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Lost Diamond Wedding Ring… Seal Beach, CA… Found in Surf

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Sunday, Sept. 01, 2013

Chrisy’s mother called me excited that I had answered the phone. Her daughter had lost her diamond wedding ring in ankle to knee deep water while throwing a football. While searching the internet Christy’s mom some how called DeMarco Detector Sales in New Jersey. Joe DeMarco helped her to locate my phone number (Thanks Joe) . She contacted me. It was 4pm and the tide was coming in, but I made the trip to talk to Christy and her husband Ryan. It’s half the battle to get the location and all the information that will help make the search successful. They showed me the area and she explained that she was sure it was on her finger before playing ball, but she did not exactly feel when she lost the ring.   I told them I would return at 1 am in the morning. I was worried because the sand was very soft, mushy and there was no shell or rock base. After searching for 2 hours the ring showed up in my scoop. Actually it was less than 4 inches deep. What a beauty !! King Neptune doesn’t get to keep this ring. Christy and Ryan walked out onto the beach 10 minutes after I found the ring. It was like a new years celebration at 2:30 am with 3 people.

This was one of 17 rings found and returned using My Minelab CTX 3030 metal detector sense January, 2013.

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Lost Ring… Strand Beach, Dana Point, CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Sunday, August 18, 2013

Chunky – White Gold – with 1 ct. Square Cut Diamond

I had just finished doing some recreational detecting of 27 fire pits at Corona Delmar Beach. I like to practice detecting around the fire pits because it’s a challenge to find a good targets amongst all the trash. That’s how I entertain myself. I call it practicing my hobby. Driving home with my detectors ready to go, I got a ringfinders call out from Emily.. She lost a gold ring yesterday afternoon while trying to catch a football. Her and her friends spent hours crawling around on the beach running their fingers thought the sand to no avail.

In the morning Emily and her friend got online and found a link that brought up The RingFinders. I always carry my cell phone and pulled to the side of the road to get the directions and ask a few questions. I did ask her what type material was it made of and was it small or large. She told me it was gold and it was « Chunky ».  I had to drive about 10 miles and walk down about 150 steps. By the time I got to the location I Emily had text message a google map and other information. The best help was they were near a group of 3 trash cans and about 20 ft. from the rocks . I started in a straight line swinging slow and low. Only 30 ft. into the search I got a signal that almost overloaded my detector. It was that beautiful unique ring and I now know what « Chunky » is. I sent her a text photo of her ring on my finger, saying Guess What.

What’s special about this is, we did this all with our smart phones and it wasn’t necessary for Emily to drive 40 miles to show me the location. It was less than an hour from the first call. We arranged to meet back in Newport Beach and she had her ring in about 2 hours from the time she called.  It was all smiles and a  big thank you. She promised me that she was never taking the ring to the beach. Also promised me to send me a message with the weight of her ring. It was definity unique and would have been a heart breaker to lose it.

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Another Lost Ring.. Laguna Beach, CA.. Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I had just found a 56 year old ring for Marco about 20 minutes before and was only about a block from where I found Marco’s ring.  David came walking up to me and I figured he wanted to ask me , »What’s the best thing you’ve ever found ? » I hear this 5 or 10 times a day when I get out before everybody leaves the beach.

David did look a little serious and he asked me if I could find a platinum ring he had lost the night before. I told him this is what I do and it should be easy if he was sure of the general area. This is what he told me. He was sitting on a stair step and fiddling with his ring(kind of rolling it with his other fingers) when it popped off right in front of him in the dry sand. He could not find it that night. The next morning he came directly to the place where the platinum ring slipped off his finger. This time he had equipt himself with a bucket, shovel and a sifting tool. David had excavated a 5 foot square area down about 8 or 10 inches and all the sand that had been sifted through the screen was piled up on  a rock. He was very organized and said he had spent more than two hours working his project.

I thought possibly the ring could have got buried too deep to find, because of the amount of sand that was moved. Trying to stay possitive, I searched the pile of sand and the excavated area. Then I did a couple passes of the coil just 3 or 4 ft. to the right of his digging. Right away there was a hit. A nice strong signal and up popped a beautiful platinum ring when I dug it with my scoop. I will not try to retrieve it with my fingers, because I know it is almost impossible. It just keeps slipping through your fingers..  David could not believe that it was that far away from where it dropped. He and his wife Kimberly were very happy to have their ring back and promised to recomend The RingFinders to all their friends and customers. They own a business in Laguna and have seen me on the beach before but didn’t know about our service.

