Christina McCree – Ring Finder/Metal Detectorist for northern Alabama and southern/middle Tennessee…call or text ASAP, anytime 24/7…610-504-6135
On a beautiful Sunday morning (April 7th, 2024), I was sitting on my outdoor patio rocking chair, enjoying a cup of iced coffee, watching birds eating at my feeder and two Bluebirds tending to their birdhouse. A few minutes into my cup, I received a call from Emily stating she had lost her wedding ring. She had been in a car accident a few days prior near Pell City, Alabama. Thankfully, everyone in the accident was okay.
After the accident, Emily was standing near the wood line close to a gravel pull off point near the road. She had a flat tire and was upset about the whole situation. She lit up a cigarette and angrily threw the cigarette pack towards the woods. She felt her custom-made platinum wedding ring with multiple diamonds and her son’s birthstone fly off her finger. She had recently lost some weight, so the ring was loose fitting, but she hadn’t gotten it resized yet. Emily and her family looked for hours, raking the pine straw and even buying a metal detector, but unfortunately, didn’t find the ring. This was the ring Emily always dreamed about, constantly sharing photos with her mom, planning it for years. Emily was absolutely devastated that the ring was now gone. The sentimental value was beyond words.
Emily’s mom went on Google looking for ideas on how to find a lost ring. She came across The Ring Finders website. They (along with many others) were unaware that this metal detecting service even existed. Emily’s call to me had given her some renewed hope. I had an errand to run after lunch, but I told Emily I would be on the road as soon as I finished. Pell City was about a 2-hour drive from where I live at in Huntsville, AL.
I met Emily and her boyfriend of 17 years at a nearby Love’s Travel Stop in Pell City around 4:30pm. I followed them for about 10 minutes to the spot of the throw. Emily’s mom and father stopped by shortly after we did to watch the recovery.
I had Emily show me where she was standing and demonstrate exactly how she threw the cigarette pack. It was a sideways toss with her left hand. I had her throw one of my test rings and it went straight out near where the cigarette pack had landed. I put on my detecting belt, grabbed my Minelab Equinox 900, and started my search. I spent about 40 minutes checking the main radius of where the ring should’ve landed. I expanded out further, but came up empty handed other than the usual trash metal.
I asked Emily again about the angle of her throw. Her boyfriend had seen her throw the cigarette pack, and mentioned she had a downswing at the end. I know that rings can land at a person’s feet or even go behind them, so I expanded the search in that direction. The search area was now on the gravel road of the pull off point. I was still detecting and visually inspecting the gravel area. I was making my way towards the left side, when my eye caught a glimpse of a large and gorgeous platinum ring laying amongst the gravel. I quickly spun around facing Emily and her mom; with a huge smile on my face, and said, “we got it!!!” They almost couldn’t believe it, lol. Emily and her mom both ran over and gave me the biggest hugs, thank you’s, and praised the Lord. The excitement, celebration, and relief were again, beyond words. Truly, one of the greatest feelings.
The ring was slightly bent and had some scuff marks on the band, so it had been driven over. But fortunately, all the stones were still there. There was one diamond that was loose, so I gave Emily a baggie to keep it in until it could be repaired. Everyone couldn’t believe how far this ring actually flew and the odd direction it went. The last picture I included shows a dot where Emily was standing when she threw the pack and an “X” where the ring landed.
We chatted for a few minutes, took some pictures, and I was back on the road to go grab a bite to eat and then head home to Huntsville.
This ring is my 50th item recovered since I joined The Ring Finders on August 25th, 2018. It’s been such a blessing helping others and it really provides me so much purpose in life. I give all glory to God and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And a big thank you to my husband, Lindell, for allowing me to go on all of these fun and exciting adventures, lol. I look forward to going on many, many more.
Until the next one… please take care, God bless, and I love you all!
