metal detector expert Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost Hearing Aid in Safety Harbor, Fl…Found and Returned!!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
Contact:

Steve Thomas

Dunedin Ring Finder   lostringdunedin.com

“It’s Only Lost Until I Find It!

Lost a ring or other metal valuable at the beach or in a grassy or sandy area? Jewelry slip off of you while working outside, playing with the dog or swimming? Please contact me ASAP at (843) 995-4719 or @dunedinringfinder. I offer a FREE metal detecting service, reward optional but appreciated upon recovery!

Paula was walking down the outside stairs of her second floor condo in Safety Harbor when she fell down the last few steps and landed hard and face first on the sidewalk. She had not been using the handrail with her hands full and was badly injured including bruises and cuts to her face and a possible fractured collarbone. After she was helped back into her home, Paula realized that one of her hearing aids was missing as a result of the fall. After receiving medical treatment and returning to her home, Paula’s good friend Carol and a family member helped search for the hearing aid in the area where Paula landed but they were unable to find it. Carol found me through social media and contacted me the next day to see if I could help Paula find her hearing aid.

I arrived at Paula’s condo and realized that the search area was very small but did include under the stairs and several areas with shrubs including shrubs that bordered the complex’s pool fencing. I scanned Paula’s other hearing aid for a reading on my Minelab Equinox 900 detector so that I would know exactly what to look for and as I expected, the signal was very weak due to the very small amount of metal in the hearing aid. I also tested my hand held pinpointer because I quickly realized that I would have to do most of my search with it as there was very little room for my detector coil. I began my search on my hands and knees with the pinpointer in the area of shrubs near the fence because it was in the direction of Paula’s fall and also shook the branches of the shrubs just in case the hearing aid was hanging from one of them. I then searched the shrubs beside the stairs and the leafy area underneath the stairs by probing with the pinpointer but no luck. After about 15 or 20 minutes, I walked up the last several steps and looked down towards the sidewalk where Paula had landed when I noticed several red spots on the left side opposite from the area where I had searched. As it turns out, these were blood spots from Paula’s cuts where she fallen and then tried to get up. Carol and Paula believed the hearing aid to be on the right side of the steps since it was in Paula’s right ear. I began a visual and pinpointer search under the shrubs on the left side and after only about a minute I saw the hearing aid laying on the leaves. Paula was thrilled to have her relatively new hearing aid back in her ear! Paula requested that I not take a picture of her smiling face due to the cuts and bruises suffered in her fall so you have mine instead.

Paula and Carol, thank you for contacting Steve Thomas, Dunedin Ring Finder and trusting me to find Paula’s hearing aid! It was a pleasure meeting you both!

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Found Ring McCalla, AL

  • from Montevallo (Alabama, United States)
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This all started November 22nd. Jennifer contacted me about her lost engagement ring, it just so happened to be her Grandmothers ring. She had a rough idea of where she lost it but was unable to locate it. Her and her husband had borrowed an older detector but was unable to pinpoint anything because « all it did was beep on everything » I assured her if it was there I would find it. She was going out of town for Thanksgiving and wanted to set something up for the following week. She contacted me Saturday the 30th after Thanksgiving and asked if I was available for Sunday mid-day to early afternoon. Knowing how sentimental this ring was to here I decided to load up the whole arsenal and my wife with her detector. We arrived and Jennifer showed me a few areas where she was doing some yard work. She was very confident it was in a small area where she was spreading straw. So we began. The spot was in an animal cage so I knew there would be some chatter from all the fencing, so I popped the small coil on and went to work. First signal hit strong and only gave me one arrow on the Equinox 700, a quick glance revealed a concrete slab right under the dirt with rebar in it. I knew then that was going to present a new obstacle. Second target sounded great and in the gold range, however it was a piece of foil. Then all the sudden a loud assertive double tone and a 22 popped up on the Equinox my wife and I looked at each other with silent joy as to not get anyone’s hopes up, but we knew that sound all to well. My wife reached down and brushed away the straw to reveal a beautiful vintage solitaire engagement ring. We silently walked the ring over to Jennifer, who was visually very upset, and placed it into her shaking hands. Immediately the emotions poured down her cheeks. Right then I knew this ring was truly something special for her. Listening to her tell us about the struggles she had faced this year, my wife and I both struggled to not cry both for her and with her. This was truly the most emotional and rewarding recovery I have done to date. This is why I do what I do.

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Gold Wedding Band Lost and Found at Honeymoon Island, Fl…Vacation Saved!!!

  • from Dunedin (Florida, United States)
Contact:

Steve Thomas

Dunedin Ring Finder   lostringdunedin.com

“It’s Only Lost Until I Find It!

Lost a ring or other metal valuable at the beach or in a grassy or sandy area? Jewelry slip off of you while working outside, playing with the dog or swimming? Please contact me ASAP at (843) 995-4719 or @dunedinringfinder. I offer a FREE metal detecting service, reward optional but appreciated upon recovery!

