Ring lost at Mission Beach found
Alison and her family were visiting other family here in San Diego. They had dinner at a local restaurant near the beach and walked to the boardwalk afterward. Here’s her story….
Alison and her family were visiting other family here in San Diego. They had dinner at a local restaurant near the beach and walked to the boardwalk afterward. Here’s her story….
I was scrolling through my notifications on Facebook recently when I noticed one of my friends tagged me in someone else’s post. I clicked to see what it was and actually two of my friends had recommended me to help find a lost « item » in a park. I inquired further and found that the lost item belonged to former Empress of the Imperial Court of San Francisco, celebrity drag queen and legend of the LGBTQAI+ community of San Francisco, Ms. Donna Sachet!
Anyone who has had « celebrity » clients can tell you there is an extra sense of anxiety that comes with finding items for them. And this case was no different.
I met Donna and her dog, Peanut, at the location and together we walked over to where she was seated on a picnic blanket tossing a ball for Peanut the day prior. She shared with me a photo of the large gold ring and told me she was presented with this ring when she won the Empress contest years prior. It was important to her. I understood the importance, it marked an accomplishment. An accomplishment that recognized her work in the community. Over the decades, Donna Sachet has performed as a singer and has raised and donated thousands upon thousands of dollars for various organizations in San Francisco, not the least of which was an organization that I worked for for over 3 years in the early 00’s – The AIDS Emergency Fund.
I had been working for events that raised funds for HIV/AIDS and/or Breast Cancer organizations for many years already by the time I moved across the country from NY to San Francisco. It was through my work in NY that I was able to secure a job in SF before I even arrived from NY. That job then lead to the AIDS and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund where I stayed for over 3 years before G.W. Bush cut government funding through the Ryan White CARE Act forcing the Emergency Fund to restructure. Unfortunately for me, that restructure did not include a position for me.
As a woman I always found it difficult to be recognized or seen when in a crowd of cute gay men working or meeting some of the folks who helped us raise money, so I didn’t expect Donna to remember or recognize me from those days. But our long list of mutual friends made sure we connected to help her find her ring.
I was running my new Legend and the ground at the park was extraordinarily trashy. It took a while for me to adjust to the Legend since I’d only been out with it twice before and this was it’s first ring hunt. After close to an hour, Donna left, with tears in her eyes, thinking she would never again see her Empress ring.
Fortunately, I don’t give up easily. I put my hat on backwards, changed from my sunglasses to no glasses (a risky decision usually), put my headphones on (which had been off so Donna could hear the signals too) and within 20 or so minutes I located the ring.
I suspect it’ll be a while before Donna forgets me now!

RING FOUND
Emily was brushing sand off her hands when a special ring, given to her by her mother, slip right off and was instantly swallowed by the fluffy dry sand. She searched for it, but, couldn’t find it in the dark using her phone light. She was advised to contact TheRingFinders.com. I received the plea for help the next afternoon. Emily wasn’t able to meet at the site until the next day, but, being a Saturday evening, the ring might get found by someone else if we waited that long, so, I got the description of the search area and hurried down there to hopefully find it before some other lucky detectorist did. Super busy beach required me to park and hike about a mile to the search area. Not knowing the exact limits of the search area, I picked what I thought would be the extreme edge of one side of the square and began my grid search. First target was a promising 25 on my Equinox 900, but, ended up being a pull tab. Second target was a solid 19 and a beautiful Tiffany ring was inside my scoop. Emily and I met the next day for the reunion of ring and finger. A pleasure meeting you Emily and thank you for the reward.


