Metal Detecting Service Oak Island NC Tag | The Ring Finders

Proposed on Tuesday, Yellow Gold Engagement Ring Slipped off in the Outgoing Tide on Thursday, Found and Returned Friday Oak Island, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I woke up to 2 separate lost ring text messages on Friday, Sept 23rd. The first text was sent at 7:56 am from Ryan saying “Good Morning! My girlfriend lost her engagement ring in the sand last night at Oak Island. I have the location marked.  Do you think it is worth looking for it after a tide change when the water came up over the area?” The second text was sent at 8:15 am from Casey saying “Hi Jim! My name is Casey. I got your number from the ring finders’ website. I was on the sound side of the point at Oak Island last night and my ring slipped into the sand, water’s edge as high tide came in. We searched but no luck and I’m hoping a metal detector would help. I have the gps coordinates of where it was dropped.” I figured they were both texting about the same ring, so I called Ryan. First question I asked was is his girlfriend’s name Casey, his response was yes. I asked him a few more questions about location and time. Between him pinning the spot on his phone and Casey digging a hole in the sand in the lost area, they had the spot pretty well isolated. I told Ryan I’d be there at 11:30 am, which was just before low tide. Ryan sent me the address, so I was ready to go.

When I arrived, both Ryan and Casey were waiting in the driveway. As we’re discussing the loss, neither one of them knew that the other one had contacted me. Ryan texted me from the front porch while enjoying his morning coffee and Casey was in the house texting me. I asked Casey what happened when she lost it. She said that she was reeling in a fish and the ring slipped off her finger. Since Ryan had just given her the ring, she hasn’t had a chance to get it sized yet. We all hopped on the golf cart and drove over to the area. As we’re walking out on the beach, Ryan spotted the mound of sand Casey had piled up the night before while looking for her ring. When we got to the mound, I asked what metal the ring was. Ryan stated yellow gold. This gave me an idea of what number to look for on the Equinox 800. A lady’s yellow gold engagement ring would be somewhere in the 9-13 range, depending on the size and thickness. I turned the machine on and checked the mound of sand with no signal. I then swung the coil over the half-buried hole and hit a solid 13 VDI (visual display indicator). It’s in the range I was expecting, but pull tabs also come in at 13. I dug up the sand, had the target in my scoop and gently spread the sand out on the beach. I took my foot and spread out the sand. Not seeing the target, I ran the coil over the area to pinpoint the location of the target. After I hit the target, I reached in the sand and felt the ring. Casey didn’t react until I cleaned the sand off the ring and held it up for her to see. She was overwhelmed with relief and happiness and a few tears flowed down her cheeks. I asked Ryan to slip it back on her finger where it belonged. I’ll never get tired of seeing the excitement, relief, and pure happiness when someone gets their cherished item back.

Ryan and Casey – thank you so much for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. I wish you both all the best in your future together!! Have a safe trip home.

Jim

   

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Man’s White Gold Wedding Band Lost and Found on Oak Island N.C.

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Matt called me at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 3rd saying he had lost his wedding band around 4 p.m. A quick check of the tide tables and it showed he lost it right at the mid tide line. I asked him how deep he was and he told me that at low tide the ring should be in the wet sand. We worked out the details and I told him I’d be there the next morning at 10:30. Knowing that he seemed confident he knew where the ring slipped off his finger; my only concern was trying to find a place to park at the beach on the 4th of July.

When I got there, parking was non-existent, and I found a spot on the side of the road, hoping I wouldn’t get a ticket. I met Matt and his wife, Kim on the beach in the same area he had lost his ring the day before. Matt showed me the area and I started a parallel grid search along the slope to rule out the top of the beach. After 4 or 5 row, I changed to a perpendicular grid working from ankle deep to about thigh deep straight out from where Matt and Kim were sitting. My 4th trip out to deeper water, I got a solid 15/16 on the Equinox 800, telling me I had a ring. I wasn’t sure I had Matt’s ring because he had originally told me his ring was platinum. So I was looking for a lower number somewhere from 3-7 on the 800. After some consideration of the description Matt gave me. Plus, the likelihood of two men’s wedding bands lost on this portion of the beach, I was confident I had Matt’s ring. Sure enough, as I’m asking him what his ring looked like, he described it to a tee. I asked him if was platinum, and after looking and seeing the 14K stamp, he conceded it wasn’t platinum. Made me feel better and confirmed the numbers on the machine.

