Metal Detecting Service North Myrtle Beach SC Tag | Page 2 of 8 | The Ring Finders

A Little Tiff Sends Her White Gold Engagement Ring Over the Fence, Found and Returned Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call from Jed on Dec 20th asking if I could help find a lost engagement ring in a field. I asked him for details on how the ring was lost, when it was lost, and if the field had bushes and trees on it. He explained that him and his girlfriend, Benjetta had gotten in a little spat about 3 ½ weeks ago and the ring was tossed. Jed said the field had heavy undergrowth and that he had been in the field cutting down a lot of the growth. He also stated that he had looked for the ring himself with a Garrett 250 Metal Detector with no luck. Since this was in Myrtle Beach, I needed to call Matt Fye, TRF for Myrtle Beach. When I called Matt, he said he was extremely busy and to go ahead and take the call. I was up for an adventure since I hadn’t had a ring call for a while. I called Jed back and we agreed on meeting at 10 am the next morning.

We met the next morning and had to drive around the block to get to the field. Jed had done a good job clearing the undergrowth out in about a 10 x 10-foot square directly behind the projected ring flight. I asked Jed what metal the ring was, white gold, silver or something else. He wasn’t sure but ended up saying silver. I turned on my Equinox 800 and started searching. Not sure what metal I was really looking for, I cleared all the targets that I found. There was a lot of trash, pull tabs, bottle caps, cans, etc. I also had to contend with a metal fence that was about 10 inches behind their wooden fence. I tried to squeeze both the Equinox and my Gold Bug with a 5-inch coil between the fences, but the metal fence played havoc on both machines. There was a chance the ring could have ended up between the fences and settled in all the leaves that had accumulated in that space. While I was searching the area, I got to meet Benjetta when she stuck her head above the fence.  She filled in a few more details about the ring toss. During the spat Benjetta couldn’t toss the ring herself, so she asked a girlfriend to do it. Her girlfriend accepted the challenge, stepped out the back door and hurled it over their wooden fence. That added a little more to the story. I assured both Benjetta and Jed this kind of loss happens more than you’d think. They weren’t the first nor would they be the last to get angry and throw a ring or two. After a little over 2 hours of searching with no luck, I called it a day. I had intentions of returning but didn’t commit myself with Jed, as he was going on vacation the next evening.

That evening, I was trying to think of something to help me clear the area between the fences. I came up with the idea of using my shop-vac and sucking up the leaves and hopefully the ring, if it was there. I text Jed and told him my plan and that I’d be back out there at about 1 pm the next day. He said he wasn’t going to be able to be there and I told him it’d be fine, and I’d keep him posted.

I showed up and stopped by Benjetta’s house to plug in an extension cord and throw the other end over the fence. Pulled into park in the field and went to work. The shop-vac was working as planned, took a little longer because the leaves were soaked after a heavy rain. Cleared out and checked the piles of leaves for the ring and nothing! The day before, I had ventured out in both directions, from the suspected area with no results. So, today I planned on getting in the thick of things, literally. It took about 15 minutes, and I was under some heavy low hanging branches and got an iffy signal. I ended up moving a 4-inch diameter 8-foot tree branch lying on the ground. Swung my detector over the area and got a solid white gold signal of 8 on the VDI (visual display indicator). I carefully cleared the wet leaves and there was the size 6 ½ engagement ring staring up at me.  I took a couple of pictures and sent it to Jed. He had told me earlier not to tell Benjetta if I found it so he could surprise her. He was really surprised the ring was found. I packed up and drove back to Benjetta’s house to get the extension cord. She saw me and came out to see if I had found it. I felt horrible standing there lying to her and telling her I’d be back to look again. Jed had text me his address and I dropped the ring off to him on my way home.  He had a big smile on his face when I handed him the ring.

Jed – Thanks for giving me a call and I’m thrilled I could help find your lost treasure.

Benjetta – I’m so happy you’re getting your ring back and I’m so sorry I lied to you, but I didn’t want to steal Jed’s moment (again)!

Jim

   

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Woman’s Platinum Wedding Band Lost on her 12th Wedding Anniversary, Found and Returned Sunset Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a phone call just before 4 pm today from Elizabeth, who was very upset about losing a wedding band on the beach. After getting a few details, including the fact the ring was lost in the dry sand, I told her I’d be there in 30-35 minutes. She seemed a little surprised in the fact that I’d be there so fast. We hung up and I grabbed my Deus II and Equinox 800 detectors.

