Kerikeri Tag | The Ring Finders

Wearable Healing Coil Lost in Northland Garden, Found.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Daryyl asked if I was able to locate her wearable frequency generator.
She had tucked it into her top before going out into the garden to spread bark, and while getting changed later that day, noticed it was missing.
After searching the garden, she decided to phone me.

I did some research into the construction, I had no bias for or against the theory behind it, I just needed to determine if there was any metal target inside.
There was a very fine gauge copper coil, not ideal if it was deep under bark – and a rechargeable internal battery, that’ll do!
Yes, I could certainly help.
Daryyl had to travel away but the coil was safe where it was, we arranged for the search the following weekend.

It was a relatively small area, however an excess of wire mesh around the garden and many nails holding the garden beds together (and rusting deep in the soil) meant it would have to be a very small coil to try and avoid multiple targets.
I did a quick scoping search with the 6″ coil, nothing other than foil seed packets, odd nails and screws and flecks of foil.
Step down to the 2″, time to go all surgical…

After about 30 minutes, I got a faint target tucked in under some Blueberries.
I pulled the bark back, chasing the signal.
About 10cm down, Daryyls missing device came into view, likely having fallen out as she leaned forward to spread the bark under the Blueberries.
I recommended she dry it out thoroughly before attempting a charge and having been subjected to only a bit of rain, I suspect it’ll be okay.

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Lost Ring Found in Plantings – Russell, Bay of Islands.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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I have a couple of people for whom I have found lost rings, not once but twice…
Paul is one of them.

I got a call from him saying he’d done it again!

I had previously found his ring almost exactly two years ago on the Russell beach, this time he’d lost it while working on planting some shrubs and it could have been in one of two locations.

The first was where he’d been trimming and clearing a well established patch of succulents – lots of potential nooks and crannies for a ring to drop down into, or hang up. I gave it a quick search without getting ‘down and dirty’ with the pinpointer before checking out what the second location looked like.

This alternative spot was a much larger area, but relatively open and I could close this off quickly with a very high probability of detection. If it wasn’t here I could then return to the original and devote the rest of the time going through it inch by inch.

This garden bed was raised up about 5′ from the road, and Paul had been planting, weeding, spreading bark and throwing garden waste across and down onto the truck deck, there was a possibility the ring may have come off and traveled across the road, in the direction of a steep bank.
I’d worry about that option later!

Starting at one end, I systematically made my way along the plantings until, under a small tussock, I saw the edge of a partially buried ring as the coil passed over it and triggered.

A quick TXT to Paul to let him know his lost ring was safe, again – and some relief on my part that I didn’t have to spend a fair few hours grubbing around up to my armpits in succulents at the first location.

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Valuable Heirloom Gold Ring Lost for 6 Weeks, Found in Compost Pile

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Maureen habitually took off her heirloom ring in the kitchen, a beautiful gold, diamond and emerald ring handed down from her Grandmother.
One day, she caught up the ring as she swept the peelings off the benchtop into the bin.

She didn’t realise until later when she went to collect the ring and noticed it was no longer in its place.

A frantic search yielded no sign of it, and with subsequent searches over the next few weeks she narrowed it down to either having been thrown out with the rubbish, or buried in the compost.

She gave me a call, obviously there was nothing I could do in the worst case scenario of it going out in the rubbish collection, however I could search the compost (I’ve searched through far worse than domestic compost in the past!).

A quick scan with the high powered machine gave a target deep in the bin, could be a ring, or could be foil.
Only one way to find out, roll up the sleeves and on with the nitrile gloves.

I had a rough idea of where it sat inside the compost and it was well down after six weeks of additional food scraps and lawn clippings.
A dense cloud of fruit flies instantly erupted out of the compost as I scooped most of the recent material away and investigated deeper with the handheld probe.

Wasn’t long before I had pinpointed the location and I dug further into the slimy mass, checking each handful until I caught a glimpse of gold in the ooze.

I lifted it out and showed a tearful Maureen.
A quick rinse under the garden tap and it shone brightly once again, no worse off for it’s little adventure and another story added to its hundred-plus history.

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Ring Lost at Long Beach, Russell, Found by Metal Detectorist

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Dave posted on the local Russell Facebook group that he had lost his gold wedding ring in the sea at Long Beach in Russell while on holiday.

Several people recommended me to him, and he made contact.

He had unfortunately put a detailed location on Facebook, not a good idea these days as there are a lot of what I call « Ring Collectors » – less altruistic sorts who look for social media posts with the intention of an easy find for themselves.   Urgency was paramount, only the other day, I had a ring ‘sniped’ after a Facebook post gave away too much. Nothing is more heartbreaking than turning up for a recovery only to see a recent focused grid pattern in the immediate area – and no ring.