Kate reached out to me wanting to know if it was possible to locate her engagement that slipped off her finger during the day somewhere at the beach. It was late in the evening, and after determining that it was close to high tide when it most likely came off, it would be best to wait until the early morning low tide. We arranged to meet early the next morning at the dune walkover. As we were heading to the location I had asked her to mark in google maps we talked about the main things she could remember leading up the the ring disappearing. Once we got to the spot, she showed me some pictures she had, before and after the ring went missing. Something didn’t look just right, but I figured I would check the area that was marked. After coming up empty handed I asked her to see the pics again, it was then I knew that was not quit the right location. I adjusted the location about 40′ to the north, and things looked just right, including the piles of seaweed that had pushed high up on the hill the prior day when the pics were taken. Kate confirmed after looking at the pics that this was absolutely the right location. Combined with the rough surf, was the fact that she was boogie boarding, and that is never a good thing when doing a recovery. Kate did remember one wave that knocked her down, where she lost the board, and that was luckily close to the beach in waist deep water. I decided to hit that area real quick, and while Kate was in about knee deep water looking, I got a signal that made my eyes open wide. With the waves crashing right where I was, I took extra time to zero in on the exact spot, and hoped to grab it on the first scoop. Sure enough I had it on the first try, BINGO, it was her absolutely stunning ring!!!!! Kate had no idea what had just taken place just a few feet behind her, as I scooted up the hill , past the waves to get a better look and clean it off. At that moment I decided to make a video to capture her response, which you will see I’m not very good at. (Will be posted soon) Her reaction was something that makes this profession SO SO rewarding that no words could ever explain.
Back in 2013, I found a 1948 SJHS High School Class Ring, while Metal Detecting, in the ocean, in Old Orchard Beach Maine.
I knew of a St Joseph’s High School (SJHS), in Biddeford, Maine, which closed, back in the 1960’s. I wanted to return the ring, but trips to local libraries and an email to an Alumni Association for St Louis and St Joseph’s High School, all came up empty. Online searches also yielded no clues. I soon found out there were hundreds of SJHS high schools across New England, Mid Atlantic States, Canada and the rest of the U.S.. Old Orchard Beach is a summer resort town in Maine with 100’s of thousands of tourists from all over, every year and the ring was approximately 65 years old, when I found it. . How would I ever find and verify, which school, the ring came from? Could the SJHS be a St Joseph’s, St John’s, St James, etc..? After researching, on and off for 1 1/2 years or so, with no results, I put the ring into my safe and forgot about it .
Fast forward to February 9th, 2024. I found another class ring, while metal detecting, in Old Orchard Beach, after some recent winter storms. This was a 1982 Billerica Memorial High School class ring, from Billerica, Massachusetts. I knew that this should be an easy find and return ring, but that’s another story, for another day. But, finding the 1982 Billerica ring, jogged my memory of the 1948 ring, in the safe. I thought I would give it another go and see if there was anything new online, to help identify the school, from which the ring came.
I posted the ring on many Facebook Pages, including Class Rings – Lost and Found and St Louis High School Biddeford Maine. The Class Ring Facebook Page has an incredible research team that without hesitation, started to help me locate the correct school. The research team, includes employees of Josten’s, the rings manufacturer. Josten’s found the 1948 blueprint for the ring, in approximately 1 week. The ring was absolutely from St Joseph’s High School, Biddeford, Maine. The now closed school is approximately 6 miles, from where I found the ring, in the ocean.
While Josten’s was researching the ring, Chuck, the administrator for The St Louis Facebook Page, forwarded me a newspaper photo of the 1948 St Joseph’s Graduating Class, of 19 women. The initials RGH, engraved on the inside of the ring, matched one young woman and I just knew it had to be hers. Her name is Rita and
I performed an online search, but unfortunately, I found Rita’s obituary, from 2021, just 3 years prior. I was able to contact one of her children, Mary Ann, mentioned in the obituary and she lives only 3 miles from me. Mary Ann answered all my questions about her mother, and they matched exactly, with all the facts I had. Her mother had graduated in 1948, from St Joseph’s High School, in Biddeford, Maine. Her mother’s middle name, starts with a G and ended with a H, just like the ring. Mary Ann told me she was very surprised and excited and couldn’t wait to call her other siblings. Mary Ann told me she would call me back and set up a time, where I could return her mother’s ring and some of her siblings, could also be there. When she called back, we made Saturday, March 9th the date to return the ring.
I met 4 of Rita’s 7 children, at their mother’s and their childhood home. Mary Ann, Joan, Kevin and Michael were there to greet me and were very excited and happy to see their mother’s high school ring, which none of them had ever seen, before today. After all, the ring has been miss for approximately 3/4 of a century.The siblings related the story that their mother had lost her ring, in her late teens or early 20’s, most likely between 1948 and 1952. Their mother had told them about losing her ring, way back then and wasn’t even sure where she had lost it.
It is such a privilege to be able to reunite such a precious piece of someone’s life, to their family. There is no better feeling, than returning rings like Rita’s, to family members that will cherish it forever. Although Rita is no longer here, with them, the siblings all felt her there today. 

