lost gold ring Tag | Page 44 of 48 | The Ring Finders

Local Man Hunts Your Lost Treasures in Newark, OH.

  • from Newark (Ohio, United States)
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Newark man searches for treasures

Baughman uses metal detecting to reunite people with lost jewelry

NEWARK — Jon Baughman could be considered a modern-day treasure hunter.

But he isn’t in it for fame or fortune. He’s most interested in reuniting people with lost jewelry that is important to them.

For several years, Baughman has spent his spare time using metal detectors and other gear to search for rings in Licking and Franklin counties.

“They are a person’s most precious item, especially when they are passed down from generation to generation,” he said.

“I enjoy giving peoples’ lost treasures back to them.”

A Utica resident, Baughman was inspired to learn about metal detecting from his wife’s grandfather, Ed Collins, and his father-in-law, Jim Jolliff.

Whenever the three men get together, they enjoy going out to parks with their metal detectors and seeing what they find. Baughman has also participated in several seeded hunts, where participants compete to see who can find the most items buried in the ground.

When he discovered the website, theringfinders.com, Baughman found a way to turn his interest into a business.

Theringfinders.com is a large database of metal detecting specialists so clients around the country can search for a ring finder in their area.

“The main thing is they are willing to help you out,” he said.

He joined the site in February 2012. Last year he got about 20 calls. So far this year he’s gotten six.

A calibration tech at Abbott Laboratories, Baughman keeps his gear in his truck so he can respond to a call as soon as possible. He travels with several metal detectors, including one that’s hand held, shovels, and scoops to search in sand and water.

Although he doesn’t search for lost jewelry in people’s homes, he’ll search any outdoor space, including beaches, parks, lakes and yards.

When customers call, Baughman tries to get as much information about the ring or piece of jewelry as possible. He needs to know where they lost it and how long it has been missing.

If it’s in a public place, such as a parking lot or a park, he has to move quickly. If it’s on private property, he has to get permission to search the area.

When he’s searching for a ring he uses his metal detectors, putting small flags into the ground behind him so he knows were he’s been.

If the jewelry is buried, he has to dig for it, using his hand held detector.

“I’m there to help them and search everywhere I can,” he said. “I keep talking to them and get some more details and some new (information) pops up.”

Baughman works on a reward basis but charges a $30 call out fee to every customer to cover his travel expenses. If he finds the ring, it’s up to the client to decide how much he gets as a reward, he said.

Some of his customers have thrown their rings after a fight with their fiance or spouse. Others have lost it swimming or had it fall out of their pocket.

One woman called him to help her find her husband’s wedding band, which fell off his finger when he was pulling leaves off a rake. She was thrilled when he was able to find it.

He also was able to help a man in Gahanna who lost his ring playing football with his sons and a woman in Mount Sterling who lost two rings in a barn.

Although he’s had many successful finds, there have also been times he couldn’t find the ring.

Some have sunk to the bottom of the lake and others have been picked up by someone else. But he never gives up the search until the customer tells him its over.

“At least they have closure,” he said. “When you have something that’s lost, you want to know if it’s there or not.”

While he’s hunting, Baughman often comes across lots of metal objects, from cans and pop tabs to horseshoes and bottle caps. He picks up what he finds and stores it in a bucket in his garage.

“I was in Scouting, and we leave it better than how you find it, so I always pick it up,” he said.

When it comes to ring hunting, it’s important to be patient and thorough, Baughman said.

“Practice is the biggest thing and knowing your equipment,” he said. “There is a lot of detective work.”

His favorite moment is being able to tell someone he’s found their ring.

Once he returned a class ring to a woman who hadn’t seen it in 29 years. She was so happy she cried.

“You always get that rush when you find one,” he said. “I always get a big smile on my face because I know I made them happy.”

ajeffries@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8544

Twitter: @amsjeffries

October 07, 2013

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20131006/NEWS01/310060029/Newark-man-searches-for-treasures

About this series

“Aces of Trades” is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs — whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.

Looking for something?

