Lost Ring 8 Carats of Diamond and Sapphire Eastern Point Beach, Groton CT… Found!
Wayne’s Barber Shop is a contemporary hotspot with the most attention to detail haircut on the east coast. A loss like this one would be devastating to any atmosphere as cool as this one – finding and returning this ring was an extremely important task. One Sunday evening in late July 2017 I received a message from my friend and owner of Wayne’s Barber Shop, Groton, CT regarding his lost ring with a circa 1910 3¾ carat diamond and 2¼ carat sapphires. He was cooling off in the water at Eastern Point Beach, Groton CT when one of his most sentimental pieces of jewelry dropped into the waist-deep water. It took a minute for the reality of losing his ring to sink in. After desperately searching by hand while at the same time trying to avoid drawing the attention of the other beachgoers, he realized the ring was lost. Thinking quickly, he didn’t want to lose the location of the lost ring so he used his foot to mark a line as he exited the water into the dry sand. Getting back to the beach chair, he immediately contacted a couple of different people. He contacted me, sent a message to his brother (who had a mask and snorkel) and he even contacted the ring designer, Mystic Gem Company of Mystic CT. Within the hour we were all standing on the beach together discussing the details of how this very special diamond and sapphire ring was lost. His location on the beach where he entered the water was marked by his line in the sand and the distance off the beach was noted by his memory of the waist-deep water. We determined the tide was going out so the lost ring would be in shallower water at this point. He waited patiently on the beach as his brother finished up the snorkel and mask search and I began searching with a metal detector. With an eager crowd starting to form on the beach, the pressure was on as I retrieved bottle caps, pull tabs, and other items discarded by past beachgoers. After 20 minutes of searching, I pulled a scoop of rocks from the knee-deep water and gently dumped it onto the beach. Someone yelled, “there it is!” I’ve seen a lot of rings, but the ring that rolled out of my scoop this time was the most stunning piece of jewelry I’d ever seen. Another lost ring found and reunited with its owner!
Lost a piece of jewelry on the beach? Lost a ring in the tidal area where the water level changes throughout the day? If a ring is lost in the surf, use a physical reference to mark two key points: mark the location along the beach and mark the distance out into the water from the beach. Jewelry is commonly lost during our favorite summertime activities. Don’t waste your time with a metal detector rental or with a local hobbyist, have a professional member of The Ring Finders find you lost ring or jewelry. If you lost a piece of jewelry, contact me now through www.TheRingFinders.com or www.metaldetectionkeithwille.com or call/text 860-917-8947.
Keith Wille’s Media Mentions:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/science/archaeology-metal-detectorists-pequot.html?_r=1
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-lost-jewelry-hunters
http://www.theday.com/local/20160823/with-stroke-of-luck-waterford-resident-gets-his-ring-back