#how do I find a lost gold ring in grass Tag | Page 3 of 3 | The Ring Finders

Gold Wedding Ring Lost For 25+ Years, in The Greene, Maine Woods, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
Contact:

I will say,  if this wasn’t the most challenging search for me, it is in the top 2. It all started when I received a text message, from Randy. This is his original text, from March 12th, 2025.

“Hi my name is Randy
Saw your story on Facebook. I lost a ring in our back yard a number of years ago. I live in Greene and are planning to relocate in a year.
I’d like to be able to retrieve it before we leave the area.
Kindly let me know if you are interested in this challenging hunt. Thanks”

I replied

“Hi Randy, So sorry to hear this. Searching for this ring is certainly something we can do. A few questions 1st, if you wouldn’t mind

1) How long ago did you lose the ring and why do you think the ring was lost in the backyard? Did you see or feel the ring come off?

2) How large of an area is your backyard and is it grass, field, woods, etc.. If need be, I can bring someone with me to cover a larger area.

3) Were you looking to have the search, this spring, after the snow melt?”

Randy replied,
“The ring was lost 20+ years
I sadly threw it into a cleared wooded area on my property with about a few pine trees approx 6ft tall

It is overgrown now with 30-40 foot trees however storms have dropped many of trees

As far as timeline for searching, whatever is easier for you.
We still have a fair amount of snow here.
It’s my original wedding ring.”

WAIT, WHAT? 20 + YEARS AND IN THE WOODS?  Randy was certainly correct about this being challenging
I replied
“Ok, So the ring is in the wooded area and you remember the area? I will say that 20+ years is an extremely long time. Not impossible but it certainly would be a challenge. My concern would be a tree or roots are now over it. I can search as soon as the snow is gone and the ground is no longer frozen. I found a wedding ring, last August or September that was lost in 1982. It was only 5-6 inches deep, but on a manicured lawn.

Randy replied,
“Yes I know exactly the direction and approx 150 ft from edge of lawn
I searched by hand years ago but was not successful
I’m retired so just reach out whenever “

So today, just over 2 months after being contacted by Randy, I enlisted Gary Hill, to assist me on such a large and difficult search. We arrived at Randy’s home, in Greene, Maine at just after 8:00am. Randy showed us an orange traffic cone that he had placed on his lawn. Randy told us he was standing there when he threw his ring, “as far as I could”, after a disagreement, with his wife (Hey, it happens and who are we to judge). Randy immediately and seriously regretted his actions and went out in the woods, searching for his ring. Unfortunately he was not able to find it and he continued searching for days and would occasionally search, years later. Now Gary and I headed out into the woods with Randy and he showed us the area, he thought the ring would be in. We put up orange markers on the trees, to the north and south, that would serve as our boundary markers. The plan was to start there and grid search, as best we could, towards the house and orange cone, on the lawn. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the house the thicker the downed trees and branches became. So thick and deep, we couldn’t swing our detectors properly. It was that bad and I even got jabbed by some downed branches, on a tree. It caused a cut on my leg and drew blood, but not serious. We were very careful of the branches that were eye level. Gary and I did’t want to go home blind.

After searching for 2 1/2 hours, in the area that Randy thought the ring would be, Gary and I started to expand the search area, with a consultation, from Randy. He thought the ring may be further into the woods and possibly a little more to the north, of the original search area. I would search deeper into the woods and Gary would search just north, where the downed trees and branches were extremely troublesome. Gary and I told each other that it would be a 1 in a million chance of finding the ring, under all the downed trees and branches. My thinking was that the entire area, closer to the house was very likely the area the ring was in and Gary agreed. We just didn’t think the ring would be as far back in the woods, as Randy thought it would be. But how do you search an area, with dead trees, on the ground. Throughout the search, we would move branches, as best we could, but there were many, we were not able to move. Very frustrating to think the ring could be under one of the trees or branches, that we just couldn’t move. As I was finishing up the area, deeper in the woods, I started up towards the house, to see how Gary was doing. He was 50-60 feet north of the boundary, of where th ring should be and in a thicket of downed branches. I decided to search a little closer to the original area, but still just north of it. We have now been searching for 3 hours and 15 minutes when I hear Gary yell out, “I GOT IT. I FOUND THE RING.” I yelled back, “REALLY, THATS AWESOME.” I then made my way over to Gary and there in the hole was a Gold Wedding Ring, UNBELIEVABLE. GREAT JOB GARY!!!!! I then summoned Randy back into the woods and when he saw his Wedding Ring for the 1st time in almost 30 years, he said ”SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.” Randy then looked around to where the orange traffic cone was and just could’t believe how far north of the search are, the ring was found (Watch the full video of his reaction, posted earlier today.)

