Rescuing Gideon’s Lost Platinum Wedding Ring: A Sunday Morning Success Story in Carpinteria



Daniel and his family were enjoying the beach at Fort Macon State Park. Daniel removed his wedding band before heading into the water. It wasn’t until they returned to their vehicle that Daniel realized he didn’t put his ring back on his finger. His wife Shanta found Crystal Coast Ring Finders and plans were made to attempt a recovery the following day. After going through the proper channels to secure permission, we headed to the area that Daniel had marked very well the previous day. After a few sweeps, my Equinox 800 displayed a strong 21 signal. Daniel’s ring was found just a couple of inches below the surface.

Atlantic Beach, NC
I was practicing my detector skills and settings at « The Circle ». As I pulled another bottlecap from it’s sandy depths (glass bottles are prohibited here), a couple asked if I had found an ear ring. Kate informed me she had lost the ear ring in the same general area 2 days prior. My recovery mode went into action as I started to grid the area. To her surprise and after a few more pieces of junk metal, I received a solid 1 signal on my Minelab Equinox 800. It took 1 scoop to unbury her missing ear ring.
Kate was thrilled I found it and explained although it didn’t have monetary value, her Aunt had made the ear rings for her and the sentimental value connection made her very happy to have the set back in her possession.
Jay was working at cutting down a tree in his back yard. The tree in question is in the back corner of his yard, where he shares a fence with neighbors. In the process of chain sawing, trimming, and raking, wood chips, branches, and debris ended up on both sides of the fence. Jay gathered the debris in his neighbor’s yard and tossed everything back over a short chain link fence to his own yard for removal. Well, you guessed it, one of his tosses included his wedding band. After discovering his ring was missing, he searched both yards to no avail. Some of the debris was already loaded onto a truck, so, he (and I) hoped that it didn’t end up there. In searching his options, including renting a metal detector, Jay came across TheRingFinders. com website and my contact info. He called me yesterday evening and we arranged to meet at his house early this morning for the search. Jay showed me the search area and re-enacted his actions that most likely caused his ring to come off. With a good idea of location, I started my grid search. Quite a few targets to sift through, but I knew approximately what I should be hearing and seeing on my detector display. Found a sprinkler head blasting my ears and knew that wasn’t going to be it. The next good signal was a solid 18 on my Equinox….hmmm, a bit of a high reading, but, still in the « possible » range. It read shallow, so, I just pushed some surface material to the side with my shoe. The signal moved, so, I moved the small pile just a little more and could see the outline of a ring. Sure enough, we had a match! As you can see in the photo, the ring color blends in perfectly with the ground cover, so, even sitting on top of the ground, it wasn’t easy to spot. A happy Jay went inside to give his wife the good news. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Glynis was visiting San Diego with her boyfriend and while spending a day at Pacific Beach she lost her ring in the ocean. Out in the water, her hands got wet and cold causing her finger with the ring to shrink a bit and make it fit rather loose. She decided to change her ring to another finger so it would fit tighter. A simple fumble of the ring, and it was in the surf and gone from view. They both searched for the ring in the 2 foot deep water to no avail. They also returned the next morning at low tide hoping to spot it, but, as we all know, that just doesn’t happen. The ring is a family heirloom passed down from her grandmother (recently deceased) to her mother and then to her, so, Glynis was totally heartbroken thinking it was lost forever. She decided to run a lost ring ad on Craigslist where I spotted it and contacted her with the option of having a Ring Finder search for it. She agreed and was cautiously hopeful. She and her boyfriend had already gone home to Washington state, so, we had to do this by descriptions and directions. I arrived before low tide and scoped out the search area. Not terribly large, but, when you’re talking about a water search on a gently sloping beach at low tide, it gets big in a hurry. With a photo of the ring, and a search area defined, I started on the south end of it and worked my way north in a wet sand to waist deep surf grid pattern. It was an hour before I got my first signal of any kind. Rats, just a scrap piece of copper. Another half hour later and I got my second signal…..a brass grommet…..double rats, or words to that effect! Another half hour later, I was approaching the north end of the search area and was getting cold, tired, and discouraged by the lack of targets. There were lots of holes, troughs, and sand bars forming and disappearing in the mounting surf, so, there was a lot of sand shifting. I was hoping that in the 4 days the ring was there that it didn’t get buried too deep, or, I started thinking that maybe someone else had found it in the interim. At that moment, I got a weak, but, solid 9 on my Equinox in about a foot of water. 2 scoops down and I pulled out her ring! Glad to get out of the water, I gave Glynis a text with a photo of her ring. She was overjoyed to see it was recovered and that she will be able to wear it again. We made arrangements later that day to ship the ring to her, so, the story continues…….I’m glad I was able to find it and thank you Glynis for your generous reward.