For more info about Jon Baughman, call 740-334-7293 or go to theringfinders.com/Jon.Baughman/#us-oh-newark

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Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

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Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers' lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

 

Jon Baughman often finds himself digging up trash instead of precious rings and notes the variety of objects he finds from old horseshoes and bent spoons to beverage can pull tabs. Baughman pockets all trash he finds and disposes of it later. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

Jon Baughman often finds himself digging up trash instead of precious rings and notes the variety of objects he finds from old horseshoes and bent spoons to beverage can pull tabs. Baughman pockets all trash he finds and disposes of it later. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

 

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers' lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

Jon Baughman, an experienced metal detecting specialist and member of The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service, demonstrates how he uses different metal detectors and equipment to find customers’ lost rings and other objects. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate

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Lost Ring Lake Livingston, Texas

  • from Sugar Land (Texas, United States)
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Lost Diamond Wedding Ring Lake Livingston, Texas

Received a call from Mike in Kingwood, Texas regarding his wife’s lost Gold Wedding Ring. Mike reported while swimming in Lake Livingston his wife lost her ring. Mike said he was pretty sure she lost the ring on a sand bar in the lake where they had spent most of the day.

I made the trip with Mike up to the lake and spent 6 hours in the water with the new (replacement) Excalibur II and could not find the ring, The plus, the Excalibur II ran like a champ, and the pictured ring was found while searching for my clients ring.

Men’s 14kt Gold wedding Band (owner unknown)

It was an unfortunate out-come, but Mike was very grateful for the extraordinary effort.

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Equipment CTX 3030

John

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Lost my Ring while Playing with my Dog!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got call from the gentleman above who said he had lost his ring in the backyard while playing with the dog at friends home.   The challenge on this hunt was the it was 102 degrees in Dallas that day, it was miserable.  My wife and I arrived and began the search with our Garrett ATPro’s and we began in the area where the customer said he thought it was.

We searched for about 2 hours, gridding out the yard, going through the flower beds we were having no luck.  I ask the ring owners wife if he could come home from work and show us exactly where he was and exactly what  he did with the dog.   He arrived about 20 minutes later.  He stood in the yard and said I did this and my son & I looked at each other and knew what had happened, the ring was slung back to the other side of the yard when the man threw the toy for the dog.  My son found the ring in about 10 minutes.

The customer and his wife were thrilled, we were soaked, and sunburned, but happy!

Another successful hunt for « The Dallas Ring Finders »

Don & Ellen with help from our son Tripp

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My Daughter Lost my Key Fob Somewhere on our Street!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call about 5:30pm from a customer that we had help several months ago, her daughter had lost daddy’s very special knife in the high grass.  We were able to find it and created a happy customer.

This same lady’s neighbor’s daughter grabbed her mom’s car keys and ran through the yards of about 5 homes chasing a dog and then ran back to her house.  Now you need to understand these are hugh yards, 100-200 ft across per yard.  All the neighbors and family had been looking for 1 key and key fob that had fallen off.

Our previous client came home and heard about the keys and immediately said « I know who to call, lets call « The Ring Finders »,  she gave us a call and explained what happened and we said let a us grab a quick dinner and we would head that way.

We arrived and chatted with the owner of the keys, the little girls dad, the little girl was in bed being punished for losing mom’s keys.   He explained where she had run and told us we had permission to scan all 5 of his neighbors yards.  Ellen & I got our Garrett ATPro’s and began to search, some areas were very thick grass.  About 5 minutes after we started my son and his girlfriend arrived to assist.  Sometimes just more eyes in a situation helps, it was starting to get dark.

We all spread out and it 5 minutes I hear my son say « Found It »  we all ran to him, including the owner and all his neighbors, my son was not even using a detector, just walking and looking.  As I told him, son we do not care how it gets found only that it gets found.

Everyone was happy the father said it would have cost him $300-$400 per replace the key fob for his wife’s car.

So from a referral comes another successful hunt for « The Dallas Ring Finders »

Don & Ellen with assistance from Tripp & Shannon

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Victoria’s Lord of the Rings

  • from Victoria (British Columbia, Canada)
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Victoria’s Lord of the Rings News Review Article click here

 RingFinders

Don Marshall wades near Hamsterly beach at Elk Lake last Friday searching for lost rings and jewellery with his underwater metal detector. At right is his scoop and floating sifter. The retired Saanich resident helps people find lost jewellery through TheRingFinders.com, a directory website for metal detector detectives from around the world.
 
By Edward Hill – Victoria News
Published: September 22, 2013 08:00 AM
Updated: September 22, 2013 08:528 AM

 

In a surfing wetsuit, headphones on, electronic gear strapped to his body, wading slowly through the water, Don Marshall doesn’t look like other park goers at Elk Lake.