As all 3 of us were standing around talking about just how lucky Randy was that the ring was found. After all it was a good 60-70 feet from where Randy thought it was. Gary was expanding the search area and BAM, there it was. Randy the told us he didn’t remember the exact year the ring was lost, other than it was between the years 1997 and 2000. So 25 to 28 years lost in the woods and Randy has his original Wedding Ring back, just in time for his 35th Anniversary. Randy mentioned that he and his wife will most likely renew their vows, on their upcoming Anniversary. Now Randy will have his original Wedding Ring and another Wedding Ring he purchased, just after losing his first one.
Gary and I were just beaming, all the way home, knowing that we have put another smile on someone’s face, once again. Randy was just so happy and in disbelief of the ring being found. No better feeling in the world than to help others find their lost items and return them, to the rightful owner.

Tags:
Category:

White Gold & Diamond Ring found in Rockford, Illinois.

  • from Rockford (Illinois, United States)
Contact:

 

I received a text message from Kristyn today just before noon stating that she found me and The Ring Finders on Google after a quick search for « metal detecting service in Rockford ». So I grabbed my DĒUS II metal detector and Garrett pinpointer and arrived at Kristyn & Kyle’s house by 3 pm. After a quick introduction Kyle showed me the area that they believed that the ring was in. So I started a simple grid search in the front yard. After approximately 20-30 minutes, on my 5th pass I got a solid, double tapping, 46-48 signal on the DĒUS II. Nothing was visible so I grabbed my pinpointer and scanned the ground and immediately got a strong response! So I gently probed around in the grass until I eventually got a glimpse of a shiny round object tucked under the grass and some dandelion leaves! Afterwards Kristyn told me that they, including her mother,  had been searching for the ring for 3 days!!

So glad that I could help!!

Another smile for the book!! 😁

 

Tags:
Category:

Lost Well Cap, Found In Freeport, Maine, With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
Contact:

It isn’t always that I am called out to find someone’s lost ring. I have searched and found other items, such as keys, property markers, water shutoff valves, phones, etc.. Today was a first for me, a Well Cap needed to be located, in case the Well Pump failed.
I received a message from Karen. She and her husband had purchased their home 8 years earlier but had never been able to locate the Well, because the Well Cap was not visible, but buried somewhere, on the property. Now, I have never had a well so I knew absolutely nothing about them. I asked Karen some questions and she replied, with the following

“We are in Freeport, Maine. The well cap would be thick metal and approximately 5 inches diameter attached to metal piping. Most well caps stick out of the ground several inches so we think ours was buried possibly under our flower bed when the house was built. We know some parameters such as where the line comes out of the house and how far it has to be from the septic tank and leech field (which we know the exact locations of). Our yard isn’t terribly big”. Karen also sent a photo of a cast iron Well Cap.