Matt and Kim, thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Have a great weekend and a safe trip home.

Jim

    

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Man’s Rolex Watch Lost and Found in the Lockwoods Folly River, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a text message from Mark on Thursday, Aug 29th saying that he had lost his Rolex watch, while fishing, in the Lockwoods Folly River and wondered if I could help. At some point, Mark told me that his wife, Joanna, had gotten him the watch as a present and it had a great deal of sentimental value attached. He knew the watch, itself, could be replaced, but not the memories.

I was concerned about the depth of the water and what the bottom of the river was. He said the depth was about 5 feet at low tide, which is pushing my limit, and didn’t know about the bottom. A lot of the marsh bottom in North and South Carolina has what’s called “Pluff Mud.” In earlier century’s it was called “Plough Mud,” because it was used to fertilize cotton fields that were depleted of nutrients. Anyway, it is nasty, it’s made up of dead grasses, fish, crabs, shrimp, and anything else that dies and decays in the water, it stinks, literally! When you step in it, it sucks you down, and what was at your ankles is now at your knees or thighs. So I was real anxious about searching in those kinds of conditions, but agreed to meet him on Saturday. I talked to my son-in-law, Donnie, who is a certified diver, about it and was thinking of him taking this call, but decided I’d give it a shot. Donnie has helped me on a number of searches, and I knew he’d jump at the chance of this search.

On Saturday, Mark and Joanna picked me up at one of the boat docks in Holden Beach, NC and we took a 20-25 minute boat ride to get the search area. Matt told me that the evening he lost his watch that he was having problems with his outboard motor so he was getting his trolling motor ready to use to get him back home. At some point in the process, he hit the trolling motor with his watch making the clasp come apart sending his watch in the water. When we got to the search area, Mark beached his boat and told me the search area was within 15 feet of the stern of the boat. We were bucking a strong current, but managed to search the area for a couple of hours or so. After searching what I could, I knew I was in over my head, and I’d need Donnie and his scuba diving abilities to help. While we were waiting for the tide to come back in, because we were now high and dry, and grounded on the beach; I called Donnie. I let him and Mark work out the details on the date and times both were available.

Fast forward to Monday, Donnie and Mark met at the same boat dock and headed out around 6:30am. I got a text from Donnie about 11:30 saying “No luck” but he was going to get lunch, fill up his air tanks and go back out with Mark and try again. At 6:22pm Donnie texted: “found it!” I got a few details from Donnie about his search, and the picture and video of him and Mark.

Donnie – thanks so much for your help and your “awesome” scuba skills and “fantastic” underwater metal detecting services.

Mark and Joanna – so happy and excited for you that Donnie was able to find and recover your lost treasure!

Jim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=LAk1V40FH2Q&app=desktop

     

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Lost Gold Wedding Band in the Ocean on Caswell Beach, Oak Island NC, 100th Return!

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This ring call came as I was walking out the door en route to help find a lost Rolex watch, which wasn’t found and turned into a much longer search than I anticipated. When Matt first called, I explained the situation to him, but told him that I expected to be finished in time to meet him at his location during low tide. By the time I finished the first search, and arrived at the beach, where Matt had lost his gold wedding band, it was an hour and a half before high tide. I met Matt and his wife, Mary and we walked out to the beach. Matt pointed out the area he lost his ring, and told me he and a friend had been playing catch with a football. Matt said he noticed his ring felt a little loose. A couple of catches later, he felt his ring slip off his finger and disappear in the ocean. Matt was savvy enough to immediately get some land marks, which helped. From his description on when and how he lost his ring, I knew I didn’t have much hope of finding it on this trip. I went ahead and started a grid line, trying to get out as far as I could without dying. I checked with Matt on whether I was going out far enough and he said both Mary and her friend thought he was farther out when he lost it. After being hit and thrown by three consecutive waves, the last one, making me lose my grip on both the scoop and detector, and having my swim suit down around my thighs, I decided to call it a night. I felt so bad that I wasn’t able to give Matt a descent effort in finding his ring that I promised him I’d be back at the next low tide, which just happened to be at 3:24 a.m. We had one more chat before I left so I was sure I had all the details.