As I’m pulling in the parking space next to the beach access she gave me, my phone rang, and it was Elizabeth. I thought she had found it and was calling to let me know. When I answered she said she was just checking to make sure I was still on my way. I told her I was just pulling in a parking spot and asked her if everything was ok. She said she was just worried.  I said, you told me you knew the area, and it’s in the soft sand. I then made a bold statement and told her I’d have it back on her finger within 2 minutes of getting in the area. That seemed to ease her concerns a little. As I’m walking over the boardwalk to the beach, I saw Elizabeth waving to me. I made my way to where she and another lady were sitting. That’s when I found out the other lady; Kelly was the one who lost her wedding band. Kelly was very upset as I asked what happened. Kelly said that today was her 12th wedding anniversary and she and Elizabeth were reminiscing about the events 12 years ago. When she took her wedding band off to relive the moment, it slipped from her fingers and disappeared in the soft sand. Elizabeth pointed out the area where they had been sitting and I went to work with my Deus II. After a couple of grid lines and not hitting the target, I had self-doubts about me and the Deus II. So I swapped detectors and used the Equinox 800 and took 2 steps outside my original grid line and hit a booming 8 VDI (visual display indicator). That number was exactly what I was expecting for a lady’s platinum wedding band. I glanced at Kelly with a big grin, which I’m not sure she saw. I took a scoop of sand, re-checked the hole and gently shook the sand out of the scoop. I glanced in the scoop and saw Kelly’s beautiful ring. I walked over to her and held the scoop out for her to retrieve her ring. Her tears started flowing and I could see the weight of the world get lifted off her shoulders. She couldn’t believe it and either could Elizabeth. Elizabeth reminded me I told her I’d have it back on her finger in less than 2 minutes, and that was less than 1 minute. This never gets old when you can return a special treasure back to someone who thought it was lost forever.

Elizabeth – Thank you for calling me.

Kelly – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. I wish you all the best!!

Jim

   

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Hurricane Ian Causes Total Destruction of House, Garden City SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call on the morning of Oct 1st from Harriet saying her brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Martha’s, house had burned down and was wondering if I could look for some family jewelry. Included in the jewelry were pieces that belonged to Martha’s mother and Joe’s father’s class ring. Totally destroyed house fires are so difficult to search. Not only is there the personal shock of someone losing everything, but the shear difficulty of trying to find anything in all the rubble. I told Harriet to have Joe call me so I could get further details.  Joe texted me later that afternoon saying, “hey Jim, this is Joe. My sister called you this am about helping me find some jewelry in the remains of my destroyed house. I have a good idea of where to look if you would like to call me when you arrive. I will send you some pics of the area. Thanks so much for your help!” We exchanged some more texts about what I was looking for. I also informed him that due to the heat factor, most, if not all, the jewelry would probably be melted. He fully understood and further advised me that there’d be a pass at the gate for me since this was a gated community. I contacted Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach and asked him if he wanted to help, knowing that this was going to be a chore.

Sunday, I met Matt at his shop, and we headed out. Matt had heard the road we needed to take was closed so we’d have to make a few detours. Once we got in the area, detours were an understatement, it was a mess. The hurricane had pushed water and sand two blocks back from the beach. The road crews were working hard to get all the sand off the roads.  I think it took them 4 days to get it done.

When we pulled up to where the house was, it was as I expected. It was a 1 story house that was on 12–15-foot stilts that had collapsed to the ground. The area we needed to search was the rear left side of the house, not a big area, but still overwhelming. The first task at hand was to clear as much metal as we could.  Nails, mending plates, nail plates, bed springs, etc. I couldn’t find my big magnet before we left, but Matt had a makeshift magnet that helped clear most nails, but nowhere near all of them. Matt had his Minelab 30-30 detector, and I had my Equinox 800. Both of us were swinging the detectors and anything that rang up as a jewelry signal, we were putting in a big bucket. Problem was that we weren’t finding anything that wasn’t melted together with something else. After about 3.5 hours we were hot, dirty and pretty much exhausted so we called it a day. I had planned to go back the next day and finish up. Meanwhile, I had talked to Joe who told me that Martha had kept her jewelry in a couple of bags, which consisted of rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants and a watch. Joe also mentioned that his father’s class ring, which he was given, should be in a particular area.