Dania tossed a handful of items toward some bushes, which accidentally included her diamond ring. It should have been in a very small area, but, try as she and Jeff tried, it couldn’t be found. An online search found TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. Jeff called asking for help and we arranged to meet at the site the next afternoon. I arrived on time with my wife and a friend who also detects. A quick search with my large coil over and around the suspected thorny bush reveal nothing. Pin pointer time! My friend and I armed with a couple of pin pointers started poking inside the bush and as close to the ground as we could without getting totally impaled on the thorns. Only some scrap metal was being found when Jeff offered to go get a broom handle to tape to one of our pin pointers so we could probe further inside the bushes and reduce the number of our battle scars. I asked him to move his truck from in front of where we were working so we could expand the search area without interference from all that metal close by. Soon after moving his truck, Dania spotted the ring sitting right on top of the asphalt in the parking spot next to where their truck had been parked! The ring must have hit something and ricocheted 90 degrees over to that spot. Doesn’t matter how the ring was found, just that it was found. Everyone happy now! A pleasure to meet you folks and thank you for the reward!




I was over on LBI checking out the beach when I received a call from Stephen. He had been doing yard work earlier in the day and noticed his wedding ring was not on his finger when he was wrapping it up for the day. Stephen had stated that between raking leaves, trimming some bushes, and a few other odds and ends around the yard, somehow his wedding ring went missing. I asked him if anything was brought to the recycling center, and his response was no, which was a big relief. I told him I could swing by in about 30 min. which worked perfect for the both of us. Once I arrived we went over in detail exactly what he was doing, and then we narrowed it down to the most likely place his ring could have been lost. After a short discussion, we headed over to the area he had been bagging some leaves, and in the same spot he had been loading brush into cans. I made a half dozen passes with my machine, when I received a really nice signal, and BINGO, there was Stephens wedding ring just a few inches under some yard debris. The look on his face was priceless as I handed his lost ring back.



If you’ve recently lost something and need a metal detecting professional to come out and find it, give me a call (Louis 305-608-1870). This ring was lost while playing volleyball in Miami Beach. After searching for a while they found the TheRingfinders.com website and gave me a call. I’m only a few minutes from the beach so I was able to get their pretty quick and find her lost platinum wedding band. If you want your lost item found, whether its in the water at the beach, sand, or backyard, give me a call. Please check out my other successful posts.


Steve’s Emergency Metal Detecting Service For You if you lost a ring or something precious to you. Please don’t wait until tomorrow, time will work against you, please CALL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, CALL NOW! 310-953-5268
I received a call from Jane on a rainy Sunday night about a lost ring. She and a friend had been at the beach, and decided to go in the water, but wisely removed her ring before going in and placed it with her belongings. When she came out of the water she picked up her things forgetting about the ring, and by that time the ring had vanished in the soft sand. I let her know I would come right away, so she said that she would wait.
When I found them they were waiting near the slope down to the water with a light rain coming down, and I could see next to them a large square area of disturbed sand where they had been searching for the ring. I asked Jane exactly what happened, and exactly where the loss probably occurred, and got a bit of disagreement between her and her friend about the where. Although the area was large, I decided to begin in the middle, and work out one side, and then the other. I began my grid, and about halfway into the first pass got a very strong signal and scooped the sand. I checked the hole, and knew that whatever it was, it was now in the scoop. As I shook the scoop to rid it of the sand I felt something heavy. When looking in after the sand was gone, I saw a very large gold ring just as Jane described. I held it up for her, and she and her friend were astonished that it was right in the middle of where they had searched, but were unable to find it. She was very happy to have it back, and I was thankful to be of help.
Don’t let the County beach cleaning machines take your lost valuable, call as soon as possible! I will work hard, using the most up to date metal detectors, to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search, Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Northridge, Pasadena, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, Zuma Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, Southern California, and Ventura County.
CALL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, CALL NOW! 310-953-5268