I got back to the search area at 2 a.m. a little tired but ready to go. We’re in the moon phase just after a new moon, so there was absolutely no moon light to search by and it was darker than dark out there. I started a grid line search trying to keep the lines straight and in line with each other with the aid of my head lamp. I went from an invisible line I had paced off earlier, from the top of the beach next to a “Keep off the Dunes” sign. I knew then the beach was going to be a lot different almost 6 hours later. I started a little west of the landmark Matt gave me and went back and forth from the top of the beach to the low tide line and nothing. I kept expanding the search area both east and west and still came up empty. By now, it’s 4 a.m., I’m tired, sweaty, and sore, I’ve done close to 4 miles of walking in two separate searches. I’m 100% positive Matt’s ring was lying in the sand someplace on this beach. So, I was having a little chit-chat with the Big Man upstairs and I was a little cranky, to say the least. So out of nowhere, the idea of searching the area again, doing a cross grid popped into my head. I cut the search area down; concentrating on the area Matt gave me in the first place. On my third line, BOOM, I got a solid signal. I dug a scoop of sand, dumped it on the beach, and spread it out with my foot. I ran the coil over the area, found the signal and scooped it up. There it was, all covered in sand, but I had it. I looked at the hole and saw my grid line that ran right beside it, so I had walked right over the top of it and missed it, so I must have zigged instead of zagged. Matt told me the inscription on the inside of the ring, so I had to go back to the car and use the light so see it. It was a perfect match. I had asked Matt earlier if he wanted me to text him if I found it in the middle of the night, or hold on to it and contact him a little later in the morning. I knew his answer before I asked but I let him make the decision. At about 4:20 a.m., I sent him two pictures of his ring, one of them the inscription, with a text saying: “Good Morning Sunshine, I’m sitting in the parking lot, let me know you’re awake.” I got an immediate response “I’m up, be down in 5.” As soon as I handed Matt his cherished ring, all my self-pity disappeared and I remembered exactly why I do this. There’s no better feeling!

Matt and Mary, thank you so much for trusting me to find your lost treasure. Have a great rest of your vacation and a safe trip back home. This is another chapter you two can add to the long story this ring will carry.

   

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14K Gold Family Heirloom Wedding Band Lost at Oak Island, NC, Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got an email around 9:30 pm Sunday night from George saying that he had lost his gold wedding ring that had originally belonged to his grandfather. His email also stated that he had placed the ring into a zipped pocket of a beach bag on Friday, but didn’t discover the ring was missing until he and his wife, Jen, started packing up to leave on Monday morning. As Jen was packing the beach bag, George remembered his ring was in there and told Jen. Jen checked the bag, didn’t find the ring but did discover a hole in the pocket the ring was suppose to be in. He was wondering if I could meet them tomorrow, before they left to see if I could find it. Unfortunately, I’ve got to go out of town the next morning for a day trip so I wouldn’t be able to make it. I called him, letting him know I couldn’t make it tomorrow, but I could make it tonight. He agreed, gave me the rental house address and I hit the road for the hour drive to Oak Island.

When I arrived, both Jen and George were sitting on the front stoop of the house waiting for me. I got a few more details from Jen and George, and George and I crossed the street to the beach access. Once there, George pointed out the area they had been sitting at over the course of the last 3 days. I started doing a grid line parallel to the surf. I was on my 6th or 7th line when I got a strong signal showing up as a VDI of 18 and I knew it had to be his gold ring. Dug a scoop of sand, dumped it on the beach, and spread it out with my foot. Ran the coil over the sand and saw the outline of his ring at the same time my Equinox rang out. I reached down and picked up his ring, turned towards George and held my arm out. I had my headlamp on and saw the expression on his face like, there is no way he’s holding my ring. He seemed hesitant to come see what I was holding and when I handed him his ring he was completely overwhelmed. Think we both dropped a tear or two. We left the beach and were going to surprise Jen, but George couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. At some point after we found his ring, he made a comment that he was sure it was lost forever.

George and Jen, Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. I’m sure the ring has a very long history and story attached to it, and now that story can continue with just a little added anxiety thrown in.

Jim

      

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Lady’s Yellow Gold Engagement Ring Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Oak Island NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I, my wife, and youngest daughter were on our way to dinner when Brandon called wanting to know if I could help find his wife, Marli’s, ring. He explained that she had taken her rings off to apply sunblock to their young baby. He continued saying that she placed both the engagement ring and wedding band in her shirt. A little while later she saw her wedding band laying on the towel she had been sitting on, but no engagement ring. I told him I could be there around 8 p.m., about an hour and a half later. He told me he would check with his wife and call me back. As soon as I hung up, both my wife and daughter, almost in unison said, “You have got to go find her ring.” So I turned the car around and headed back home to drop them off and pick up my detector. I called him back and told him I was on my way and to text me the address.