Monday, I showed up and started clearing the area again.  I had found my big magnet and it was a Godsend. I ran the magnet through the area where Joe’s father’s ring was supposed to be and cleared more nails and plates. I did get a great signal in the area but other than what it rang up on the detector, there was no way I could definitively see or tell what the object was. Unfortunately, everything Matt and I found was melted beyond recognition.

Wednesday, I went back one more time to check the parameter (the soft sand) around the back side of the house. There was always a possibility the firemen might have blown something into the sand with the fire hoses. I did find a few more pieces, but think it was more junk, like aluminum, than anything else.

Saturday, I went through every piece, one by one, that we had found and started sorting it out by the various metals my detector was indicating it could be. I can’t say with absolute certainty everything we got was a piece of jewelry, nor can I say for sure that we got anything that was jewelry. I can say that we gave it our best effort and pray to God that we got some, if not all of their important treasures back. Luckily Joe has a best friend who is a jeweler that makes jewelry and maybe he’ll be able to melt this stuff back down and give a different look to their treasures.

Wednesday, Oct 12th, I was able to meet Joe in a parking lot to give him all the objects we had found. The picture of him shows him holding 5 separate bags. The bags were labeled with items containing possible yellow and white gold, silver, and a variety of other metals.

Matt – Thank you buddy, I know I can always count on you to lend a hand.

Joe and Martha – Thank you for trusting me to try and help find some of your lost treasures. I wish you only the best!

Jim

   

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Pet Labradoodle Has Expensive Taste, The Proof was in the X-ray!!! Longs SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This adventure started Monday evening when I received a text from Suzanne saying, “I was just made aware of ring finders. I have a lost ring in my yard. It’s a big yard as we have a farm. My dog actually ate the ring then pooped it out, but we somehow missed finding it. We have grid searched as best we could with a borrowed metal detector but admit we didn’t know what we were doing. Interested? Suzanne.” I was intrigued so I called her to get more details. She informed me that their “big yard” was about 3 acres, and the incident took place about a year ago. I was a little perplexed and asked if the poop had been thrown out with the trash. She said they throw the waste in and around the bushes. I’m thinking, OK, the ring’s out there someplace and I love a good challenge, so I agreed to help. I told her I could be there at 10 am this morning, Sept 27th, and she agreed.

I think I was awake most of the night thinking of all the various scenarios I might run into. So, this morning, I packed up a small ladder and my Endoscope in case I had to check the tops and insides of bushes, and 3 metal detectors (Gold Bug II, Deus II, and my Equinox 800). Overkill I know, but I was prepared. When I got there and drove down the long driveway to the beautiful house with a manicured lawn, detached 2 car garage, a big barn with fenced in pastures, I was definitely intimidated! I met Suzanne in the driveway, and she showed me all the areas encompassed by an electric fence where the ring could be. She described the ring and said it was yellow gold with rubies and diamonds. She also explained the details of that faithful day. She said she was going out of town and was getting ready. She set her cell phone and beautiful Ruby and Diamond Ring, which her husband Terry had given her on their 16th Wedding Anniversary, on the Kitchen counter. When she came back to the kitchen the ring was gone and the cell phone had the unmistakable mark of a big wet tongue lick across the face of the phone. They took their loving pet to the vet for X-rays and guess what showed up just as clear as day. There was Suzanne’s beautiful ring nestled in the dog’s stomach. So, Terry was now assigned poop patrol while Suzanne was away. When she got back, Terry assured her that he checked every pile but there was still no sign of the ring.