I had an ongoing scuba recovery in progress, however that ring was very secure where it was, I needed to find Dave’s ring before it was lost.  The timing of the tides meant I was able to make the first attempt immediately and I spent a few hours gridding the area Dave had indicated in his FB post.  When I came out of the water, the tide was high enough to prevent ‘magpies’ from searching, and I knew I would have to return the following day on the next tide.

Had some more dialog with Dave that night about the circumstances of loss, and gave him a much higher resolution aerial view for him to mark where he thought he lost it.

The new area marked by Dave was smack in the middle of my first grid, it was fairly unlikely I had missed it – and even more unlikely someone had randomly happened across it in the 24Hrs between loss and Dave’s post. There are several obvious large rocks on the seabed, which Dave could not recall seeing. That meant he was further over than he thought. I started planning a new search area off to the side.

Day 2: I again arrived well before low tide in order to secure ‘my patch’, there was another metal detectorist in the vicinity, although he did not have a submersible machine. Straight down the beach and into the surf…

Another hour and a pouch full of aluminium trash later, I got a hit under the coil – only to lose it again as a breaking wave knocked me off my feet. However it wasn’t long before I had it again, and on the second scoop the coil was silent.  I shook the sand out of the scoop and nestled in amongst the broken shell, was Dave’s ring.

Back to the car, and I sent him a picture to let him know it was now safe soon to be couriered to him.

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Kaikohe Wedding Ring Lost Over Edge. Found!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Yesterday, Moana was tidying up her vege planter and throwing the weeds over the edge of the bank in Kaikohe, when she heard and felt a clash of rings on her throwing hand.
Checking, she realised that she had just lost her mums precious gold wedding ring over the steep bank and into the Kikuyu.
Someone loaned her a cheap detector, however without decent equipment and experience in recoveries the odds were stacked against her.

She didn’t locate it.

I got a call last night asking if I was able to help, and this afternoon I was shown the scene, not the toughest job I’ve had, but would have been in the top 10 – I certainly had my work cut out on this one.
Looking for a tiny ring in knee-deep Kikuyu on a slope that ranged from steep, to having to hang onto handfuls of grass to stop sliding away had potential to be a long hard battle.
90 minutes later though, I was knocking on the door with the gold ring in my hand.
The reactions I get are always worth far more to me than gold.

If you’ve lost a ring in the garden or even a paddock, maybe you’ve hired a metal detector or a friend has had a go without luck and you’ve given it up as lost – give me a call !
I’ll do my best to put that ring back on your finger and a smile back on your face!

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New Wedding Ring Lost at Matauri Bay, Found in minutes!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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James gave me a call at midday yesterday, he had just lost his new wedding ring in the sand at Matauri Bay.

He had been playing with the dog, and felt his wedding ring get pulled off his finger and instantly lost to sight in the sand.

After the family spent some time searching for his ring, he jumped onto Google and searched for « How to find a Ring lost in Sand », and Ringfinders popped up.
I already had the gear in the car from an ongoing search that morning for a ring lost on a property 50yrs ago, and so arrived just half an hour later.

In a matter of minutes I dropped his missing ring back into his hand, and after a couple of pics I was heading home.
It’s nice to have an easy recovery once in a while, one of my recoveries at Matauri Bay took three months and a couple of hundred hours, but the ring did have another three months head start!

If you lose a ring at the beach, please contact an experienced Ring Finder as soon as possible, it can make the difference between minutes and months.

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Lost Kerikeri Ring Found in Car

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Karen contacted me this afternoon asking if I was able to find a very sentimental silver ring that had ‘Just disappeared’ inside her car.

She remembered taking her ring off in the car to place it in the centre console before going to work, but when she went to put it on at the end of the day, it had ‘disappeared’.

She had searched the whole car to no avail, and in desperation phoned me to see if I could help.

I offered some likely places to look, but she had already tried those.

A few hours later, I was firing up the Ferret remote camera to search those sneaky areas inside the car that humans are unable to reach…

Late into the evening, the ring was spotted – tangled in the carseat rails.

Unfortunately the ring had been crushed by the seat moving in the rails, but at least it is salvageable.

A bittersweet victory, she had her precious ring back and is going to make an appointment with a jeweller to restore it to its former glory.