Honeymoon Island State Park had recently reopened after some hurricane cleanup and visitors were beginning to return. Dave and his wife Tina are snowbirds who live in Dunedin, Florida during the winter and Deadbroke Island, Ontario the remainder of the year. They, along with niece Jenn, her husband Stephen, and nine month old son Nico, as well as niece Emma and her partner Ian were enjoying the beach late one afternoon when Stephen asked Emma to hold onto his wedding ring while he and Ian dug a hole for Nico to play in. Emma put the ring on her finger and later went down to the edge of the water to wash her hands in the surf when the ring slipped off of her finger into the ankle deep water!

After a frantic unsuccessful search by all to locate the ring in the surf, a lady who was sitting near the family mentioned my name to them so Dave googled my contact information and called me. I told Dave I would be at their location in about 45 minutes so I rounded up my gear and headed for Honeymoon. When I arrived, Dave pointed me to the area where the ring dropped in the surf which was now about shin to knee deep with small waves and a 60 degree temperature. The water was cold for this part of Florida especially without a wetsuit and it was only about an hour prior to sunset but I began my search in the wet sand out to almost waist deep, gridding lines the best I could perpendicular to the shoreline. After about 15 minutes, I received a strong surface signal with a mid 30’s number on my Minelab Equinox 900 detector in shin deep water and began to try to scoop the target out of the rolling surf. After about five unsuccessful attempts, I moved away from that promising target thinking that it must be deeper than my reading and I sought other targets close by. After another 15 minutes, I had only dug an old pull tab so I began to work my way back towards the original target. I found the mid 30’s target once more and I was determined to scoop it out the second time. On about the third scoop, I had the target out of the water in a scoop full of small shells and sand and instead of rinsing the sand out in the water, I brought the scoop to shore and dumped it on the beach, hoping that the ring was there for the family to find as they were all very excited! At first as the sand and shells were spread, nothing appeared so I swung my detector coil over the material again and told everyone that what I had dug was in a small lump of sand and shells. As the sand and shells were spread in that area, out pops Stephen’s beautiful gold wedding band with the wedding date of 12/31/23 inscribed inside! Obviously we were all overjoyed and especially Emma!

Dave and family, thank you for trusting Steve Thomas,  Dunedin Ring Finder to find and return Stephen’s ring! Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

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Yardwork & Christmas Lights Equals Lost Ring in Cinnaminson NJ. Found by Dave Milsted

  • from South Jersey (New Jersey, United States)
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Sara called me, asking for help to find her husband’s gold wedding ring. She found me on the Ring Finder’s website. He had spent the entire day working in the yard—cleaning out the gutters, raking leaves, and putting up Christmas lights. Despite his efforts, he couldn’t locate the ring. With only about an hour of daylight left, I headed over to assist.

When I arrived, Devon was still searching for the ring. There was a massive pile of leaves at the curb, scheduled for pickup that week, so I began my search there. Unfortunately, I had no luck.

Next, we moved to the flower beds under the gutter. I received a strong signal under a small bush. Despite not seeing the ring on the ground, the signal was promising. Using my pinpointer, I discovered the signal was coming from within the bush.

It turned out that when the ring slipped off Devon’s hand, it landed in the bush and got hooked on one of the branches. The ring, a beautiful yellow-gold piece, held significant sentimental value as it belonged to Devon’s great-grandfather.

I love my hobby!

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Ring lost in Poway found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Kathy contacted me saying that after her husband had finished eating, she decided to grab the tablecloth and shake it outside to remove any salt and crumbs that were on it. What she didn’t know was that her husband had taken his wedding ring off and had left it there on the table. Out the door everything went and after a good shake, she returned inside to find out that her husband’s wedding ring was missing. They searched the dining area and path to the backyard patio and yard, but, the ring wasn’t found. When I arrived, I got the story and evaluated the search area. Small yard with grass back to a vine covered fence. Beyond the fence dropped down a slope to a canyon bottom. Hopefully it didn’t get slung down there! Not to worry, first target was right in the range for a gold ring….26-7 on the Equinox 900. It wasn’t right on top of the ground, so, it must have been stepped on sometime during their search. It took a few minutes to dig it out of the dirt and grass, but, it was « Thankfully » a success! A pleasure to meet you Kathy and thank you for the reward.