He is in the zone sweeping the shallow murky water with his underwater metal detector, focused on hitting a telltale chirp of treasure buried in silt below. Chances are that of the thousands of people who flocked to Hamsterly Beach over the many hot days of summer, at least a few lost prized jewelery in the water.

« I listen for the tones. You can tell from the crispness of the sound when it’s pure metal. The tone is very sharp. Rusted nails sound corroded, sound gravelly or growly, » Marshall says. « When you hit a good tone you get excited, but it could be a bottle cap that’s not rusted, or a pull tab. You get all excited and it’s a damn pull tab. »

The retired Saanich resident has been ring and jewelery hunting around Greater Victoria for about three years and has been the mild-mannered saviour for five people this year alone. He’s Victoria’s sole listing on The Ring Finders website, a worldwide directory of metal detectors for hire.

This year Marshall is batting 100 per cent – five calls for help, five located rings, both on land and in water. At East Sooke Park in July, he spent five hours over two days to zero in on a wedding ring lost in shallow water by a woman playing with her kids. A few weeks later at the University of Victoria, he located a platinum engagement ring lost amid grass and trees behind the Student Union Building.

« It is so exciting, really exciting on how excited people are when you find their rings, » Marshall said. « The last one at UVic was a heirloom ring, passed down they told me three or four generations. They were so upset it was lost, and it was a hard one to find. »

Marshall charges $25 for a call out fee to cover gas and takes a reward based on what a client can afford. He’s pulled three valuable rings out of the water at Elk Lake the past couple of years, and advertised the finds on classified ad websites, but nobody came forward.

« It depends on how new (the jewelery) is and the level of tarnish, » he said. « If they are new enough, I’ll advertise them in UsedVictoria and Craigslist to try and get it back to the owner. It’s hard to find the owner of an old wedding ring. »

Last Friday, Marshall was wading in Elk Lake as part of his regular post-summer exploration of popular beach spots. His underwater gear is good to a depth of 200 feet, although Marshall will wade in neck high following the tones. He carries a scoop and a floating sieve to separate the junk from the occasional treasure.

It’s a pastime that requires patience – popular spots can be littered with bottle caps, nails and even bullet casings, all which can twig the device. He’s part of a loose community of about half a dozen people who regularly explore Greater Victoria parks and beaches with metal detectors.

The Saanich fairground manager even allowed Marshall to explore the grounds and target-rich areas under rides. « There’s plenty to find along the towel line in the sand at Willows (beach), » he adds.

Marshall purchased his metal detecting equipment as a way to keep busy after retiring from Telus. The draw, he says, is the mix of being immersed in Victoria’s natural spaces and the quiet solitude of the hunt.

« It was a situation of finding something to do to stay out of the bar, » he said laughing. « And it’s the only hobby that pays for itself. »

Check out theringfinders.com.

editor@saanichnews.com

 

 
 
Find this article at: 
http://www.vicnews.com/news/224464181.html
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Lost Wedding Band @ Cape Henlopen State Park Lewes, Delaware: Found

  • from Lewes (Delaware, United States)
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On the evening of 08/30/13, I received a phone call from a gentleman regarding his wife’s lost wedding band. The story was that they had spent the day at Herring Point Beach located at the south end of Cape Henlopen State Park Beach in Lewes, Delaware. The gentleman’s wife had taken her two rings off and placed them in a small bag while at the beach. The smaller bag was then placed in a larger bag. Upon arriving back home it was discovered that both rings had fallen out of the smaller bag. The engagement ring was found inside of the larger bag and the wedding band was missing completely. It was thought that the wedding band may have fallen out into the front yard when the towels that were in the larger bag had been shaken out to remove the sand from them. I responded to the home where I check front yard and was unable to locate the wedding band. It was then decided to search the beach were the couple had been earlier in the day. I agreed to meet the gentleman at Herring Point Beach at 6:30 am on 08/31/13. Upon arriving at the beach the next morning I was shown the area where the couple had spent their time the day before. The sand was still smooth from where they had set up a large tent. I started the search using the smooth sand as a guide for the search. I made one pass and turned around to begin another. I got about halfway through my second pass when I heard that tone through my headphones that signaled « Gold ». I recovered the ring and presented it to the gentleman. I learned that the ring was an antique, it belonged to his wife’s mother and it had the names of her mother and father engraved inside of it. Another successful search in the books!
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Lost Wedding Band… Laguna Beach, CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Wednesday,  August 14, 2013

