I received a call from Mike on Tuesday 28th and he said he had lost his gold signet ring in his backyard several years ago. He said they were moving and the ring was a gift from his wife and he really wanted to find it before they moved. We made arrangements for Wednesday afternoon. Around four years ago he had been clearing brush in the backyard and towards the end of the day he noticed his ring was gone. They had been piling the brush next to the street on the side yard, so that’s where I started my search. I really didn’t think the ring would be there, but I had to eliminate that area of possibility. The huge problem I had to deal with was underground power lines next to the street, (around 14 KV), and it was really messing with my detector. I had to go very slow in that area until I got far enough away that my detector started to settle down a little. After a little over an hour I finally eliminated the side yard. The back of the house had a pretty steep slope that was covered in pine straw mulch. I know from experience that pine straw on a slope can be very slippery. He had mentioned that he had slipped a couple of times on that slope, but didn’t remember exactly where that happened. That’s where I focused my attention next, and after I looked at it more carefully, towards the corner of the house the slope wasn’t quite as steep, so I figured anybody coming through that area would would pick that spot. As I got halfway down the slope I got a consistent 12:20 on my CTX, and it was shallow, (showing one inch). If you’re looking for a gold ring that’s a very good signal. I brushed the straw away and didn’t see anything visible, but my pinpointer said there was something there just under the surface. I brushed the soil a little with my fingers and saw the corner of a gold rim showing through! I called Mike over, as he was just about to go back in the house. His wife came out and she was elated! She said she figured it was gone and never to be found again. I think I was as excited as they were, because that was a tough search having to deal with the underground power lines. Knowing your machine, and asking the right questions makes all the difference. The entire search took around two hours.
