How to find a lost ring in yard debris, Princeton NJ, recovered by Edward Trapper, NJ Ring Finder
I noticed a post on one of the lost jewelry pages about a missing wedding ring, lost somewhere in the backyard within a pile of yard debris. Someone had tagged me on the post, and later, Cheryl gave me a call. She explained that her husband, John, had been doing yard work, moving logs, branches, and leaves when he realized later that day his wedding ring was missing.
John was 99% sure the ring was in the yard and had a pretty good idea of where it might be. He believed he had felt it pull off his hand when he threw some debris. I asked Cheryl to send me a short video to make sure Id be able to swing my metal detector in the dense thicket where the ring might have landed. From the video, everything looked manageable, so we arranged to meet the following morning.
When I arrived, John and Cheryl came outside to greet me. I grabbed my equipment, and we walked out to the backyard. I had John recount exactly what happened a few times to make sure I had all the details. His story on the phone matched what he told me in the backyard, which gave me confidence that the ring was out there.
I got to work right away. After quickly scanning some larger areas and checking along the back fence, I only picked up a few signals, none consistent with a platinum ring. But then, I spotted a large pile of leaves and small sticks about three feet from the back fence. It looked promising, especially since John had mentioned pulling debris with his bare hands in that spot.
I scanned over the pile and picked up a strong, steady signal. It could have been the ring, though there was a chance it was just a pull tab. I cleared an area where the signal was strongest, digging down about two feet. Sure enough, at the very bottom of the pile, I found John’s ring.
Meanwhile, John and Cheryl were chatting by the pool about yard work. I cleaned the ring off a bit, stood up, and held it high to show them. Cheryls eyes widened, and she immediately said, I can’t believe you found it already! Where was it?
They both hurried over, and I showed them the cleared area in the middle of the leaf pile. They were absolutely stunned at how quickly I had found the ring.
I explained that preparation and listening carefully to the customer are key to a successful search. Narrowing down the possible locations allows me to focus on the most likely spots first, which saves a lot of time and effort.
Finding lost items isn’t just about luck it’s about methodical searching and trusting the process.
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Kate reached out to me wanting to know if it was possible to locate her engagement that slipped off her finger during the day somewhere at the beach. It was late in the evening, and after determining that it was close to high tide when it most likely came off, it would be best to wait until the early morning low tide. We arranged to meet early the next morning at the dune walkover. As we were heading to the location I had asked her to mark in google maps we talked about the main things she could remember leading up the the ring disappearing. Once we got to the spot, she showed me some pictures she had, before and after the ring went missing. Something didn’t look just right, but I figured I would check the area that was marked. After coming up empty handed I asked her to see the pics again, it was then I knew that was not quit the right location. I adjusted the location about 40′ to the north, and things looked just right, including the piles of seaweed that had pushed high up on the hill the prior day when the pics were taken. Kate confirmed after looking at the pics that this was absolutely the right location. Combined with the rough surf, was the fact that she was boogie boarding, and that is never a good thing when doing a recovery. Kate did remember one wave that knocked her down, where she lost the board, and that was luckily close to the beach in waist deep water. I decided to hit that area real quick, and while Kate was in about knee deep water looking, I got a signal that made my eyes open wide. With the waves crashing right where I was, I took extra time to zero in on the exact spot, and hoped to grab it on the first scoop. Sure enough I had it on the first try, BINGO, it was her absolutely stunning ring!!!!! Kate had no idea what had just taken place just a few feet behind her, as I scooted up the hill , past the waves to get a better look and clean it off. At that moment I decided to make a video to capture her response, which you will see I’m not very good at. (Will be posted soon) Her reaction was something that makes this profession SO SO rewarding that no words could ever explain.
Tony was doing some surf fishing in Lavallette NJ early one Saturday morning with his buddies. It was pretty close to high tide when he realized his phone was missing, but he wasn’t quite sure where it could be. He looked everywhere possible when he figured it must have fallen out somewhere in the water while he was fishing. Loosing a phone can be very devastating with all the pictures, videos, and other information that can be stored on them now. Needless to say this was the situation with Tony, especially the pictures and videos of friends and family that can NEVER be replaced. Luckily I was able to locate his phone during the next low tide, about 20′ down the hill, right where the low tide waves were breaking. It was already buried in the sand over 12″, and prob. very close to being lost for ever. Time is so important when recovering lost items in the surf or ocean, that is why you need to call ASAP when an item is lost.
Amanda sent me a text later in the evening, asking about my services. Amanda and her husband Dave were at the beach, where she had removed her NJ State Trooper medallion necklace and placed it in the beach bag for safe keeping. She was extremely heartbroken, as she wore this every single day for over 20 plus years. After they returned home it was missing, so they backtracked every step with no luck. They also raked the entire area of the beach where they had set up their chairs and towels for the day. The only possible thing that could have happened was it came out during the day when Dave removed the car keys, and mistakenly fell into the sand. Amanda didn’t want me to come out late at night, but no way would I leave the necklace sit in the sand over night, and possibly disappear with the tide, or risk it being found by an suspecting beach comber. I met Dave at the beach within 30 min. and had Amanda’s necklace in the scoop just a short while later. Dave was in total disbelief I found it so fast, especially after they had done an extensive search prior to my arrival.
