April 12/19 – We received an email from Eric who had lost his keys around a firepit (he thought). We met up with Eric’s friend – Iyad – who was able to direct us to the firepit area. The snow around the firepit was packed down but everywhere else, the snow was 2 feet deep! The keys were found on the side of the pathway to the firepit.
Very important keys found!
Dec 21/19 – received a call from a young lady in Banff, AB. She’d lost her keys in her driveway and couldn’t find them in the deep snow. They were recovered in a snowbank on the side of the driveway.
Success!
Dec. 15/19 – I was called to help find a wedding band in Golden, BC. His wife had his ring on one of her fingers and when they stopped at a roadside pullout, she got out, shook her hands and his ring flew off into the snow!!! I searched a number of pullouts without success as he was unsure of the pullout as this happened at night. After picking up his wife, she took us directly to the right pullout and after an extensive search, it was found!
So happy to get his ring back!
Feb 24/21 – Eric contacted me to locate the GoPro that he lost while skiing at the Panorama Ski Resort in British Columbia. After a 500 metre hike up the ski hill, we locate the tree well where he thought he lost it. He was right! I found it over 1 foot below snow level!
Got my GoPro back!
Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626
At the end of December, after a day at Ocean Beach near Whangarei, Karen arrived back home to realise she had lost her ring back at the beach.
She had taken it off to apply sunscreen and presumably left it on the towel, and flicked it off when she packed up.
She drove out again to try and find it with her friend who owned a metal detector, but had no luck.
Successive attempts by various people with detectors were also unsuccessful, and she had all but given it up as lost.
As is often the case, it was the sentimental rather than the monetary value that hurt the most.
I was in the Whangarei area to hand over another previously found ring and had come down very early to spend some time at Ocean Beach to see if I could find her lost wedding ring.
Sitting in the carpark just before dawn, I went through her Facebook post again. She had noted several crucial times: When she was at the beach initially, and also when she went back to look and found the tide had covered the spot. Quick flick back to the December tide tables allowed me to work out how far below high tide mark she had been sitting.
She had also had the presence of mind to take photos of landmark alignments which while giving a relatively accurate fix, could equally work against us if a casual detectorist had intentionally sought to pocket it.
A very small white gold ring, lost on a popular surf beach with nearly a two month headstart and an accurate description of the location posted on social media, I wasn’t too optimistic to be honest – but you have to believe it’s there… having that valuable edge of experience to sway the odds in your favour helps.
It was still dark and no moon, but I could see the silhouette of the landmarks against the city glow behind the hills. After a few dry runs to get the best of three guesses as to location, I took the average of the three and started the grid.
Within fifteen minutes, I had the ring in the pouch.
I posted a photo of the ring as a reply to Karens original post, and hoped she would see it before I had to head back north. She did, and several hours later, I met up with Karen and handed her ring back to her.
Two rings handed back in one day – It’s a good feeling.
STEVE THOMAS DUNEDIN RING FINDER
LOST A RING OR OTHER METAL VALUABLE? PLEASE CALL ME ASAP ANYTIME (843)995-4719
THIS IS A FREE SERVICE, REWARD OPTIONAL BUT APPRECIATED
The Right Place at the Right Time!
I was detecting a section of Honeymoon Island called Dog Beach nearing sunset when I received a call from my sister with information about my father who was recovering from COVID. As I was speaking to her, two women approached me and asked if I helped people find lost rings. I was wearing my Dunedin Ring Finder cap at the time so I pointed to it and said “As a matter of fact…”. This is the second time in the last six months that I was detecting on my own when I came upon someone who needed my services.
As it turns out, a family of four (last name Beebe) with their two dogs were on the beach with a professional photographer at sunset when the son dropped his great grandfather’s gold and black onyx ring in the sand. Despite the fact that they were certain the ring was in an area of about 6’x6’, the Beebe family was unable to locate the ring after a frantic search. After about a two minute search, I got a 21 signal on my Equinox 600, then pin pointed the target and pulled the ring from the sand. What a joyous reunion! The photographer was pleased because she was working to take some great shots of the family in various locations as the sun was setting and needed to get back to work quickly. I took a picture of the ring at recovery, the photographer took a picture of me with the smiling son and the ring and she promised to send the recovery photo to me after I gave her my Ring Finder card. The photographer did not have any of her business cards with her and unfortunately I didn’t get her full name.
As of the date of this post, I have not received my promised photo and I have not been able to identify the photographer. If I “recover” this photo, I will update this post for the smile picture!
I received a text on Monday February 8th from Alison asking if I was able to help her find her rings which she had lost in her back yard over the weekend.
After talking to Alison and asking many questions I agreed to schedule a time to search but unfortunately the weather was against us due to an arctic vortex clamping down on Alberta with extremely cold windshield values between -40 Celsius and -45it was way too cold to be outside searching for the rings, I assured Alison that her rings are safe where they are and as soon as we have a break in the weather I would come out and find the rings for her. Friday February 12th we finally got a break in the weather, still cold at -25 Celsius but with hardly any wind! I texted Alison and agreed to meet up with her in the afternoon.