After the 45 minute drive, I arrived at the beach at 7:30 p.m. I met Marli and Brandon, and we walked to the area in the dry sand where the ring was lost. Marli pointed out the area she had been sitting on the towel and applying the sunblock to her baby. I tested her wedding band with the Equinox 800 and got a VDI of 11, so I knew what I was looking for. On my fourth grid line, I got a strong tone and a VDI of 12 so I knew I had her engagement ring. I looked up and smiled at her and Brandon, and took a small scoop of sand. Her small size 4 or 4 ½ engagement ring was still hidden in the sand, so I lightly shook the sand out of the scoop and saw her ring peeking up through the small amount of sand left. Bingo! I took the ring out of the scoop and handed it to her. Big Smiles all the way around. She told me that she thought the ring was gone for good. Another chapter to add to their ring story.

Marli and Brandon, thank you for trusting in me to help find your lost treasure. Best of luck to you both, and your baby.

Jim

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TEARDROPS IN THE TIDES; The Journeys of a « Ring Finder »

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Just wrote and published a book about some of the ring find and returns I’ve had over the last few years.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732003904/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520041884&sr=1-1&keywords=teardrops+in+the+tides

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Man’s White Gold Wedding Band Lost, Recovered and Returned at Oak Island, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Sunday night I got an e-mail from Daniel G. telling me he had lost his wedding band on the beach at Oak Island, NC the previous Friday. In the e-mail he asked if I would be willing to drive to Oak Island and see if I could find it. I responded saying yes that it’d be no problem and then asked the normal questions – where on the beach, the time he lost it and the ring description.

The next morning Daniel had followed up with his responses as well as calling me. He knew exactly where he had been, what time it was and even down to the number of paces it was from the soft sand into the high tide line. Looking at the current tide tables, I saw I had about 4 hours before high tide so I headed out for the hour drive up there. Once I got to the beach I followed his directions and he couldn’t have been more exact on where it was. On my third grid line, in ankle deep water I got the signal. Two scoops and I had his wedding band in my hand. I took a picture of his ring and sent it to him with a text saying “Bingo”. While I’m standing on the beach waiting for his response, I noticed two ladies walking towards me. They walked up to me and introduced themselves as Daniel’s mother and his Aunt and informed me that Daniel had called them that morning letting them know I was going to be looking for it. They thought they’d come down and watch. I told them I had already found it and had sent Daniel a picture and text and was waiting for his response. Neither one of them could believe I had found it and were really surprised and excited for Daniel. Shortly after Daniel called and was very excited about his ring. He told me to go ahead and give it to his mother, which was good so it didn’t have to be mailed. A great ending to another lost ring story.

Daniel – Thank you for trusting me to find your lost treasure.

Jim

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Lost Car Key in the Sand – Found and Returned Oak Island NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call from Harrison on Saturday, May 20th around 6:15pm stating he had lost a key in the sand on Oak Island and asked if I could help find it. Unfortunately, I was out of town and couldn’t personally help, but assured him I’d find someone that could and would call him back.

I first called Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach who didn’t answer. I then called my son-in-law Donnie, who has helped me with finds in the past and he didn’t answer either. By now I’m thinking this isn’t looking good. I called my daughter who told me Donnie would probably be home in a couple of hours. I called Harrison back and brought him up to speed on what was going on and again assured him that someone would be up there to help find his key. Matt called me back sounding sick saying that he couldn’t make it.

I sent Donnie a text with all the details including Harrison’s phone number and told him to contact Harrison and let me know. A little after 8 Donnie texted me back saying he just got the text but wasn’t able to contact Harrison but did leave him a voice mail. I contacted Harrison, told him Donnie was going to call him right back, got a hold of Donnie and told him to call Harrison again.

At 10:40 I got a text from Donnie saying it took him 45 seconds to find the key. Outstanding!! I later learned that the missing key was Harrison’s car key, and with no spare he had to leave it parked at the beach. Donnie had to pick Harrison up at a rental house, drive him to the beach area and then find the key.

Great job Donnie, thanks so much for helping out and finding/returning the lost key.

Harrison, thank you for trusting The Ring Finders to help find your lost treasure!

Jim

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