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Lost Wedding Band… Laguna Beach, CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Wednesday,  August 14, 2013

I was sitting at home trying to decide what beach I was going to today, when I got a call from Marco Semerano, who was vacationing in Laguna Beach with his family. He  had been helping his son dig a hole in the sand Tuesday afternoon when his ring slipped off his finger. He and his wife searched the rest of the day and that night they asked everybody around if there was any way to contact somebody with a detector. No body could help them so they went to the internet and called sporting goods stores, etc. with the idea of buying a detector. That’s when they found The RingFinders and my contact information. I’m only 7 miles away so I was out the door and met Marco on the beach where he was guarding the location where he had lost the ring.

Marco told me how important his ring was to him because it was his father’s. Rocco and Laurie Semerano married 12/29/57.. Knowing the history of his ring, I had to find this ring. I started to swing my search coil and I was getting odd signals so I asked them to move the metal beach chair. After moving the chair I swung my coil where it had been and behold the sound of gold. One scoop and there was Marco’s ring. His face lit up and so did mine.

Marco asked me for some cards because he wanted to make sure the people at the Hotel and the Lifeguards know about The RingFinders service. Someday people will automatically Google the RingFinders to get help. How often have I heard  » I didn’t know a service like this existed ». It’s nice to be part of this group and someday I’ll be able to say I was a member in the early days.

After a couple photos, we talked for a few minutes. Marco telling me the whole story of this ring and me telling him lost ring stories. Then I went off to spend the next few hours detecting on a beautiful beach for pleasure, this is what I do normally. It’s a tuff life. I love it..

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Lost Ring… Seal Beach, CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Sunday, August 11, 2013

I was visiting my daughter in Seal Beach.  I always do a little detecting before I go to her house so I had my detecting equipment with me. Just as I was leaving to drive back to Newport Beach I received a call from Greg. His fiance, Charlet had found The RingFinders when searching the internet.  He and Charlet were just two blocks away from me on the beach and  Charlet had just lost her engagement ring in the sand while applying sunscreen. I told him not to dig or disturb the sand because it may bury the ring out of range of the detector.  When I got there everybody around them was aware that the ring had been lost and I had a big audience. Charlet pointed out the location where it was dropped and I swung the coil of the detector about four times and there was the ring.  It took less than 20 minutes from the time they called till I found the ring. Charlet and Greg were so greatful and it was very important not to start off their marriage by losing their engagement ring. They will be getting married in two months. It was a pleasure to help them and such a coincident that I was so close when they need my help.. I hope I never get tired of doing this. This wouldn’t really be possible without all the new technology especially the miracle of the internet.

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Lost Ring… Newport Beach,CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Saturday,  August 10,2013

I was up early just finishing a daily search for a ring lost in the surf last week when I received  a call from Kim. She had lost her ring yesterday. Kim figured she could try to rent a metal detector and find the ring herself.  When she got on line to find out where to rent a metal detector she found The RingFinders website and my phone number.  She called me about 6:00 am. I ask the people call me as soon as possible especially if the item is on the beach.. This time it worked out well. We beat the beach sifting machine again. ( I call it the ring eater )

Here is what happened. Kim  was at Newport Beach friday and she had taken off her ring to put on sun screen lotion. After getting home she realized that she had left the ring on the towel and never put the ring back on her finger. When she called me I  was only 2 miles away from the location where she lost it. She was able to give me very good directions over the phone and I worked a grid search and found the ring within 30 minutes. I sent her a picture and asked her to call me. She was so excited and we met later to give her the ring..

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Lost Keys … 1000 Steps Beach, Laguna Beach, CA. … Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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I got a call from Peyton’s grandfather who had found my number on The RingFinders website. He asked me if I could help them find a special set of keys that were lost on the beach two nights before. I was only a few minutes drive from 1000 Steps Beach, So. Laguna Beach, which is a beautiful beach and it would be nice place to search. The call came at 2pm and I met Peyton with his friends at 3:30pm. This beach is more or less isolated and there are not many guys detecting on a daily basis, also they do not use a beach cleaning machine on this beach. All these factors were a plus, to make this search successful..