I met up with Alison and she showed me where she was standing on her deck when she shook her hand and both rings flew off and landed somewhere in the back yard.
Alison told me she spent an hour searching for the rings using a rake to sift through the snow but with no luck. With my experience I knew the rings were very close to where she was standing and not where she thought the rings could be.
Within 5 minutes I found one ring so then I knew the other ring was close by and within 12 inches I found the other.
I took both rings to Alison in the house, she was so grateful to have her rings back on her finger – a happy ending!
Received a call on a cold Nebraska day that a person had lost his future wifes beautiful engagement rings in his backyard while frolicing in the new fallen snow. I arrive and found out he had been looking very hard for it by getting a cheap metal detector and sweeping the show but to no avail. becoming desperate he called ring finders, I took over and after a extensive search it grew dark and i had to give up for that day. I went back two days later and lo and behold there is was right were he said it fell out of his coat pocket. He at first told me it was a silver ring so of course im looking for a high number but upon finally seeing the ring it was 10k white gold! wow big difference in numbers as it was a older home there were lots of signals to choose from. Anyway once he show the wife the ring she became quite emotional and that always gives me a warm feeling even tho it was a balmy -1 degree out today.
Vijay found me via The Ring Finders Directory. He texted me looking for help in locating his lost gold and diamond wedding band. We spoke on the phone and he told me he was on an early morning walk around his neighborhood in Paoli, PA admiring the snow that was really coming down hard. He went to take a picture with his phone and while reaching for the phone he felt his ring fall off his finger straight down into the 8 or more inches of snow at his feet. At the time he didn’t have gloves on so he went home to get gloves so he could dig around and find the ring but by the time he got back…uh oh…the plow came through. I live about 15-20 minutes from Paoli so I was there within 30 minutes. First thing Vijay said to me was that next week is his 1 year wedding anniversary…and he made it clear the ring must be found! We met at the area where he dropped the ring, it was a parking lot of a school, and he showed me exactly where the ring was dropped. It was clear that the ring was definitely swept away by the plow and most likely was in one of the 3-4 foot mounds of snow near where the drop occurred. I had 2 detectors with me…One with a small coil and one with a larger coil. I started searching first with the larger coil but it was tough going and I couldn’t sweep the mound very effectively. I switched to the smaller coil and after each pass without a signal I took my shovel and dug the mound down by a foot or so. The detector depth is only a foot so I was assuming the ring was probably deeper toward bottom of the mound. After 20 minutes and on my 3rd pass I finally got a really good signal(a 22 on my Equinox 800). I called Vijay over and told him I’m liking this signal…we looked together as I dug down in snow. We were both elated to see his bright yellow gold band appear! I tell this to people all the time…being a Ringfinder is a lot « funner » when you are able to come through for the person! I’m so happy that Vijay can celebrate his 1 year anniversary next week with his beautiful band on his finger.
It was late Tuesday night when she left for home. Somewhere between the East Village Condo and the car parked out front a cell phone fell out of her coat. How did she know? The « Find My Phone » app was signalling it was there. She had gone out looking for it but the heavy snow fall warning came true the next day and covered everything. In the hours between losing it and searching for it 10 cm of snow fell. Move forward to Friday. It was time to get a new phone but she was still getting a signal from her phone. In a last chance effort she found and called me. We talked for quite a while. In the end I made her a deal. Since I only lived 8 minutes away and since the phone was still active I would give it a try. If I did not find it, we would leave it as a good effort. No cost whatsoever. I thoroughly enjoy the hunt and the possibility of succeeding so it isn’t done begrudgingly in any way. I arrived and met her there. We looked at the app and it still indicated that the phone was somewhere near the front entrance. The condo complex was 15 stories high and had a snow clearing service. There were mounds of snow all around the entrance where they had cleared the snow. I checked each pile. No luck. What I figured would be a short hunt because of the app, turned out to be longer than expected. It seems that tall buildings and such make the location more of a suggestion as, even in the time we were there, the phone signal was moving about. Eventually she thanked me and offered to etransfer me something. I told her « no » as there is no need to add more on to the pain of losing her iPhone 11. 45 minutes into the hunt she was ready to call it quits. I asked her one more time, which door she left and where her car was parked. She recreated it to the best of her recall but it was fuzzy. If she took a direct path to the street, she would cross somewhere between the first parked car and the edge of the driveway. I said, « If we don’t find it here, I am going to call it quits. » I took my detector to it and I quickly got another signal. I used my foot and swept the snow away. There, face down, was her white iPhone. I looked up and she had this look of disbelief. « I can’t believe that you do this for people ». Her smile sunk. « Its been out here for 3 days. Its probably wrecked ». She bent down and picked it up. I was going to tell her to take it home and let it warm up slowly. Instead she pushed the home button. It started and lit up. She couldn’t believe it.
We found it, literally, in the last place I looked. She left with a big smile and a promise she would tell everyone she knows about it. That made me smile.