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How to find a ring lost in a garden? Call the Kerikeri Ring Finder.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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After reading of my recent recovery of a lost earring in a garden near Kerikeri, Lucy contacted me to see if I could help locate her aquamarine engagement ring, lost in a lawn four months ago.
She had her jewellery out while getting ready for a trip out, and when she came to put it on noticed it had been moved, and her precious ring was missing.
It didn’t take long to discover her three year old had been playing with it, and taken it outside.
On careful questioning, her daughter admitted she had lost it « in the grass ».
After the inevitable immediate search, Lucy gave up hope of ever seeing it again, and more so after the lawn was inevitably mown.
Until yesterday, when I turned up to see what I could do.
Being a farm environment, the going was very slow with the many targets you find in this sort of ground, each needing to be verified before moving on.
I cleared the likely play area, and moved down to the orchard – after all, what three year old can resist fresh plums!
It wasn’t long before I got a low tone in the headphones, in amongst the trees.
As I lifted a small plug of soil, the edge of a ring was visible – I teased it out from the grass roots and gave it a quick rinse in a nearby puddle while Lucys son went to find her.
Her tears flowed freely as I handed it back to her, and she explained to a confused three year old that these were « tears of happiness », and not like the « sad » tears when she realised it had been lost.
I waited a while for the teary red eyes to subside before the reunion photo 🙂
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Car Keys « Lost » on State Highway – Found

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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The sole purpose of a ringfinder, is to find the lost item, not to judge. Believe me, we’ve heard it all…

I’ll call him Bob.

Bob phoned me just on sunset, « I’ve lost my car keys on the side of the road… »

He was just down the road, so 15 minutes later I pulled up behind their car.

Bob came up to meet me while his partner sat in the car.

As he told me the first version of the story, the Search and Rescue training kicked in and I was assessing the scene and the behavioral profiling. My very first question was, « Were they thrown? » with a knowing grin.

He sheepishly admitted that maybe there was some velocity involved, during a ‘discussion’ with his partner.

Personally, I don’t care if it was thrown in anger, or even lost through some embarrassing and less than rational action, but please do be honest with the guy who turns up to look for it for you.

The side of the highway at the bottom of a hill was loaded with trash signals from litter which had washed down over the years, and it was really hard graft with signals coming from all over.

I jumped the nearby farm fence and cleared the extents that they might have gone into the neighboring paddock, nothing found so it was back into the trash…

Changing up the gear to cope with the many drink cans and bits of car etc, I started a more focussed search, and 15 minutes later just on dark I held up the keys.

I got a « No Way! » from his partner as she emerged from the car, and it was high fives all round.

I can only imagine the conversation as they drove away…

 

 

 

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Lost Wedding Ring Found in Surf Two Days Later

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Two days ago, Scott had been fishing from a remote beach in Doubtless bay. While packing up, he noticed he had lost his white gold wedding ring during the day.

Thinking he had lost the ring while gutting and cleaning the catch in the water, he spent some time looking for it. With light failing and the propensity for rings to sink quickly in mobile sands, he was unable to locate his lost ring.

Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to tie a small orange fishing float to some grass at the edge of the dunes…and contacting an experienced Ringfinder as soon as possible meant that the chances of recovering it were as good as they get.
So, a little after 4am this morning, I pulled out of the driveway and started the 2hr drive north to meet Scott at 6.

Given the remote location, it was likely we would only get one shot at this and I wanted to maximise the lower half of the tide in case it became a protracted search.
Big thanks do have to go to Scott for making the effort to meet me on site at ‘daft o clock’, it is so invaluable having the ring owner present at searches to discuss the circumstances of loss.

Our little convoy bounced up the rough road up onto “Puwheke” – not an insignificant hill on the Karikari peninsula, and a prominant landmark visible from many kilometres in all directions.
Once parked up, Scott pointed far into the distance…distance being the key word! The route we would have to take around the hill and down to the beach looked like one of those that somehow always feels like it’s uphill in both directions with gorse, steep slopes and wet, slippery rank grass growth.

The beach itself was very pleasant though, the sort of sand you see on deserted tropical islands – nice flat hardpacked white quartz sand (The quartz crystals actually ‘squeak’ with the friction if you scuff your foot in the dry sand).

One and a half kilometres from the cars, we arrived at where he had lost his ring. A small dayglo fishing float glowing orange in the grass.
While I got setup, Scott marked out some boundaries and I made a start in the dry fluffy sand. At least, in the middle of nowhere there was no trash or background chatter to mask any signals. A rare luxury with recoveries.

The first search line went straight down the beach and out into the shallows. Unsure how long I’d be searching, I was trying to stay dry at this stage of the exercise, the ocean waters not yet warmed from summer.
I turned and started the return line back to the beach. Three paces – and I got a clean tone, the sound was either that of a deep lead fishing weight, or a relatively shallow gold ring. I knew which it would be! Time to dig.

The white sand easily flowed out of the scoop, leaving Scotts ring nestled in the corner.

The ring safely back on Scott’s finger, we started the long walk back to the cars.

Uphill all the way…

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