Gold Signet Ring Lost In The Portland, Maine Snow. Found With A Metal Detector
On Monday evening, February 17th, 2025, I received the following voicemail transcription.
“Hey how you doing. My name is Ethan M***. I got your number off of Facebook, for the finding thing you do. I am just calling to see if I can get your help I just lost my ring in the snow and can you call me back at 910-***-****, thank you…”
I immediately called Ethan back and he explained that he was shoveling his driveway, when he slipped on a patch of ice and fell to the ground, hard. As he was falling, he could feel his ring coming off, he thinks. Everything happened so fast and he was bracing himself for impact, but he thinks he felt the ring coming off.
Thankfully, he was not injured, in the fall. Once he had composed himself he searched for his ring, in the driveway and immediate area, without any luck. The snow was deep, on each side of the driveway and mostly hard packed snow and ice, in the driveway itself. After not locating the ring, Ethan went inside and called me for help. He told me that the ring was not his wedding ring, but a very special Signet Ring, that was a gift from his wife and is extremely sentimental.
As fate would have it, I had a Physical Therapy appointment at Orthopedic Associates, in Portland, Maine at 8:30am, the next morning and it was only 10-15 minutes, from where Ethan lived, in Portland Maine . I told Ethan that I could arrive at his home at 7:00am, before he left for work and he could go over the events, just prior, to losing his Signet ring. I would be able to search for an hour, before I had to leave for my PT appointment. If I wasn’t able to cover the entire area and find the ring , prior to leaving, I would return immediately after my PT session had ended.
I arrived at Ethan’s home at 6:50am and was promptly met by Ethan. He showed me where he was, in the driveway, when he slipped and fell, on the ice. Ethan also told me that he thought the ring would have flown off directly in front or behind him, into the snow.
I decided to start out near the street, searching the driveway and snow along the driveway, including the area in front of Ethan, where he thought the ring may be. Absolutely nothing.
I then turned around and went down the other side of the driveway, searching both the driveway and snowbank, along the driveway. No Signet ring was found. Once I had ended up back at the street , I searched the snowbanks at the end of the driveway and still no ring. At this point, Ethan needed to leave for work. If I found the ring, I could give it to his wife, who was inside, getting ready for work.
After Ethan left, I kept expanding the search area. I got up in the deep snow of the lawn, in front of the house and still no signals. I then went to the other side of the driveway and searched that lawn and into a thick bush, as best I could. Still no ring. I then researched the entire area and still nothing. Thankfully it is a small area and it wasn’t taking me long to cover the areas Ethan thought the ring was in.
I then decided to search the walkway leading up to their front door. Still no ring. As I was heading back towards the driveway, I decided to search as close to the parked car as I could but couldn’t get very close to it, because all the metal kept setting my detector off. I decided to just swing the coil very slowly, and as close to the vehicle as possible. I was still getting some targets but it was always the car setting the detector off. As I tried one last time, I did get a separate signal, aside from the car. It was definitely a non ferrous target but the conductivity reading on the VDI screen was 55. A much higher reading than I would expect for gold. Gold is considered a low conductor and the reading is usually in the 03 to low 30’s. Since it was such a good sounding target and definitely non ferrous, I just had to check it out. I took my pinpointer, scraped the snow down and then I saw the outline of a Gold Ring. I had found Ethan’s Signet Ring. It had taken me approximately 50 minutes and with the temperature at -2 degrees, with the wind chill, I was ready to leave. My feet and fingers were freezing and the warmth of the car was calling me.
I knocked on the front door and Ethan’s wife answered. I showed her the Signet Ring and she was so pleased. She told me Ethan had been very distressed all night, wanting to find his gifted ring very badly. I told his wife I would send some photos of the ring to Ryan, at work, so he could stop worrying.
I sent two photos of the ring and the following message, to Ethan, at work.
“How does it feel to have your ring back”?
Ethan replied
“You are a life saver!!!!”
I told him that his wife was now in possession of his very special ring and asked if he could have a picture taken, with him holding the ring. He quickly agreed and said he would send it to me, when he returned home, this evening. It is always such a great feeling and pleasure to be able to help people like Ethan out in their time of need. I love putting another smile, in my “Book of Smiles”.
Ethan later, in the evening , sent me the following text message .
“Thank you for all of your help, definitely a weight off the shoulders”. How can I not feel good, after a text like this.
It was also a great feeling to get into a warm vehicle. I’ve had enough of the cold and snow. Bring on the spring 🌻🌸❤️