Ok, I knew I was looking for a very sentimental ring that should alert in the low teen target numbers on the Equinox 800. I grabbed the 800 and started gridding the more likely areas first. I was almost 2 hours into the search, finding numerous targets in the 9-16 range but no ring. I took a quick break and Suzanne came out to see how things were going. She remembered that after she got home from her trip that she had picked up a few of the dog piles and had scattered it around 4 trees, which was not in the search area. I finished up my break and hit the newest area. After 10-15 minutes I got a booming 13 on the 800’s VDI (visual display indicator) about 2 inches deep. I carefully dug around the target and saw the bottom portion of a gold ring. I removed it from the hole, and I had Suzanne’s ring in my hand, I remember saying out loud, “Holy Sh__!” (No pun intended). I devised a plan on how I’d surprise Suzanne. I went around to the front of the house and knocked on the door. Evidently, she had been sitting on the back porch and came around the house. I told her, “I’m going to go grab some lunch, but I wanted to give you this before I go” as I held her ring up for her to see. She was overwhelmed to the point where she was shaking. She couldn’t believe she was seeing her ring again after 9 months and a wild end to end ride through her dog. Suzanne texted me, after I had left, that all this happened in the beginning of December 2021. She was so excited and said that she never thought she’d see her ring again. A very happy ending to a very wild story, which proves everything, always comes out good in the end!!

Suzanne – Thank you so much for trusting me to help find your very special treasure.

Jim

 

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Yellow Gold Bracelet with Charms Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I received an early morning text message from Mary saying “I need help finding lost jewelry.” I tried calling her but didn’t receive an answer. So, I texted her saying “How can I help? Call me, it’s faster than texting. 843-655-5889. Jim” Mary called a short time later and said she had lost a gold bracelet with charms. She sent me a picture of the bracelet and where on the beach she lost it. Unfortunately, the resort her and her husband, Omar, were staying was in Myrtle Beach. She also stated they were getting ready to leave to go back home. I told her Myrtle Beach was TRF Matt Fry’s area and I’d give him a call and coordinate with him and that one of us would call her back. I called Matt on his cell, his work number and his wife’s phone and got no response. I called Mary back and told her I was on my way. Meanwhile I sent her a Google earth map with the resort and a line down the middle of the beach dividing north and south and asked her A or B side. She responded A, so I was on my way.

When I got there, I surprisingly found a parking spot and hit the beach. I started a perpendicular grid search on the north side of area A and worked south. Almost 2 hours into the search and shin deep in the ocean, I got a solid 6 on the Equinox 800. I wasn’t real sure what numbers I was looking for on the 800. I knew the thin gold bracelet wouldn’t show up, so I was hoping the small charms would ring up. I was as careful as possible trying to dig the target out of the sand. My second scoop I saw the bracelet hanging out of the packed sand in the scoop. I took a picture and sent it to Mary saying “BA BOOM,” then I called her. She was just pulling my text up and seemed very happy, and that’s when she shared that her mother had given her the bracelet. They were heading out of town but weren’t far enough that we couldn’t meet half way. When we met, Mary was extremely happy when I handed her bracelet back to her. Mary didn’t want her picture taken so I had Omar take a picture of me holding the bracelet.

Mary – thank you for trusting me to find your sentimental treasure.

Jim

 

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10 Day Old Wedding Band Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned Sunset Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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A little after 2 p.m. on Sept 21st, I received a call from Cassandra saying her son, Conor, had lost his wedding band and wanted to know if I could help. First question I asked was how long ago, her response was “just now.” My second question was where he lost it, she responded in the “dry sand and he knows right where he lost it.” I asked about parking and she told me I could park in their driveway and she’d text me the address. She also told me that they were under a cabana at the end of the beach access ramp. These are the responses every Ring Finder loves to hear. I told Cassandra I could be there in 30 minutes, grabbed my gear and was on my way.

When I got there everyone was under the cabana. I met Cassandra, Conor and Christina, the new bride. Conor showed me the 3’X3’ area where he had applied suntan lotion to his chest and the ring flew off. I turned my Equinox 800 on, made the offhand comment of “let’s try and find this in under a minute,” took 2 steps and hit a solid26 on the machine. I asked Conor what his ring was made of and he said “white and yellow gold and stainless steel.” I took a scoop of sand and missed the target; my second scoop had the target. I shook the sand out and saw his ring. I extended the scoop out to him so he could retrieve his treasure. Christina said “that was less than 30 seconds.” Conor’s response was “I thought under a minute was a bold prediction.”  Everything was perfect and made this an easy recovery, he just lost it in the dry sand and he knew the precise area. A little more chit chat and Christina mentioned they’d only been married for 10 days.

Cassandra – Thank you for contacting and trusting me to help find Conor’s wedding band.