I told Karen that I shouldn’t have any problems, finding the well cap, as long as it wasn’t too deep and out of the range of my detectors. We then agreed to meet at her home, today, at 10:30am. I arrived at 10:30am and was greeted by Karen. Her husband had run an errand and would be back shortly. Karen took me to her neighbors homes and I saw two Well Caps, above ground. I then tested the Well Caps, on my detector and they both rang up as ferrous metals, ringing up in the 90’s, on my Minelab Manticore. As I was finishing up my testing, Karen’s husband, Andrew arrived home.
Andrew explained that the Well Cap should be a minimum of 100’, from the leach field and Andrew knew where the leach field is. So we grabbed my 300’ tape measure and measured out 100’ from the leach field. This put the search area, near the flower garden, with bark mulch and a little of the lawn. Since it is supposed to be a minimum of 100’, Karen and Andrew also thought it could be on the other side of the driveway. We decided to start the search, at the 100’ mark and perform a grid search of the lawn, leading up to and including the flower garden. I was finding many ferrous targets, but in my mind, I didn’t think they would be the Well Cap. The targets didn’t seem big enough to be the Well Cap, but we need to check the targets out anyways. If it was a ferrous target, we dug it and on every occasion, the ferrous targets turned out to be many different sized nails. After I finished the flower garden area, I started grid searching the lawn, from the garden, to a tree, next to the road drainage gulch. After 15 – 20 minutes I received a strong signal, in the ferrous range, but reading much lower on my VDI screen, than the test Well Caps, at the neighbors homes. The target was very large, in area and Andrew started digging. At about 5” down, we still couldn’t see anything but my pinpointer was still picking up a large target, just another inch or so, in the hole. Andrew put the shovel, back in the hole and he hit something hard. As he scraped the soil away, the white cover of the Well Cap appeared. We had found it, and both Andrew and Karen were elated. After 8 years of living there, they finally knew where the Well Cap was. No more worrying about a Well Pump failure, they couldn’t fix, because they didn’t know where the Well Cap was. It turns out the Well Cap is just under 100’, from where we measured from, in the leach field and we started searching about 10’, from where we thought it would be. Andrew isn’t sure if we measured from the right location, in the leach field but we were put in the general location. That’s why when you don’t find your target, you just keep expanding the search, until you find it. If we hadn’t found the Well Cap, in this area, we were going to search the other side of the driveway. Thankfully that search was not needed.
Karen and Andrew measured out the Wells Cap location, from an area on their porch and now know the location, whenever they will need to access the Well Cap. Andrew is also going to check into seeing if the Well Cap could be modified, so that it is slightly above ground, rather than buried, 6 or 7 inches deep.
Karen and Andrew’s smiles were big and very satisfying to see. So, even though this wasn’t a wedding ring, engagement ring or another piece of sentimental jewelry, the satisfaction for my clients and myself, was just as great. It’s always a great feeling to be able to help and make people happy 😃

 

Tags:
Category:

Gold Wedding Ring Lost in Portland Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
Contact:

I started receiving many notifications, from Facebook. Someone had posted in the Portland, Maine Facebook Page, about their husband losing his Wedding Ring, somewhere along The Eastern Promenade Trail System or at an Irving Gas Station, in South Portland Maine and I was being tagged, to help find it. I reached out to Lauren, the originator of the post, and told her if there was anything I could do to help, just contact me.

I then received the following message on Wednesday, 4/9/25, from Lauren,

“Hello! You come highly recommended! 🙂 I posted earlier about a lost wedding band in portland. Do you charge per hour for your services? Thank you!”

I replied
“Good Morning Lauren, I am so sorry about your husband’s wedding ring. So I do not charge anything at all for my time or my services. I do however require a Transportation Fee, to cover my Gas, Tolls, wear and tear, etc.. A few questions and observations first, if you don’t mind. 1) When was the ring lost and which location do you think it was lost at? 2) My metal detectors wouldn’t be of any help, at the Irving Station. Just to much metal and the area is paved. This would be a visual search only. Have you and or your husband performed a visual search at the Irving and on the trail? 3) The City of Portland, Maine has a strict « No Metal Detecting » policy, on the Eastern Prom, Portland, Maine, Deering Oaks and other areas, across the city. If I do search, I would need to receive permission, from the Portland Maine Police Department, before any search could take place. 4) If you do decide to hire me to search, I will not be available to search today, Saturday or Sunday, due to previous commitments. Please let me know your thoughts, Dennis”

Lauren replied
“Thank you for the information! The ring was lost on Friday night 4/4 so its been a while. I think it was most likely lost along either the soft trail or paved trail along eastern promenade – we walked both but more so on the soft gravel area. We did do a visual search at both Irving and the trail. If you get permission from the police department, would you be able to do a search either Thursday or Friday of this week? I think if you can get permission through the portland PD to do a search of that trail, i think we would definitely like to have you try.🙂”