I was sitting at home trying to decide what beach I was going to today, when I got a call from Marco Semerano, who was vacationing in Laguna Beach with his family. He  had been helping his son dig a hole in the sand Tuesday afternoon when his ring slipped off his finger. He and his wife searched the rest of the day and that night they asked everybody around if there was any way to contact somebody with a detector. No body could help them so they went to the internet and called sporting goods stores, etc. with the idea of buying a detector. That’s when they found The RingFinders and my contact information. I’m only 7 miles away so I was out the door and met Marco on the beach where he was guarding the location where he had lost the ring.

Marco told me how important his ring was to him because it was his father’s. Rocco and Laurie Semerano married 12/29/57.. Knowing the history of his ring, I had to find this ring. I started to swing my search coil and I was getting odd signals so I asked them to move the metal beach chair. After moving the chair I swung my coil where it had been and behold the sound of gold. One scoop and there was Marco’s ring. His face lit up and so did mine.

Marco asked me for some cards because he wanted to make sure the people at the Hotel and the Lifeguards know about The RingFinders service. Someday people will automatically Google the RingFinders to get help. How often have I heard  » I didn’t know a service like this existed ». It’s nice to be part of this group and someday I’ll be able to say I was a member in the early days.

After a couple photos, we talked for a few minutes. Marco telling me the whole story of this ring and me telling him lost ring stories. Then I went off to spend the next few hours detecting on a beautiful beach for pleasure, this is what I do normally. It’s a tuff life. I love it..

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Gold & Diamond Ring recovered from the water in Baltimore County, Maryland!

  • from Baltimore (Maryland, United States)
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Yuriy with his girlfriend's ring!

Yuriy with his girlfriend’s ring!

I must tell you, the 100% success streak looked to be in jeopardy! This was the first time I initially came up empty during a recovery attempt, but due to the fact that Yuriy was so certain that the ring was lost in a certain area of a popular beach hang out, we decided to give it another try. I’m glad we did! Here is Yuriy’s take on the experience in his own words.

My girlfriend, some friends, and I went boating on Carlo’s (a friend of mine) boat to Hart Miller Island. We were throwing a football around in the water and my girlfriend realized that her ring had fallen off. Without seeing it hit the water it was difficult to pinpoint an exact location. We attempted a search but it was futile. The following day I decided to try to Google for “ring finding services” and came upon the theringfinders.com. Seeming too good to be true I emailed all the finders in Maryland and received prompt responses from all of them. Jim’s response was unique because he was ready to go that instant with his 100% success rate. One big issue is that I do not own a boat. I quickly contacted Carlos who was kind enough to make the drive with me to meet Jim and his friend Lance to search for the ring. While driving it all seemed too good to be true that there are people who do this and I was a little concerned about being mugged. When I met Jim and Lance that concern went away, they are two genuinely good guys. We boated out to the location where the ring was lost and they searched for about 3 hours. The location was filled with a lot of trash and the first search was unsuccessful. They were nice to offer a second attempt and we agreed on the following weekend. After the amount of trash I thought that the chances of the 2nd attempt were slim.

Only Jim was able to come out the 2nd time and my friend Carlos was once again kind enough to provide the transportation. Jim began his search and I began texting my girlfriend who at this point in time was on vacation with her family. All of a sudden Jim comes up to me and asks me, « is this it? ». It was surreal when he showed me my girlfriends ring! We celebrated and I texted my girlfriend we found it. She didn’t believe me at first so I sent her a picture. She was ecstatic. Even now it all seems too surreal.

Big thank you to Jim and Lance for searching for the ring.  These are two great guys and I would recommend everyone to not hesitate to contact them to help you find what you’ve lost. Also, great to be part of their continued 100% success streak!

Out of the water, safe and sound!

Out of the water, safe and sound!

The ring was in knee high water unfortunately surrounded by bottle caps, pull tabs and other junk!