Arriving at the resort earlier than check in time Sylvia and her party went to the sandy beach to wait for their room to be readied. The sun was warm and breeze delightful. A bit of sun tan lotion was in order. As with most beautiful rings with mounted stones one would take the ring off so to keep the cream from lodging itself under the stones. The the ring should be put back on. OOPS here is were Sylvia stood up before putting the ring back on. That was all it took for the ring to disappear into the fluffy sand.
No matter how hard the ring was looked for it had not been found. An attentive lifeguard stepped in to help save the ring by giving Sylvia information about TheRingFinders. A quick call to me and I was on my way. Parking and meeting up with Sylvia took a couple of phone calls before we met up. We were then on the way to the soft sandy area.
I began the search finding several Nip bottle caps, who said no alcohol on the beach? A couple of beer bottle caps and the growing crowd were beginning to wonder if I would ever find the ring. It all happened very fast as it took only about 5 minutes to capture the elusive wedding band in my scoop.
I walked over to Sylvia so she could take her ring from my scoop. This was my third successful wedding band return in one day.
How cheerful the crowd turned. Congratulations were offered and a jeweler chimed in with some useful information on sizing a ring and a reason not to have “bumps” put inside the ring. In one word: Comfort.
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
Watch video link below…
A gentleman looses his wedding ring while fishing with his son. After visually searching the area a few times the ring still remains elusive. With strong reason to believe the ring may have dropped into the fish pond we prepare to search the water with a metal detector. Watch this story unfold to see where the ring was found hiding. As I have said before these rings are small and excellent at hiding and it happens to everyone. In the end it doesn’t matter how they are found as long as they get recovered and returned to the owner. We are happy to report another lost ring recovered and a happy gentleman to have his ring back on his finger.
John’s Tiffany & Company Platinum Wedding Band Finally Above Ground!
A Happy Smile Returned to John’s Face as He Holds His Handsome Wedding Band!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
I received an email from John who shared these words:
“I lost my wedding ring doing yard work Sunday afternoon and would greatly appreciate some help finding it. I’ve been trying to find it myself and last night I realized that I need more help. Losing the ring came after a particularly depressing weekend for I had to travel for a funeral and the weekend was topped off with me losing the ring. So I feel particularly distraught. Would you be able to help me with the search? Your help would be greatly appreciated.”
As you can see, John finally gave up searching for his missing Tiffany and Company platinum wedding band that he lost somewhere in his backyard. He had been working on some outdoor projects such as: raking leaves, weeding, and putting miscellaneous throwaway items including old leaves inside a tumbler composter. All of this was taking place on approximately 2 1/2 acres of land and the missing ring could have come off just about anywhere on his McLean, Virginia estate. When I called John to go over the details of the disappearance of his beloved keepsake, he said that he acquired a metal detector and searched for hours on end, but he could not recover his ring. He went all over his property detecting various target signals, but nothing turned up in regards to what he was looking for. That’s when he looked online and discovered, THE RING FINDERS. He asked when I could come out to help recover his missing ring and I told him that I had a couple of hours open later in the day to help with the search.
Later that afternoon I arrived at John’s lovely McLean, Virginia estate. He took me to the backyard and it was as large as I pictured it when we spoke on the phone. The surroundings were absolutely breathtaking. He had a large open area of grassy lawn and then there was additional acreage that extended into the woods. He took me around to all of the places that he had been working on the yard, which was pretty much everywhere because he was raking and hauling leaves and weeds over to the woods throughout his weekend of outdoor projects He showed me his compost tumbler and we knew that it was a possibility that he could have lost the ring inside of it. John recalled throwing some of the walnuts that had come down from one of the trees out into the woods. We both agreed that the loose wedding band could have slipped off his ringer at that moment.
John showed me some of the locations where he predominantly metal detected, but where he came up empty-handed. I have to admit that it was a very large stretch of territory, and there could have been all kinds of possibilities as to where that loose ring could have fallen off. Yet, I was not moved by the amount of work that was ahead of me. I have experienced too many stories where such large properties give up the jewelry sooner or later. John was not an experienced metal detectorist and he was not using a machine that was the kind of quality necessary to get this job done. Nor did he have the kind of hours working with his machine that would have helped him interpret and assist him effectively in guiding him to the correct target. We must have gone from one side of the property all the way to the other side, and he even took me back into the woods maybe 15 or 20 yards to point out places where he dragged all kinds of brush and leaves.
