Wedding Ring Lost In The Leaves, Found With A Metal Detector, In Standish, Maine
On Saturday evening, November 11, I received a Facebook PM, from Steve. The message said
“I am David * ******** **** brother and I live in Standish. I lost my wedding ring in my driveway and unable to find it. can you help and how much would you charge”?
I immediately message Steve back and told him I had worked with his brother and would be willing to to help him but that I was unable to search, because of my knee replacement surgery, just 5 days earlier. I asked Steve if he or someone else could search, using my detector. I told him that I would get the Minelab CTX-3030 all charged up, programmed for what we were searching for and all someone would need to do is slowly swing the coil over the ground. I also asked Steve, where the ring was lost, and how?Steve messaged me right back and said he could do the actual search. He also said that he was moving some wood, from the side of his home, to just outback of his house and when he finished, he noticed his ring was missing. He said it would be along the driveway, to the pile of wood outback. Not very much of an area and the ring would definitely be in amongst all the fallen leaves, in or along the driveway.
We then made plans to meet at his home, in the morning, around 8:00am. My wife would drive me and I would just make sure Steve has a properly working metal detector and my guidance. My wife and I arrived at approximately 8:20am as the 40 minute drive was longer than I expected. Steve was there to greet us and the three of us exchange pleasantries and small talk for a few minutes. I then asked Steve to show me where the ring was lost and the route he was using between the wood piles. When Steve showed me the area, I knew it should be a fairly quick search, as the area was not very large. I then turned my detector on, got it ground balanced and gave Steve a quick tutorial. I also put my wedding ring amongst the leaves and Steve was able to hear the tone and see the screen.
As Steve stated the search, he almost immediately received a signal, which sounded good but the VDI screen was saying it was 5 inches deep. We did ou due diligence and checked the leaves and the top of the soil, with my pinpointer. It was not the ring and we did not dig the target to find out what it was. Steve stated swinging again and within 2 minutes had a very good target. My wife put the pinpointer into the leaves, found the target and pulled out Steve’s Gold Wedding Ring. The entire search lasted just 3-5 minutes. Steve was extremely happy and grateful to have his ring back. I just love finding people’s lost items and seeing the looks of happiness across their faces.
It was late in the evening when I received a text from Connie asking if I would be able to assist in finding a beautiful ring they lost on the beach earlier that day. After texting back and fourth we decided to have her call as it was much easier. Mark and Connie were very anxious to recover the ring, so we decided to meet on the beach in about 30 min. due to the amount of beach traffic, and also the location of the ring possibly being pulled into the ocean, as the tide was coming in. We had one picture they had taken, which would assist in lining up the location, and a few holes their daughter had been digging that day. I arrived first and headed out to begin searching. It was very dark that night, so with the one picture Connie had sent I started to line up a spot with the landscape in the background. After doing a quick search of the first spot I noticed the flagpole I had used was not the correct one, then realized many houses had flagpoles. Moving down the beach a bit. I started another search in a spot that looked promising, by then Mark and Connie had arrived, and the second spot turned up empty. We all got together to examine the picture one more time, and found a spot just a little further which looked very promising. If you have ever been on the beach on a dark night, you will realize that lining up a small location with a picture, while also figuring out the correct angle it was taken from is quite challenging!!! Well, needless to say, after a few short sweeps of the 3rd spot, bingo, I got the signal I was waiting patiently to hear. To Mark and Connie’s amazement, the ring was in my scoop.
I received a message from Larry about his lost wedding ring. He lost it in about 5′ of water the week before in the bay, and was pretty anxious about possibly having it recovered. We arranged to meet on location about 2 hours later that day when some of the traffic cleared. After I arrived we discussed the details, in which he was adamant on the location where it came off his finger. which is always KEY with a successful water recovery that distance from the shore. Larry said the ring had writing on it which he could identify, and into the water I went. Once I was in the spot he gave me the thumbs up, and I started to search. Just a short while later I recovered a ring, which I didn’t think was his. This ring had writing around the outside, but he never mentioned that. After my arrival on shore, and with many swimmers relaxing in their chairs watching the ring return, I asked Larry more details about the ring. The next 5 min. or so were EXTREMELY comical, then Larry proceeded to recite the writing on the ring, which had never been discussed, and was in Hebrew. It read, « I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine » Well, I was in total shock at this point, due to the fact we had never really discussed these identifying features. Larry is prob the most comical person I have ever done a recovery for, as I was in a chop busting mood that day, and poor Larry got his share from me. Larry, It was a real pleasure, thank you again, so glad I was able to help.
I received a call late one evening from Lisa. She had just arrived back home after a nice weekend at the beach with her family. She was entering the water holding hands with her daughter, and when she bent down to grab a shell, their hands slipped apart, and off the ring slid. With the waves washing up, it immediately disappeared, to who knows where. After looking for quite a bit with no luck, they had to pack up and head home. She knew all the right things to do to mark the location, which she conveyed to me on the phone, and we agreed to give it a shot on the next low tide. Its obvious now she had the spot marked perfectly, because I had the ring within 45 min of starting my search. It was to far for Lisa to travel, so we decided the best thing would be for me to mail them back, so I packed them up, and by the next morning they were back where they belong. 