The ring was in knee high water unfortunately surrounded by bottle caps, pull tabs and other junk!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lost Ring … Del Mar Beach, CA.. In Surf at High Tide

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Saturday – July 20, 2013     I received a call from Kathleen in Del Mar, CA. after she found my number on  » The RingFinders  » website.  She and her husband Jeff had been to the beach a couple days before at 6:30pm, which was about high tide.  Jeff was boogie boarding in the surf when he took a big wave and when he recovered from a wipeout he was missing his wedding band. While  talking with with Kathleen, I explained that it is a difficult search, because the detector can only detect ring size metal to a depth of 6″ to 8″ inches. Depending on surf conditions the sand can move more than a foot of sand in one tide. Kathleen gave me good directions, which made it easier to start hunting.

I drove to the location, arriving about 12 am. two hours before low tide. Setting up a grid search of 75 yards parallel to the beach. After five passes towards the receding tide I got my first and only signal.. There it was and I knew right away it was Jeff’s ring. It was just about 5″ or 6″ inches deep. I had been slowly swinging the detector for about 30 minutes overlaping each swing as not to miss a ringsize area. Missing a 3 inch area could make a 30 minute search turn into hours of hunting. I always tell people that I’m searching for,  » Just don’t watch me work, because it will drive a normal person crazy » It’s a slow and methodical process.

I text Kathleen a photo of the ring and asked her to call. She immediately called back with an excited voice. We set up a meeting and Jeff was outside his home waiting at 1 am when I drove up. I handed him his ring and he told me how he lost it. He is vacationing from Louisiana and is not familiar with westcoast surf.  Jeff said the wave picked him up smashing him under the water. When he came up he had sand in every orfice. Then he noticed the missing ring.  He just knew it was gone forever and probably half way to Hawaii by now.  He explained to me,  how he had told all his friends about his surfing experience and the loss of his ring. I only wish I could tell Jeff’s story the way he told it.  Now he can tell them a better story.  » The Recovery of his ring »   It was a pleasure to meet Jeff and talk to his wife on the phone and I am realizing that there are so many nice people in this world.. I love helping people with a skill that has taken me many years of experience and research to learn.. ( And Lots of Luck )

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Found Lost Wedding Ring in Lake Wilson in Weatherford,Tx

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call from the gentleman above late on a Friday afternoon.  Said he had fallen out of a boat on a small private lake in Weatherford,Tx and wondered if we would come try to find it.  I said we would be happy to but it would have to wait a week as were on our way to the airport to leave for vacation in Cancun for a few days.  I loved his response, he said « well it ain’t going nowhere ».  We agreed I would call him in a week when we returned.

As promised we called the following week and spoke with John about his ring, he explained that he and a friend were coming in from fishing on a small boat, he had stood up just at the moment his friend decided to pull the boat up a little higher on the bank.  When that happen, John lost his footing and fell into the lake.  He said he could feel his wedding band slipping off but could do nothing about it.  The waters edge was slippery and covered in algae and dropped off about 5-6ft in depth.

John found « The Ring Finders » website and located us.

Ellen & I drove 75 miles to the spot on the highway to meet John and have him and buddy lead us back on the dirt roads to where the lake was.  I set up my gear and went into the lake, it was amazing how deep it got so close to the shore.  John told me while I was in the water that he had used swimming pool cleaning poles to try and drag the ring up on shore and he also had a friend bring out his metal detector but no luck finding the ring.  I spent maybe 20 minutes in the water getting a feel for the area where John thought the ring would be.  I was getting lots of hits on my detector and using my water scoop was very difficult in the muddy bottoms.   As I went to change hands with my equipment my detector passed over a flat rock covered in algae  and my Garrett AT Pro went off loudly so I knew something was there.  I reached over with my hand and felt along the top of the rock and there was John’s wedding ring.  My wife and John had been talking along the bank and I said « hey John would you like to have your ring back? » and held up his gold wedding band .   He was flabbergasted, he said over and over « I thought I would never see it again ».  These reactions are what make this so much fun.

My wife was filming with her IPhone and began to ask John some questions.  He said this was the first time this ring had been off his finger in 57 YEARS.  He buddy then said, ‘tell them what you did’.  John replied with a sheepish grin, « I did not tell my wife »  he said I have a friend who owns a Pawn Shop who got him a temporary wedding ban to wear until we could hopefully find his ring.  We laugh and laughed.  Then John said…. « I wonder if the Pawn Shop with take the other ring back ».

It was a wonderful day.

Another great find for « The Ring Finders »

Don & Ellen Wilson

 

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