After finishing the tour of all of the locations where John had been doing lawn work, I returned to my car to retrieve my metal detecting equipment. John left me and went back inside the house. I started my search closer to the woods. There were several hotspots where we thought he may have lost his platinum ring, so I covered those areas first. For sections where the brush was highly dense, I used my 6 inch equinox coil on my Minelab Equinox 800 detector. In the more open areas, I used my 15 inch coil which conquers a lot of territory in a very small amount of time. When I couldn’t find the ring in one section of the woods, I moved my way over to the next, and so on. No ring turned up.
I began detecting a pathway that led from one side of the lawn to the other side through some wooded areas. I detected both sides of the pathway, but there still was no ring to be found. Because I was limited on time that particular day, I focused more on ruling out the possibility that the ring was lost in the woods. Unless he actually flicked the ring farther into areas that were just too full of brush and tree limbs, I was starting to conclude that the ring was probably lost on the main grassy lawn rather than where all of the trees were located. There would be no way that I could search all of that territory in the two or so hours that I had on that particular day. However, if I couldn’t find the ring in a matter of minutes before having to pack up my gear, I would return in the morning to continue the search. It turned out that I did not pull the ring that afternoon. By the time I had to leave to go to my next appointment, I would postpone checking the compost container until the next morning, as well as a couple of other small sections that were full of leaf piles. I did start a grid search on the main lawn in the backyard and did as much area as I could make time for, yet I was not able to find the ring. I saw plenty of places where John had dug up the ground hoping to find his lost wedding band, but there were no fresh surface finds anywhere. I would have to pack up my gear and return early the next morning. I let John know that I was heading off after I searched for a few hours. I would have to wait until the next morning to resume my search. I couldn’t wait.
I got up around 5 AM and left my house sometime around 5:30 that morning. I wanted to get back to the search site as early as I could before having to leave for my regular job. I gave myself three hours to search. It was still dark out by the time I started traveling from Maryland into Virginia. I couldn’t wait to get to John’s estate to resume the search and recovery project. He gave me permission to start detecting as soon as I arrived, so the moment that I pulled up to the property, I gathered my gear and walked back to the rear of the house and set up my detecting equipment.
My main focus at this point was to start a grid search from one section of the lawn over to the other side. I used my Equinox 800 detector with a 15 inch coil. I was able to conquer quite a bit of real estate using this “snowshoe” of a coil! Before starting the grid, I emptied out the compost unit where John had been piling leaves and miscellaneous items inside to use as fertilizer for the property. There was a possibility that the ring slipped off his finger and ended up inside the rotator, so I pulled out the contents and detected over the pile that I had made. The ring was not found in the device. Next, I started the grid search going from the farthest point of the grass line straight up towards the house and then back towards the woods again, and so on. Also, to help keep straight and consistent moves with the detector, I brought cones to mark my grid lines, so I was very methodical about how to attack the search site that morning. As I was detecting, I started seeing more and more places where John had metal detected but found nothing. I knew that he had been searching in certain places because I would get a tone indicating that there was metal in the ground and that spot would be cleared away, so I knew that it was searched very recently. John said he covered quite a bit of the property and was frustrated by the time he put the detector down and contacted me. I didn’t blame him at all for his frustration because it was a very large property. Unless he was familiar with his detector and he used a machine that was set up for this type of recovery operation, he most likely would have gone right over the ring and completely miss it.
As it turned out, after I reached my sixth or seventh grid line, I checked a particular signal that resembled a target that could very likely be a ring. The target appeared to be close to the surface, if not on top of the dirt hidden in the grass. In addition to those signs, the tone was exactly what I was looking for! There’s a certain “skipping” sound that you’re looking for when searching for recently lost items. That “bounce” in the sound gives you a good idea that that particular metal is settled above ground, or at least near to. I immediately knelt down and took out my pinpointer to examine the target site. Once I zeroed in on the piece of metal, my eyes beheld the very object that I had been searching for since yesterday! I found John’s beloved platinum wedding band! What a delight it was to be able to find it within 45 minutes of my second visit to this beautiful McLean property! I could not have been more thrilled at that very moment!
John’s platinum ring was discovered close to the center point between the house and where the wooded area began. If you are looking at the back of the house from the lawn, the ring was lined up with the left side of the rear of the house, half way down towards the forest. I couldn’t wait to share the happy news with the owner of this very handsome wedding band! I marked the spot where I found the ring and then I planned out how I was going to reveal the ring discovery to John. That was a fantastic morning for all of us! John was extremely happy with my performance in being able to find the missing wedding band and return it to him. When I showed him the location of where I found the ring, he was perplexed because he knew that he had searched that entire section. I knew he had because I saw all of his dig marks. But, I explained to him that without the proper training and utilizing a quality detector, it’s like trying to find a one inch sized object with your eyes blindfolded and your ears muted! It’s nearly impossible! I was so happy to help him! What a wonderful way to start off my day! I left McLean, Virginia so very satisfied and thrilled that I could help John with getting his ring back!
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
On the 4th of July I got a call from Joe’s wife that her husband had lost his Tiffany & Co platinum wedding band in Lake Washington. Joe was standing in just a few inches water watching his young children play when he noticed his ring fall in to the shallow lake water. He kew the exact location and hunted around for about an hour but could not recover his ring. Watch the story unfold to another fun recovery with smiles.
See how Joe’s ring was recovered through the assistance of an expereinced medal detection recovery specialist:
I received an email about a man’s platinum wedding ring lost somewhere around the house after throwing a football with his nephew. He noticed the ring missing right after getting done throwing the football for some time and have been searching everywhere possible since then. I started my search by looking through the landscaping and grass with no luck. Then expanding the search to around the other side of the cul-de-sac. With each good hit I got, there was a shiny glimmer from the water droplets in the grass from the sun, but no ring. Another hit and shiny glimmer, as pulling back the grass, the ring appeared. They were over excited with joy to have the ring returned to them. I prayed with and blessed this lovey couple.
Lost Man’s Platinum Wedding Ring in Mansfield, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Platinum Wedding Ring in Mansfield, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Platinum Wedding Ring in Mansfield, OH. “FOUND”
Angela called me to help find her lost keys. It was dark, she and her husband were outside his car in the parking lot where they lived. Angela attempted to throw her keys over to top of the car to her husband on the other side. The keys didn’t make it! They hit the top of the car and bounced somewhere. They searched the parking lot, sidewalk, and landscaping the best they could in the dark using a flashlight, but, didn’t have any luck. They searched again the next day, even cleaning out dead leaves and branches from the bushes along the sidewalk. Still no luck. Next in the process was to buy a metal detector and try again. They had « fun » removing everything imaginable from the ground cover and bushes, but, the keys just wouldn’t speak up. Eventually, they heard about The Ring Finders and gave me a call.
I met Angela at the parking lot around noon and got the low down on how the keys were lost. I started by searching all the ground area in and around the bushes and all along the sidewalk. No luck. I ran the coil over the surface of the bushes and even in the overhanging tree branches, but, still nothing. Next, I started at one end and started shaking all the bushes as hard as I dared, hoping to hear the tinkle of keys or to hopefully convince the bushes to let go of them. We made it all the way to the other end without success, but, while walking back toward where we started Angela looked down and spied them right under the corner of one of the bushes. Yes! Don’t know how we missed them at the time we were at that bush, but, hey, they’re now back where they belong, so, that’s what counts. A very happy Angela called her husband with the good news and both gratefully thanked me. A pleasure to meet you Angela and thank you for the reward.
Esther called me and asked for help finding her future sister-in-law Gerry’s engagement ring. Reason #2 again! Yup, ring put into beach chair pocket, chair folded up later when they left, and no ring by the time they got to the car. I get the particulars and find out it’s been two days since the loss. That’s an eternity on the blanket line at a popular beach, but, always worth a try. I met Esther at the beach and she directs me to the search area. Since she wasn’t with them when this all happened, I could only get a general idea of where it might be. Esther’s Brother-in-law and future husband of Gerry was on his way to help narrow the search area since he was there at the time of loss. I searched a bit in the mean time, but, only came up with a few coins. That was a good sign however, telling me that it was unlikely anyone else had detected that area lately. The beach groomer hadn’t been through there either, another thing in our favor. Hollis arrived and pointed out the area he believed they had been, and Oh, there were actually 5 rings that were lost! 1 white gold, and 4 silver, so, I’ll be digging just about all signals.
Naturally, there were other people camped right in that spot today! I started searching an open spot next to it while Esther and Hollis went to get permission to hunt under the people’s tent and around their camp. The people were nice enough to allow that, but, no ring came to light. I went back and continued to grid the open area while they tried to figure out where the next likely spot would be. After many passes and getting about 100 feet away from where the rings should be, I was just about to stop and move to search their path back to the car, and the trash cans where they stopped on the way, when I get another good « dime » signal. I scoop and sweep over the hole. Still a signal, so, I dump the sand and take another scoop. Hmmm, two rings in the scoop that look like the silver rings described by Hollis as being the other rings Gerry had lost. I called him over and he confirmed that those were two of them. I swept the hole again, but, nothing. Swept the sand I dumped out on my first scoop, and I get another signal. Yup silver ring number 3. Another sweep and silver #4. To heck with silver! Where’s the gold! Next scoop is where! A beautiful engagement ring comes to light. My first 5 ring recovery! Hollis and Esther are amazed and very happy to see those rings again, and Gerry was too when she was contacted with the good news. A pleasure to meet you, good luck on your future marriage Hollis and Gerry, and thank you for the reward.
I received a call from Tyler requesting my service this afternoon. He told me his ring flew off his finger while he was brushing the snow off his truck with his bare hand in a parking lot and he was very distraught. Today we received 4 inches of wet heavy snow and it was very important that the ring be found before the snow removal crew came to clean the snow up.
I told Tyler I would be down in half hour to look for it, he showed me roughly the area where his truck was parked, and it took me about 15 minutes to return his ring back on his finger.
Renting a metal detector is time consuming and will be frustrating if you have never used one. Especially near salt water or trashy parks were there are years of pull tabs and bottle caps to make things interesting.
Jessica called me asking me if I rent metal detectors and how my service works. She found my name on TheRingFinders.com.. I replied by saying I want to help you find the lost ring. You the rest is up to you. Time is very important and I’m available anytime you are. Her husband Andrew had lost his platinum wedding band while throwing a football at the top of the high tide line Sunday about 6pm.
They were at Surfside Colony a private community near Sunset Beach in north Orange County, CA.. Jessica said that she could meet me to get me in the gate and show me the location. I told her that it works better if her husband, who had lost it, could be there to explain what had happened. Lately, I’m finding out that it makes the search much easier if the person who lost it gives me the details.
Andrew could meet me a couple hours later after he got off work. He brought his son Cole, so I gave them a short lesson about how the detector works on the walk to the beach front. The two high tides since he lost the ring had moved in several inches of sand over the top of the slope. I started the grid in the center of the 40×40 ft. location . There wasn’t much trash so the grid search was moving fast except for my explaining to them what I was doing. Then I got a fare sounding signal, after three scoops I lost hope that it was Andrew’s platinum ring mainly because it should have been a surface find. One more scoop and there was a beautiful platinum ring belonging to Andrew. You have to stay positive the ocean does strange things. In this case it had to deposit about 8 inches of new sand over the top of the slope onto the towel line in less than 24 hrs.
We took a few photos then I let Andrew and Cole swing my detector as we walked off the beach. I think we will have a new member joining this hobby of metal detecting. Again it was a pleasure to meet Andrew and Cole and help them find the lost.