Brendan and his family were visiting here in San Diego. On their last night here, they had a bonfire on the beach. While opening a plastic bag, it popped loose suddenly, and Brendan’s wedding ring went flying into the dry sand and disappeared. Not knowing exactly where, or, even which direction it went, it was impossible to find without a metal detector. An online search for help resulted, and I got a call the next morning. As luck would have it, I was only a couple of blocks away presiding over our local detecting club monthly
meeting. Brendan explained the situation and that they were leaving town in the early afternoon, so, time was fairly important in getting his ring back before they headed to the airport. The meeting soon ended and I headed over to conduct the search. We met at the site and Brendan gave me a good idea as to where ground zero was. I started a spiral pattern out from that point. First « good » sounding target ended up being a pull tab. Second good sounding target read the same, and was Brendan’s ring. A relieved Brendan can now head home with his wedding band on his finger. A pleasure to meet you Brendan, and thank you for the reward.



Well it goes without saying that you never know what kind of events may lead up to a ring getting lost. This story is no exception. On May 8th I was contacted by the best man of a wedding party. He explained that during the couples ceremony, at a bayside resort, he had accidentally dropped the brides ring onto the deck and it slipped thru the cracks and into the bay! At the time he had called I was headed out to dinner with my family for Mother’s Day and it was just about high tide. After receiving some pictures and descriptions of the area I knew this could be very challenging as the search area was located under a deck / pier that extended over the bulkhead and into the bay. I figured it would be best to wait until dead low tide as the area was in about 12-15’ of water at the moment. Around 12:30am I headed over with a friend whom was lending a hand and met up with the remaining members and guests of the wedding party. Luckily the staff at “The Reeds” in Stone Harbor NJ were awesome at helping to pinpoint the area and provide a floating dock to work from, kind of like Tom Sawyers raft, lol. They even went so far as to remove some of the mahogany decking in an attempt to locate the ring. Obviously the wedding party was devastated over this accident and all reasonable attempts were made to find the dropped ring. You could feel the obvious tension surrounding the events that unfolded and this just drove the determination to a positive outcome further! After making our way down to the dock we boarded the floating dock and paddled under the deck / pier to the approximate area. After checking for about 15-20 minutes I was able to recover the brand new never worn rose gold and diamond band!! Much to my and everyone’s relief! The ring was under some of the structural members in about 2’ of water amongst some horseshoe crabs. The bride, groom, best man and remaining members of the wedding party were ecstatic!! Another happy couple! Congratulations and here’s to a lifetime of happiness!!

Received a call from Christy explaining that both of her rings flew off her fingers while she was brushing sand from her children’s face and disappeared into the sand. Christy and her family had just arrived in town for vacation and proceeded right to the beach once they arrived. Took the short ride over and met up with Christy and her husband. After gathering some details, I had both rings in the scoop in a matter of about 10 minutes. Relieved, Christy and her family can now enjoy the rest of their vacation!!
Zach and his wife were visiting our beautiful beaches in Fort Walton Beach when he lost his wedding band. As many know when it hits the sand it is almost impossible to find without a metal detector. He called me and showed me the spot where he was digging. Found it on the first swing within 10 seconds and glad I was able to help him. Very nice couple and very grateful.
