Another publication in a local paper, the Watertown Daily Times. They wrote up a nice article about our Devil’s Lake Search. Click on the link below for the complete article.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014:
I received a call at work from my wife Wendy this afternoon at around 1 PM. Apparently the message I left with the Lifeguard at Kaimana Beach Park paid off. Wendy told me that a lady named Lisa had called and left her number concerning a lost ring. So after my lunch break I gave Lisa a call and she said, “The Lifeguard at Kaimana Beach Park gave her my card and said I was the “Detector Guy” that found her daughters ring.” First of all I never show or tell the Lifeguard exactly what I’ve found only that it’s a “Ring” or “Bracelet” etc. I politely asked Lisa to describe the ring her daughter Talia lost and if I had it I would gladly return it to them. The ring in question was so unique it only took a few adjectives of description and I knew the owner would soon be reunited with their lost heirloom ring. The Queen Elizabeth crown ring had been in their family for over 25 years and Talia was heartbroken when she discovered it missing after going for a swim with her father and two brothers. She felt the ring come off and made an immediate dive underwater to retrieve it but as usual the sandy bottom consumed the ring on Tuesday, August 5th. After the swim out to the reef flag and back her father and brothers borrowed goggles from the Lifeguard in hopes of finding the heirloom ring in the shallow water where Talia remembered losing it. Unfortunately, after numerous attempts searching with the googles all hope was lost.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014:
This was a typical evening for me on a metal detecting stroll through Kaimana Beach in chest deep water. One of my favorite spots because the Hawaiian sunset is so spectacular from this beach. About an hour before sundown after finding a few clad coins I get a very loud yet growling tone on my Excalibur thinking to myself it’s another Corona bottle cap. But what in my scoop should appear the most unusual 14 karat gold ring that I’ve ever seen. I almost didn’t dig this ring as the crown shape made it sound like a growling bottle cap. A word to the wise “DIG EVERYTHING”. You’re either removing trash from the environment or uniting a family with a lost heirloom. Both are good deeds. I immediately went to the Lifeguard and asked if anyone had reported losing a ring. He said not today but thought the day before a family that frequents the beach regularly had lost a gold ring but he didn’t remember the details. Since he had my card if any reports were made or the next time he saw the gentleman he would give them my contact information. As many of you know timing is everything especially in this hobby. The story behind this ring is Lisa purchased it from a museum for her mother 25+ years ago on a trip to London England. When Talia was visiting with her grandmother her grandmother noticed Talia liked rings (as she was wearing many on her fingers) so she gave the Queen Elizabeth Crown to her. Talia cherished this ring and was devastated when she lost it. As the story goes and as brothers always do they told their mother she lost it while swimming. Lisa and I arranged to meet in front of Zale’s Jewelry store in Kahala Mall to return the ring to Talia. Mom didn’t tell her why they were going to the mall so as you can see in the photo Talia was surprised and extremely joyful to be reunited with her precious ring. They were so grateful to me and made me feel really good as well. That’s the most rewarding part of this hobby.
Hot muggy day on Oahu when I received a panic phone call from Jodi who just lost her ring at Waikiki Beach. She explained to me that she had just entered the water and reached up to adjust her ponytail when she felt her ring slip off into the water. There was a little bit of surf not too bad so she tried feeling around for her ring with her bare feet. The combination of sand and stones made it very difficult to feel anything let alone the ring, so after 10 hopeful minutes she gave up. A tourist on the beach told her she saw a guy metal detecting the previous day with a shirt that said, « Ringfinder something or other » Jodi quickly did a Google search on her phone and found the site and that’s where I come in. She called my cellphone and I just happened to be a few blocks away and could be there in about 5 minutes. Knowing the ring was just lost moments ago I asked Jodi a few simple questions then I walked into the water where Jodi said she had been standing when she lost her ring. It wasn’t 30 seconds when I had a target on my Excalibur and with a nice gentle scoop there was her ring. It was almost too easy. I wish every search could be like this. Then Jodi faded away? The ring, place and situation is real unfortunately Jodi is not. I’m sure this ring had some wonderful memories attached to it but they are now lost forever because the owner probably never heard of The Ring Finders. We are here to help. Aloha, Joe
I received an email about a lost mans tungsten wedding ring lost in the back yard. He was just taking out a piece of grass from his hot tub the tossing the blade of grass into the yard. He did not expecting that his wedding would follow suit into the high grass. After he scoured around everywhere for it, raking the grass, rented a metal detector and even the lawn company mowed the grass before I could get there. After searching the area for awhile, and located the utilites as I was searching. There was the ring half way down into the dirt. he was very happy to get the ring back.
Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Grove City, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Grove City, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Grove City, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Grove City, OH. “FOUND”
I received a call about a white gold wedding ring that was lost while playing baseball with his kids. A search needed to be done as soon as possible since the baseball fields are going to be used the next day. About 20 hours later we met at the baseball field. I search the whole left outfield as one of the possible lost locations. But no luck. Then I started to search back to the bleaches from the left outfield and there it was in the grass. He was very happy to have his ring back.
Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Reynoldsburg, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Wedding Ring in Reynoldsburg, OH. “FOUND”
On 06-07-14, I was contacted by a gentleman regarding his daughters three wedding rings that had been lost in the sand on the beach at Gordon’s Pond State Park beach in Rehoboth, Delaware. I learned that the daughter had taken her rings off and placed them on a towel while she was putting suntan oil on her daughter. The husband unknowingly picked up the towel that the rings were laying on and all three disappeared in the sand without a trace. I responded to the beach where I met all of the parties involved and began my grid search for the rings. After the third pass the sand gave up her bounty and one by one I was able to recover each ring and I returned them to their rightful owner. As each ring was recovered a group of spectators gave out a cheer.