I immediately contacted Portland Police Department and I was given permission to search, with my metal detector, but I could not dig any of the grounds. That wouldn’t be a problem, since the ring would still be above ground. I then contacted Lauren and told her I would search first thing in the morning (Thursday) and I would bring my friend, Gary Hill to help me. It was such a large area to search, over a mile long and both sides of the trail would need to be searched. It’s an extremely large area, for one person.
I also told Lauren my concerns about the ring being lost, in a public space, for 6 days, by the time I searched. Depending on where the ring was lost, there was a good chance that someone has already found it. The trail was asphalt and some areas are hard packed gravel. The ring would be easily seen, if it landed on the actual trail. Our only hope was that the ring was hidden in the grass, along the trail, near the picnic tables or in the grass, near the swings.
Gary and I arrived at The Eastern Promenade Trails, near the East End Beach and immediately started searching around the picnic tables, overlooking the water. After 15 minutes, no ring was found. We then started searching along the actual trail. Gary would search the right side of the trail and I would search the left side of the asphalt paved trail. The grass area, along the asphalt was not very large and the grass was extremely short and matted down. If the ring landed on this area of the grass, there was a good chance someone may have seen it already. Only about a mile to go, before we reach the parking lot, where Lauren and her husband had parked. As we searched, we also always perform a visual search, just in case it was on the trail and no one had seen it yet.
As Gary and I searched, the trail switched from asphalt to hard packed gravel and then back to asphalt . As we were approaching the parking area, we were not hopeful the ring would be found. We we running out of real estate, to search. The trail near the parking lot was closed, due to construction and the trail temporarily runs along a railroad track. There is no grass at all in this section, just asphalt and railroad tracks. The ring would have been found already, if lost in this area. Not looking good at all, as we entered the parking lot. There were two separate areas of grass to search, in the parking lot. The first section of grass has two swings on it and you can sit on the swings and enjoy the views of Portland Harbor and Bug Light Lighthouse, in the distance. I saw Gary had already started grid searching the area, horizontally, to the water. I decided to grid search the area, vertically to the water. After 4-5 minutes of searching and directly behind the first swing, I heard a slight low tone, in my head phones. As I looked down and slightly in front of me, I saw a gold ring. WOW, I couldn’t believe it. I yelled over to Gary and informed him of the good news. I had found Lauren’s husband’s wedding ring. Gary came over and we discussed how lucky Lauren and her husband were, to have lost the ring, in an area that isn’t as heavily trafficked and one of the only areas, where the grass was tall enough, to semi hide the ring.
I then took some photos and a video and sent the video, to Lauren. Her response was

“Omg!!!!! I cant believe it!!! Thank you so much!! I’ll call you in just a minute! Im
Going to step outside from work 🙂”

Lauren called me a few minutes later, as we were walking back down the trail, to our vehicle. She was so very happy and in disbelief. After 6 days , she knew it was a long shot to be found and was just so grateful, we went out and searched for her. Lauren then told me that her husband is out of town on business and they live in New Hampshire. We agreed to meet on Monday, in 4 days, when she would be in South Portland, for a business meeting. Approximately an hour later, Lauren sent me the following text

“I can’t stop smiling today! I shared the great news with all my coworkers and they were so happy to hear such a great ending to this story too 🙂”

Gary and I couldn’t stop smiling either. We love helping people like Lauren and her husband. The is no better feeling, than to be able to return something so sentimental and see their smiles and happiness.

On Monday April 14th, I had an 8:30am Dr’s appointment, for my 3 month Knee Replacement Surgery. Lauren would be in town at approximately 11:30am and I would return the wedding ring, at that time. My appointment went extremely well and my wife, Cheryl, and I decided to walk from The Eastern Promenade and around Baxter Boulevard. This would be a good test on my knees and we would also use this walk as a way to wisely use the time and really test my knees, with a 6 mile walk. The walk was completed in approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes and it was almost time to meet Lauren. Lauren arrived and was just beaming, from ear to ear. She immediately thanked me and she was still in disbelief, that the ring was found. Now Lauren’s husband, Daniel, is out of town, on business and still does not know that his Wedding Ring has been found. Lauren is going to surprise Daniel, on Friday, when he returns home. Unfortunately I won’t be there to see his face but if it is anything like Lauren’s face, when I handed her the ring, it will be incredible. Congratulations to the still newlyweds ❤️🙏

Tags:
Category: