Charlotte called me yesterday asking if I could find her ring. She was on the beach playing a tossing game. When she tossed she lost her ring. I had plans today but told her I could be there this morning, bright & early. She agreed.

I got to the beach at 7:30 am. It was empty & I got an excellent free parking spot! She told me she was to the right of the trash cans, so I texted her saying I was there and started to search before she got there. Within 5 minutes I had an awesome shallow tone on the detector. I scooped up the sand and had a big silver ring in my hands. 

I was very surprised that I found it before she arrived. As I was taking pictures of the ring, Charlotte arrived. I asked her what her ring looked like, as I was going to surprise her when she described it to me. She said it was a yellow gold ring with a pearl in the center. Oh, that is not the ring I found, bonus!

She showed me the area she was in when she lost her ring. The ring was her grandmother’s ring, which has a lot of sentimental value attached to it. She said she spent several hours sifting through the sand with family looking for it. She is in the area for a family reunion. She explained to me that just last week she lost another ring on a beach in Virginia, that a family friend found with a metal detector. She didn’t learn a lesson with that loss. 

I started to grid the area she sent me to. Within 5 minutes I had that special gold tone on my detector, scooped and there was her ring. She was so happy & relieved. I asked her if she learned any lessons. She said YES, I’m never wearing rings to the beach again. She had to go back & pack as they are returning home today, to Virginia. 

I stuck around to search a little more and found another silver ring. Not bad, it was a beautiful morning on the beach!!

I Love My Hobby!!

Karen emailed me earlier in the week to see if I would be able to search for a lost tungsten ring. Her fiance lost it while doing yard work a few weeks ago. I asked the usual questions, where? When? How? Any buried items? And so on…

We made arrangements for me to search Thursday after work. Of course, Mother Nature would play games and threaten with a Severe Weather Warning that afternoon. John was waiting for me. He showed me the 2 main areas of concern. He was working on removing a railing from the porch and then he was washing cars. My heart sank a little when he said while working on the porch he was throwing items into a large metal dumpster. It was pretty full with a lot of hazards. If John has my luck his ring is in the bottom of the dumpster. John also told me that the yard was cut at least once. 

I started my search around the porch. John asked if he could watch. He wanted to know about my detector, a Minelab Equinox, and I showed him how my pinpointer also worked. There were a lot of signals, most of them 2+ inches deep. I didn’t bother looking at those, as I was trying to beat the storms. 

After about 15 minutes I got a good tone, started to spread the zoysia grass apart and there was a nice looking black & gold ring. I pulled out my phone to take a picture & John was right there. He called me a “lifesaver” no pun intended. He was very happy! As we are both fully COVID vaccinated he gave me a big handshake. He said he would spread the word about my service. 

I love my hobby!

Jason sent me an email last week, asking if I could search for a ring his mother lost 18 years ago. It is a diamond platinum ring that belonged to his grandmother. His mom lost it while gardening. We made plans for me to drive up to the town of Middlesex today.

I met Jason & his mom, Audrey. She explained that she was gardening in the front yard, and when she went into the house, the ring was missing. She also was in the back yard shed, where she keeps all of her tools.

She is moving to Florida in a couple of weeks and would really like to have her mother’s ring back. When she lost it, it caused a lot of drama between her mom and herself. She said she had another professional detectorist search for it several years ago with no luck. My optimism faded big time.

I searched the garden and found a ton of roofing nails and foil (from potted plants). I searched the front lawn. Someone must have had holes in their pocket because the path to the driveway was loaded with coins. I searched down to the sidewalk.

Jason said, “I guess we should look in the back yard now.” I said, “let me search the strip between the sidewalk and the street.” He didn’t believe it would be there. With about 4 feet left to search in the strip, I get an excellent 8-9 on my detector. I think it is another piece of tin or foil. It is right up against the curb. About 4 inches deep, I see the beautiful ring.

I wanted to surprise them, so I pulled out my cell phone and acted like I am texting someone. But I’m taking pictures. Jason comes running down to me, asking me what I found. So I just told him that I found it. He couldn’t believe that I found it. So he picks it up and shows his mom sitting on the porch. She lets out the loudest blood curtailing scream. Her elderly neighbor 2 doors down came out of the house to make sure everything is ok.

Audrey didn’t care about social distancing. I got a big hard hug. Audrey shed a lot of tears of joy. It looks like 100 pounds of weight has been lifted off of her. I was so happy that I could find a ring that was missing for 18 years, even after another detectorist searched.

I love my Hobby!!

A note from Jason:  I contacted Dave to look for my Grandmothers wedding ring that my mom lost 18 yrs ago. He showed up and is very professional. After 1 hr of nails, screws, and bottle tabs. He was almost done with the front yard and searched a patch of grass right on the edge of the curb. Long behold he found the ring that gave my mom so much heartache for years. Thank You Dave for making her the happiest I have seen her in a long time.

Frank was out in his back yard, cleaning up debris from the latest storm. While throwing some branches into a waste pile, one of the branches caught him on the right side of his head, sending his very expensive hearing aid into the garden somewhere. He searched the internet and found me.

I called Frank on the way home from work. He told me the story. I know how expensive they are because I wear a set of hearing aids. I wanted to find it as soon as possible so it wouldn’t be exposed to moisture.