Lost Gold in Austin, Texas (The Ring Finders Challenge) (www.theringfinders.com/greg.delong)
I was wanting to get to know member Greg DeLong a little better and was planning on trying to meet up with him on my trip to Austin, Greg lives in one of my favorite local destinations and having a friend in those parts could only make things better.
Austin has clean and clear lakes, rivers and creeks, something we don’t get down her in the bayou city, so when we want to beat the Texas heat we often head up to Austin.
I didn’t get the opportunity to meet Greg on my last trip, but I left a couple of items behind at a local park for Greg to track down. This was not going be as good as having a beer and over looking some area of Austin, but I thought it might still be a fun way to get to know Greg,
After returning home from Austin, I sent Greg an e-mail telling him I had buried some gold in Austin, and if he was able to find it, he could claim the treasure as his own. I told him I would also be responsible for our lunch on my next trip if he was successful.
I provided Greg GPS coordinates, and told him his detective skills and his metal detecting experience would be necessary for the recovery on this job. I told Greg he would be searching for a Gold Challenge Coin, 7 gold coins, and lunch if he was successful.
Greg apparently did his homework on the GPS coordinates, and e-mailed me back stating I planted the treasure-loot in an Austin park that prohibits metal detecting. Turns out all Austin parks prohibit metal detecting without an official permit issued by the Austin Park’s Department.
Told Greg, WOW looks like you will be buying lunch the next time I am in Austin. (the challenge) LOL
I asked Greg if he was going to let little things like jail stand in the way of his challenge. LOL, I thought it was funny, I think he thought I was trying to get him arrested.
Word today from Greg, I will be buying lunch on the next trip to Austin. Told Greg, his pictures better match the ones posted here if he was counting on lunch.
On Sunday afternoon we got a call from a gentleman who had lost his wedding ring. He had been working all day in his yard digging a trench to relieve some standing water. After completing the several hour project he realized his wedding ring was gone. He and his family search for 2 hours and had no luck. He found « The Ring Finders » website and gave us a call. We spent about 20 minutes covering the area which was crazy with signals due to a power line running under his backyard. I decided to re-check the trench with full descrimination, looking only for gold. I got a hit near the end of the 15ft trench about 6 inches down. As I bent down and used my pinpointer through the mud and water in the trench I saw a glint of GOLD in the hole. The wedding ring was stuck in the wall of the trench about 4-6 inches down. I turn and ask the homeowner, I said, « I have a questions for you » « would you like to have this back and I handed him his ring« .
He and his wife were so excited they could not believe we found it… they kept saying « you guys are good, you guys are so good« . The wife came out and gave us hug… it was another successful hunt for the « Dallas Ring Finders ».
I received a call yesterday from Eric a resident of Bellaire, Texas regarding his lost wedding ring. Eric reported he had lost his wedding ring in his backyard while playing water volleyball in his new pool. Eric said he remembered hitting a volleyball and his ring flying off his finger. Eric reported he searched his yard for several days trying to find his ring. Eric said after unsuccessfully finding his ring he located « The Ring Finders » on a Google a search.
I made the trip out to Eric’s home this morning and was given a walk through of how and where the ring was lost. The backyard was under renovations, a beautiful new pool, landscaping steps, and new and old landscaping underway. The backyard had little grass, so the remaining search area was going to be several areas of monkey grass, small hedges and a few flower beds.
Having the 6″ coil for the CTX3030 was a big factor in this recovery. Most of my work was pushing the small coil through the small tight hedges to work the ground below and around the hedges. It would have been nearly impossible to have accomplished this task with the stock 11′ coil.
I worked an area of the yard that seemed most probable for Eric’s ring to have landed based on the information of how it was lost. This area was relatively heavy with scrubs and money grass providing a great hiding place for a missing ring.. I thought for sure it would be the spot. After spending sometime working the hedges and monkey grass in this area with no results, I moved to the far side of the yard.
I started in on one of the flower beds, pushing the coil through the hedges blindly when I got a nice signal. I worked through the ground cover vegetation with a pin pointer and uncovered a series of intertwined gold loops. I ‘ll be honest, I initially thought maybe I had found an earring , I was thinking to myself what the heck is it. I knew it was gold, but did not register as a gold wedding band.
I hollered over to Eric who was working in the yard, and held out the dangling loops of gold, I saw a smile on his face, and rest is now history.
Eric explained that the odd configuration (the gold loops) was a Gold Arabic Puzzle Ring, and it had belonged to his grandfather original, passed to his father, and now to him. Thought to myself (priceless) and awesome, that is something you could never replace.
I have picked up a lot of rings, but this was my first ever puzzle ring and what a cool story. It didn’t take long to figure out why they call it a puzzle ring.
The video is a quick clip of Eric putting his ring back together.
Galveston is one of the most popular year-round coastal destinations in our second largest state TEXAS. It is an island in the Gulf of Mexico. You can still take a road trip here because it is connected to the mainland by a bridge. It is a city that offers many historical and cultural attractions, water sports, and great hotels and resorts. Galveston TX has most of its businesses downtown, but also offers many rental residences with access to the Galveston beaches.