Conor and Christina – I wish you all the best in your new lives together!

Jim

   

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Man’s Tungsten Wedding Band Lost for 9 days in the Ocean – Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a text message from Sara on Sept 14th, saying “Hello! My husband lost his wedding band Monday of last week in Cherry Grove beach around 50th Ave N. I made a post about it and a couple people told me to reach out to you.” Along with the text, Sara sent a couple of pictures of the ring. I responded asking if they were still in the area or could send a Google map showing the area. I also asked about the time, whether he was in the water, and if so, how deep. Sara sent a Google map with the spot pinned and said, “He was hit by a wave, and it just came off.” I told her I’d go later in the day, a couple of hours before low tide and see what I could do. In the meantime, I contacted a friend, Mike, who hunts that area quite a bit to ask if he had come across it. I was concerned that the ring had been out there for 9 days, and I know that area gets hunted quite a bit. Mike responded that he hadn’t seen the ring and had been at 50 North that morning. He also said he had met up with half a dozen guys detecting in that area over the last week. This was not what I wanted to hear!!!

About 3 p.m. I grabbed my gear and headed to the beach to look for Sara’s husband, Jacob’s, ring. I was optimistic and kept a positive attitude even with the information Mike had passed along. When you think about it, I’m trying to find a quarter size target on a vast area of beach. Most of the people I see metal detecting start at one point and do a snake like pattern down the beach. When I’m looking for someone’s treasure, I do a grid search to ensure I don’t miss an area. In this case, it paid off. After an hour plus of grid searching, I hit a solid 18-20 VDI (visual display indicator) on the Equinox 800. These numbers were exactly the numbers I was looking for for a man’s Tungsten Wedding Band.  After a couple of scoops of sand and spreading the sand out with my foot, I saw the ring sitting in the sand. I texted Sara and sent her a picture, but she didn’t respond until late evening. When she did respond she stated, “That does look like it might be it.” Now I’m second guessing myself, by the end of the night (2 a.m.), I concluded that we had the right ring. She and Jacob live locally so we set up a meeting spot to transfer her treasure. When we met, she did indeed confirm the ring was Jacobs. She told me she and Jacob were High School sweethearts and they picked out their matching wedding bands, which had a very sentimental importance to both of them. After a 9-day absence, the ring is back where it belongs!

Sara – Thank you for calling and trusting me to find your lost treasure. All the best to you and Jacob!!!

Jim

     

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4th Generation Wedding Ring Lost in the Surf, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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On Wednesday, Aug. 3rd I woke up to a text message saying, “Good morning Mr. Wren, A gentleman on the beach (native of Scranton) recommended you. My sister lost her wedding ring in the surf yesterday afternoon. It’s in N. Myrtle Beach, in front of 817 S. Ocean Blvd. If you have time, I would appreciate your assistance. Regards David.” I called the number associated with the text so we could discuss the details. David said that she lost it at approximately 1 p.m. the previous day, which was about 2 hours after high tide. After a few more questions and answers, I told him I’d be there at 3 p.m. After thinking about the summer crowds, I texted him that I’d be there at 2:30 so I could be ahead of the crowds moving down the beach as the tide was going out. About an hour later I got an email from Daniel saying in part, “Hi we need your help to find a wedding ring and my mom lost her ring. She fell out from the sand under water and ring thick gold ring.” I asked him to call me so I could get more details. When the phone rang it was an interpreter for the hearing impaired. Through the interpreter I asked for a hotel name and street address. The interpreter said that Daniel would look up the name and address and email it to me. Meanwhile, I called Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach and let him know I was working on a possible ring call for him and gave him what details I had. When the email came in from Daniel the address was the same as the address David had given me. I called David real quick and asked him if he knew Daniel, thinking 2 lost rings at the same resort was highly improbable. David said Daniel was his sister’s son. This made sense now; I emailed Daniel back and told him his Uncle David had already contacted me and that I was going to be there at 2:30. I thought that was incredible that this young man was trying so hard to take care of his mother and make sure she got her ring back.

