they were discarded. They were spreading the 3rd load over the driveway to make it easier, which was taking a while, so I decided to sweep the grass along the road, in front of where the boat was parked while I waited. Gena made it easier by passing her wedding band under the coil so I could choose which program . of the eight would work the best. After only a few minutes, the ring sang out! I couldn’t believe how pretty it was – a 125-year-old vintage cut diamond discontinued in 1945! I shouted out « we’re done, » and then the hugs and celebrations began! What was lost, was found!
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Lost and Found 14k engagement ring, Green Bay, WI

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)

I received a call and message from Somer the afternoon of Saturday, October 30th, 2020 (Halloween mind you) sharing she lost her engagement ring in the front yard of her residence. She explained to me the night before friends were over for a social gathering. Somer mentioned she took her ring off to show one of her friends. The friend gave it back while Somer was getting her mail from the mailbox during the evening hours. She decided to put the ring on the mail instead of back on her finger. Well, the ring fell off the mail into the grass (so she strongly believed and thought!) Somer and her fiancé, Nate, spend a better part of the day on their hands and knees looking for ring without success. So, I took my trusty CTX 3030 and began swinging my machine with a small coil since there was a lot of targets in the yard and very close together. My first target rang up “gold” and on the surface…Somer was excited thinking and believing it was her ring…I did too…wrong!!…just under the eyesight of the grass, up popped a nickel. Both Somer and I were thoroughly disappointed. I continued detecting and digging anything that was noting on my machine 2” or less knowing and expecting a surface find. While I was doing my part searching the grass meticulously and the path Somer took from the mailbox to the garage, Nate was meandering on the road near the mailbox, he saw the ring near a manhole cover…right out in the open. None of us have any idea how the ring found its way from the mailbox on the street and not on the grass. Though, I did not find the ring directly, I’d like to believe I shared in the success of rescuing. Ring found and put back on Somer’s hand. She was ecstatic and was a team effort to find. We wish Somer and Nate many wonderful future memories in the years to come. Somer was uncomfortable having her face posted. GB Ring Pic 103020