how to find a lost ring with a metal detector Tag | Page 3 of 4 | The Ring Finders

Shelby wisely removed her conjoined engagement/wedding rings and put them in her pocket when she and her family went to enjoy some time on the beach.  Unfortunately, when she later slid her hand into her pocket to retrieve the rings, there was only the heart-rending realization that they were gone.  She had stowed her cell phone in the same pocket, and she felt it was very likely that the rings had come out and dropped in the sand at the same time she had pulled out her phone.  Her mother called Falmouth’s Mitchell Bathhouse to seek help, and they informed her about the RingFinders and provided her with my name.  I received a call the next morning and half an hour later met Shelby and her sister at the beach, ready to hear her story and see if I could replace the gloomy faces with happy smiles.

Shelby and her sister showed me the location where the family had been on the previous day, which now included some morning beach goers.  When these folks heard the story of the lost rings they very kindly moved a couple of times to make sure I was able to cover the full area in my search.  I did several beach-parallel swaths, finding a few trash items, but within a half hour or so heard the sweet signal of success and soon Shelby’s rings were in my scoop.  I walked over to her, letting her look into the scoop and remove the rings while I had the great pleasure of watching the joy burst across her face.

As it turns out, the large diamond in the engagement ring had quite a story.  I’ll let Shelby tell the story:

« As I mentioned yesterday, this ring has been in my husband’s family for over 60 years.  The stone was found when his great uncle was on a walk and saw it on the side of the road.  Being a jeweler he took care of it, cleaned it up, and reset it on a band.  The ring stuck with his family passed down to his grandmother, then his mother, and finally to me.  My husband had the stone reset onto a new band working closely with a jeweler to give me something special for me.

I’ve been wearing this ring for 2 years since our wedding and it means everything to me.  There is simply no replacing it.

I’m so grateful that you came out within a half hour of calling and found it as quickly as you did.  I can’t thank you enough.

We jokingly talked afterward that you’re having found the ring and having so many friendly vacationers cheering and clapping was almost better than the engagement itself (haha).  You are truly incredible.

From being found on the side of the road in California and again on Falmouth Heights beach decades later, I’d call this the luckiest ring ever. »

Thank you, Shelby, for the opportunity to be added to saga of this ring!

 

 

 

Liza was playing in the water at a local association beach when she lost a very special ring.   She had moved the ring to a finger where it was not normally worn, and it unfortunately was a loose fit.  When she spun around in the water, the ring went flying into the waves.  The family did an internet search, found the Ring Finders, and called me within a couple hours of the loss.  I collected my gear and met them at the beach about a half hour later.

Liza’s ring was silver and truly unique in design.  It was specially made with an imprint of her dog’s nose (yes, really!) on the raised table of the ring.  This was sure a new one to me, and it obviously was very special to her.  I headed into the water for a search of the area where Liza said she lost the ring, but I soon found myself chin-deep and on my tiptoes.  The tide had risen a couple feet and this obviously was not going to work.  I said I’d come back at low tide 2 days hence, as I had to be out of town the following day.

When I returned on the second day I set up a couple floats and commenced a search pattern of the likely area.  Waves hindered the search but I covered the area in about 2 hours with no result.  I expanded the search and shortly found the ring about 10 feet outside my initial search perimeter.  I made a call and arranged to return the ring to Liza’s grandfather the next day (Liza had returned to home in western Massachusetts).  The ring has now found its way home and there are a lot of happy people (not to mention the dog) all around!

 

 

Labor Day ended on a depressing note for John, who lost his year-old wedding ring in chest-deep water a couple of hundred feet offshore.  I received a call from him in early evening, asking if I was ‘the ring finder’ and if I could search for his ring.  I of course said that I would, but it would have to be the next day as we were entertaining holiday guests.  We met at the beach near low tide the following day and I did a 2-hour search in the area where John felt that he’d lost the ring.  I called a halt as it was getting dark but I told John I’d be back the next day to expand the search area.  On reflection, he thought maybe he’d been somewhat farther south when the ring slipped from his finger, so I planned to work that area when I returned.  After about an hour of searching that area the next day, I got a sweet booming signal that cried out ‘RING’ and soon had John’s hefty wedding band in my scoop.  With a call to John, we agreed to meet at the beach the next morning, and I had the great pleasure of being able to give John his beautiful ring and share in the joy of its return.  Another great day for The Ring Finders!

 

 

 

As I was carrying my metal-detecting gear to search the beach for Rory’s husband’s wedding ring yesterday (my primary mission) I had a chance encounter with Brendan, who was just leaving.  He half-jokingly asked that if I found it, would I return the wedding ring that he’d lost there two weeks previously.  Well, here was another great opportunity to help someone overcome an unfortunate circumstance and to build on The Ring Finders story, so I asked him to walk with me to where he’d lost his ring and give me the details.  I gleaned all the necessary information, told Brendan that I’d look for his ring at first opportunity, and asked him to leave contact information on my phone so that I could reach him if I was successful.  It turned out that after he left, my primary search (for Rory’s husband’s ring) was successful within a short time, so after Rory and I celebrated that find and return, I continued on to the area of Brendan’s ring loss hoping that I could score a second success for the day.  Some might say that it was the doing of St. Anthony, but in any case Brendan’s ring slid under my detector coil and propelled itself into my scoop within about 45 minutes.  Yay!  It’s not often that a detecting day offers up a double!

I made call to Brendan to let him know I’d found his ring and we set up a reunion meeting for today at the beach, where I returned the ring.  Brendan’s smile in the picture tells the rest of the story.  I’m pleased as can be that our chance encounter led to a happy ending!

 

Rory’s post on Facebook alerted me to the fact that her husband had lost his wedding band at the beach two days prior.  I contacted her and we set up a time to meet just before low tide, similar to the situation when the ring was lost.  It was a beautiful afternoon when we arrived at the beach, and it didn’t take long to go through the details of the ring characteristics, circumstances of the loss, and location.  Rory had a very good description of where the ring was likely to be found, probably in knee-deep water, and I set to work on a search pattern.  It took only about twenty minutes before I had a rich booming signal that was certain to be a ring, and it took only a few moments to dig the target and pluck from my scoop a nice wedding band which was uniquely identifiable as the lost ring according to the inscription inside.  Rory’s surprise and joy when I walked up to her and held out the ring were enough to keep us both smiling for a month of Sundays!  Thank you, Rory, for the opportunity to search for and recover this precious item for you and your husband.