I got there on time and met David in the parking garage. We walked out on the beach, and luckily there weren’t too many tourists on the beach when I got there. We made our way to where Michelle, David’s sister that lost her ring, Daniel, and David’s younger brother Andy were sitting. I got the full story from Michelle on what happened and the general area of where she lost it. I grabbed my Equinox 800 and sand scoop and headed in the water. I did a grid search from the top of the slope out to where the water was breaking over the sand bar. I worked my grid to the north back and forth with only an occasional pull tab or bottle cap. When I finished searched of the probable area, I took a break and asked a few more questions. I asked Daniel what he remembered because he pulled his mother up out of the water when she got hit by a wave and knocked over. Daniel moved me further north about 20 yards, so I started from there working back south. Still no luck!!! I took another break while I contemplated my next move. By now I’d been in the water for almost 2 hours, no biggie, but I was running out of real estate to search. I went back to where Daniel had moved me and did a few more grid lines to the north. Still nothing, so I worked parallel to the beach moving out to the breakers and south past where David had set the southernmost border. As I made my turn to head back towards the beach, I got a big hit on a target. Knowing I was looking for a heavy yellow gold wedding ring, I was expecting a VDI (visual display indicator) around 15-17.  The VDI on this target was jumping all over the place but did get an occasional 16/17 as I ran the coil over the target. I did the bouncing trick with the coil to rule out a bottle cap. Convinced it wasn’t a bottle cap, I dug a couple of scoops of sand to get the target out. Once I had the target in the scoop, I swished the scoop around in the water to remove the sand. BOOM!!!! After 2 hours of searching, I had Michelle’s wedding ring in the scoop.

Now for the surprise, I made my way back up to where everyone had been sitting since I started. I asked Michelle to come over to where I was standing so I could show her the area I’ve searched, not that she didn’t already know. As she’s walking over to me, I slipped her ring on my right index finger. When she got to me, I held up my arm to point to the areas I searched, she immediately saw her ring and the tears started flowing as she buried her head on my shoulder. I think we all shed a few tears just seeing her overwhelming joy. There are no words to express how important it is to give something back to somebody that they thought was lost forever, especially when it’s something that has been passed down for 4 generations. Michelle’s husband’s great grandfather gave this very ring to his new bride many many years ago.

David and Daniel – Thank you for caring so much about your sister and mother that you took the extra steps to help get her ring back to her.

Michelle – I’m so happy I could return your treasure to you.

Jim

   

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IPhone 7 Lost for Two Weeks – Found and Returned Holden Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This started out as a ring search for a young lady’s engagement ring that wasn’t found. As I’m doing my grid search back and forth across the wet sand, I got a loud signal. Not sure what it was but I knew it wasn’t the ring. Because of the size of the target, I thought I either had a pair of sunglasses or a cell phone. After digging the target out from under about 8 inches of wet sand, sure enough I had an IPhone and not in real good shape. I put in it my pouch and continued searching for the ring.

I had actually forgotten about the phone, and it set in my pouch in the trunk of my car for a day. Maybe that turned out to be a good thing and gave it a chance to dry out in 90 plus degree temperatures. I couldn’t get the phone to turn on, so I wasn’t sure if the phone battery was dead or the phone itself was ruined. I found one of my plugs that fit and plugged it in to see if it’d charge. After a couple of hours, the phone was coming to life. After there was enough charge, I started playing with it. Luckily, I got to the password page and saw the “emergency” Icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and pushed it. Up popped a name and other info – Chance XXXX, age 15. Ok, I had something to go on. I first went through a FB search and found a number of Chances and sent each of them a private message. Long shot, but maybe they got a new phone and would get the message. The next thing I did was post on the Holden Beach FB page with a picture of the phone’s main page. I also wrote “Chance XXXX or parents of, I came across your iPhone buried in about 8” of wet sand. Cleaned and charged it and it appears to be working. Wanted to see if I could find you on here before I turn it over to the Holden Beach Police. Call or text and included my phone number.” Within two hours I saw where a lady had tagged a Lena with the same last name as the boy. Shortly after that I got a response on FB saying – “Thank you so much. My son thought it was lost forever.”  I also got a text from Lena (Chance’s mother) who 100% verified the phone was her son’s. She told me the story that Chance was out on the beach looking for shark’s teeth and at some point, the phone fell out of his pocket. She also said that they were on Holden Beach during the week of June 20th. I found the phone on July 8th, so the phone was buried in the sand for roughly 2 weeks. I put the phone in the mail on Monday, Jul 11th and because of the lithium battery it had to go ground delivery through the USPS. It took 2 weeks for the phone to finally get home to Ohio. I don’t know if Chance found any shark’s teeth or not, but my wife has quite the collection and sent along 3 shark’s teeth and an olive shell to brighten things up for Chance.