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Ring lost in Ocean Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Alex and his family were at a local sports park, and after tossing a ball for the last time, he pulled his hand out of his baseball glove and inadvertently pulled his wedding ring off his finger in the process. They looked around the grass for quite some time and finally gave up and went home. An online search brought Alex to TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. 40 minutes later, we met at the site and he gave me the story, description of the ring, and the approximate 50 foot squared search area. I set up some cones and got to work gridding. As most of you know, parks usually have a ton of stuff buried in the grass, and this place was no exception. Slowly, I made my way back and forth across the suspected search area, checking out dozens and dozens of targets. After about 45 minutes and an assortment of trash later, I got another good sounding target in the same « gold ring » range. I looked down, and sitting there in plain sight was his ring. Alex was walking around with his eyes to the ground in hopes of spotting his ring. I called him over and pointed to the ground in front of me. Alex was super happy to get his ring back, called his wife with the good news, and I got a big thank you from her too. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

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Lost Gold Wedding Band in the Flower Bed-Found

  • from Chattanooga (Tennessee, United States)
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I was contacted by Addison and she said her Grandfather had lost his wedding band in the yard while pulling weeds. It was a two and a half hour trip to Nashville from here, but well worth the trip. Peter said he was pulling weeds in the front flower bed for most of the afternoon and it was after dark, around ten oclock before he noticed his white gold band was gone. He went back out and looked for it but didn’t see it.  After pulling the weeds and putting them in a wheelbarrow he rolled it to the back end of the lot to dump it out, so I had several places to search. I started in the lawn area bordering the bed and frankly, that is where I expected to find it. Not finding it there I went into the bed and did find numerous peices of scrap aluminum and metal that was close to the surface.  About 3/4 of the way through the bed my Manticore locked onto a solid 15 in all directions and it was also close to the surface. The soil was soft so I just rubbed the surface area of the ground from over the signal and I saw the glint of white gold shining at me. That’s what I saw in the attached photo with my finger pointing at it. It was totally buried so he would not have seen it. The search time was around 30-40 minutes.

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Lost Gold Watch Bezel-Found

  • from Chattanooga (Tennessee, United States)
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I was contacted by a guy that does professional yard services and he had lost the bezel from his watch in a client’s yard while trimming the shrubs. The bezel was custom made gold with diamonds. He was working the day of the search and not able to be there with me. He had given me the address of his customer and they knew I was coming. This search to me nearly two hours of searching because the detector coil would not fit down in the shrubbery so I had to search a lot of it visually. I eventually found the bezel way up under a low growing Japanese maple tree. It was lying face down and very difficult to see in the mulch, but my detector saw it clearly.

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Lost Ring in Backyard-Found!

  • from Chattanooga (Tennessee, United States)
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I was contacted by Jessica to find her husband’s ring he had lost in the backyard while throwing balls for his dog. Along the way they had borowwed a metal detector to look for it themselves, but they didn’t know how to use it, so they hid her ring in the grass to test it out and see what it sounded like, and that’s where it got more complicated. The detector and their ears were overloaded with all the metal in the ground they didn’t know was there. Then they couldn’t find her ring either. That’s when she contacted me.  They had marked out a spot where she thought her ring would be, and it was a fairly small area, maybe six feet by four feet. I covered that area quickly and no ring, so I expanded the search area to beyond where she had marked out.  I had made one pass, turned around to parallel my path and I was facing the sun. After two steps I caught a relection in the grass of something silver colored before my coil passed over it. It was her ring. The entire search for her ring was less than ten minutes. While I was talking with her and taking a couple of photos the sun was directly in my eyes so I shifted position a little.  When she was looking at me I noticed she had fixed her attention to somewhere over my right shoulder. She said hold on a minute, and took off to the side of the yard and came back with his ring. If my memory serves me correctly it was dark colored, titanium maybe.  From the position we were standing she happened to see it laying on the ground in a clear area that was free of grass. So both rings were recovered in around fifteen minutes.

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Lost Gold Pendant in Public Park-Found!

  • from Chattanooga (Tennessee, United States)
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I got a text from Jae late Thursday evening and she said she had lost her gold pendant in a local public park.  She and her friend had looked all evening until around midnight that night.  The pendant was made from the engagement ring her grandfather had given her grandmother in 1942. So it was very sentimental to her and all she had left of her grandparents.  The grass in that area was pretty deep, so finding it by sight was nearly impossible.  I got there by around noon the next day on Friday.  She had the area marked where she noticed the broken necklace.  I had marked out a block for my search that was about 75 feet by 50 feet.  That search area bordered a sidewalk on one side.  Being a public park I assumed the ground there would be very contaminated with metallic trash and other items, and it did not dissapoint.  Fortunately, with the Manticore metal detector I was able to differentiate between what was on the surface and what was deeper.  That still lengthens the search time because every target has to be inspected before moving on.  I completed the grid search in the block I had marked out and found nothing except pull tabs and a nickle.  So I moved down a little and marked out another block, this one a little smaller.  About halfway through that search area I was about 12 feet from the sidewalk and I got a 41 on the Manticore that was on the surface.  The grass there was about 3 inches deep so I pulled out my pinpointer to locate whatever it was.  The pendant was there, completely covered with grass and was not visible to the eye.  My total search time was about 2 hours.

 

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