Chance – glad I could get your phone back to you; sorry it may have ruined your chances of getting a new phone for Christmas. Take care young man!!

Jim

 

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Father’s Yellow Gold Free Mason’s Ring Lost in the Ocean – Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Every call for help in finding a lost ring is just as important as the ones before it or the many coming after it. Each ring has its own story, whether it was passed down from a family member, something someone worked hard for to achieve, or the love of their life slipped it on their finger. Although, all of the rings are very important, once in a while you get the call for something very special that grabs at your heart strings. This was exactly the case for me on this call. Ron called me close to 11 pm on Thursday, June 30th clearly devastated that he had lost his father’s custom-made yellow gold Free Mason’s ring. He told me the ring was specially designed and made for his father by another Free Mason, who was both a friend and a jeweler. Ron’s father has since passed away and this special ring now belongs to Ron. I found out from Ron that he was wearing the ring while throwing a football in the ocean. My first question was if he was right or left-handed, he responded right-handed. My second question was which hand was the ring on. Again, his response was on his right hand. My next questions were what day, time, and how deep was he in the water. His response was that he lost it on Tuesday, around lunch time, and he was about thigh deep. During our text messages he changed the day to Monday. We exchanged other information and I could tell Ron was having a difficult time talking about losing the ring. I found out that he and his family was leaving the next morning. I closed our conversation by asking him to take pictures of the area and send them to me the next morning. After thinking about it, I texted him back and asked him if he could meet me on the beach the next morning at 9 am, he agreed. By meeting him, I could get a firsthand view without having to decipher some pictures.

The next morning, we met as scheduled and he pointed out the area. I don’t remember if it was during our texting the night before or he told me when we met that he actually lost it on Sunday, which was 5 days ago. As we’re talking about additional details, I asked him whether he was facing north or south when he was throwing the football and he responded he was facing east, meaning he was facing seaward. In my mind, I’m thinking this is going to be a tough, if not an impossible search. If he was facing seaward, throwing the ball with the same hand the ring was on and it was 5 days ago, it’s difficult to imagine where his ring ended up. But I love a good challenge, so I told him I’d be back around 2 pm to work the outgoing tide with low tide being at 3:48 pm.

As I’m loading up the car with my detector, the sky opened up and it started pouring rain. No problem, I’m going to get wet anyway, as long as there’s no lightening – I’m good. By the time I got to the beach and the search area, the rain had stopped. No rainbows, but I did get a report of a waterspout less than 5 miles up the beach. I swear, the Big Man upstairs was testing me that day! I started on the line Ron had given me earlier that morning. I started my grid line from the mid tide line and walked out to waist/chest deep water working my way to the south. I’m not sure how far south I went but I was sure I was outside of Ron’s area. I went back to my starting point and started working the grid search north. I did about 10 lines and got a solid hit on my White’s PI. The PI is a great machine, but it has no discrimination, nor does it show any target depth, it just signals there’s some sort of metal underneath the coil. I had already picked up a couple of pull tabs, a few bottle caps and 4 fishing weights, so I figured this was one more piece of junk. A couple of scoop and I had the target out of the hole. I took my foot and spread the sand out, I looked down and saw the Free Mason diamond symbol staring at me. Boom! I just stood there and stared; I couldn’t believe it. What a beautiful ring! I picked it up and walked back to the car to get my phone and take a couple of pictures. I sent a picture of me holding the ring and the ring sitting in the sand to Ron saying, “look familiar?” As I’m driving home, I called him and left a message when he didn’t answer saying “check your text messages and call me.” I figured he was still on the highway driving home. Within a few minutes he called me back and he was so excited he couldn’t talk. I wish I would have been able to hand his ring to him and see his expression, but I’m sure it was one of pure elation and surprise. I’ll get his ring in the mail Tuesday and wait for his picture to post this.

Ron – Thank you so much for trusting me to help find your lost treasure, I was so excited to find it for you. Best Wishes!!!

Jim

 

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