Peyton is vacationing in Laguna Beach with his friends and were on the beach late at night when he decided to take a swim. He had these keys on a lanyard around his neck so he took it off so he wouldn’t lose them in the water. He laid the keys with his clothes at the crest of the beach. The tide was lower at this time of night. After swimming he put on his clothes and forgot about the keys until a few hours later. He a his friends spent the next morning and two more days looking for the keys and it should of been easy with the lanyard, but it was not easy.

After hearing his story of how he lost the keys and Peyton showing the general location. I started a spiral type grid search from top of beach to the surf.  The tide had come over this crest of the beach several times over the past few days and I thought the wave action could have pulled the keys with the lanyard down into the surf. The other possibility is the waves could have pushed the keys further over the crest of the beach onto what we call the towel line. It took about 25 minutes and I probably made 7 or 8 passes of 40 feet, when I got the 12-33 reading and a strong audio signal on my Minelab CTX 3030 metal detector. The keys were under 10 inches of soft fluffy sand that had been pushed up by the 6 ft. plus tides of the past two days. It is not an exact science knowing what the surf does with the sand. One day it pushes the sand in and the next day it takes the sand away from the beach.  It has to be good enough just to know that beach erosion works both ways and plan accordingly.

Peyton had been disapointed with himself for losing the keys, but now he was very happy to have these special keys back in his possession. I got the pleasure of helping him find the keys and search on a beautiful beach. The walk back to my car was only 200 steps up to Pacific Coast Hwy. ( not 1000 steps )
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Lost Ring … Del Mar Beach, CA.. In Surf at High Tide

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Saturday – July 20, 2013     I received a call from Kathleen in Del Mar, CA. after she found my number on  » The RingFinders  » website.  She and her husband Jeff had been to the beach a couple days before at 6:30pm, which was about high tide.  Jeff was boogie boarding in the surf when he took a big wave and when he recovered from a wipeout he was missing his wedding band. While  talking with with Kathleen, I explained that it is a difficult search, because the detector can only detect ring size metal to a depth of 6″ to 8″ inches. Depending on surf conditions the sand can move more than a foot of sand in one tide. Kathleen gave me good directions, which made it easier to start hunting.

I drove to the location, arriving about 12 am. two hours before low tide. Setting up a grid search of 75 yards parallel to the beach. After five passes towards the receding tide I got my first and only signal.. There it was and I knew right away it was Jeff’s ring. It was just about 5″ or 6″ inches deep. I had been slowly swinging the detector for about 30 minutes overlaping each swing as not to miss a ringsize area. Missing a 3 inch area could make a 30 minute search turn into hours of hunting. I always tell people that I’m searching for,  » Just don’t watch me work, because it will drive a normal person crazy » It’s a slow and methodical process.

I text Kathleen a photo of the ring and asked her to call. She immediately called back with an excited voice. We set up a meeting and Jeff was outside his home waiting at 1 am when I drove up. I handed him his ring and he told me how he lost it. He is vacationing from Louisiana and is not familiar with westcoast surf.  Jeff said the wave picked him up smashing him under the water. When he came up he had sand in every orfice. Then he noticed the missing ring.  He just knew it was gone forever and probably half way to Hawaii by now.  He explained to me,  how he had told all his friends about his surfing experience and the loss of his ring. I only wish I could tell Jeff’s story the way he told it.  Now he can tell them a better story.  » The Recovery of his ring »   It was a pleasure to meet Jeff and talk to his wife on the phone and I am realizing that there are so many nice people in this world.. I love helping people with a skill that has taken me many years of experience and research to learn.. ( And Lots of Luck )

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Found Lost Wedding Ring in Lake Wilson in Weatherford,Tx

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call from the gentleman above late on a Friday afternoon.  Said he had fallen out of a boat on a small private lake in Weatherford,Tx and wondered if we would come try to find it.  I said we would be happy to but it would have to wait a week as were on our way to the airport to leave for vacation in Cancun for a few days.  I loved his response, he said « well it ain’t going nowhere ».  We agreed I would call him in a week when we returned.

As promised we called the following week and spoke with John about his ring, he explained that he and a friend were coming in from fishing on a small boat, he had stood up just at the moment his friend decided to pull the boat up a little higher on the bank.  When that happen, John lost his footing and fell into the lake.  He said he could feel his wedding band slipping off but could do nothing about it.  The waters edge was slippery and covered in algae and dropped off about 5-6ft in depth.

John found « The Ring Finders » website and located us.

Ellen & I drove 75 miles to the spot on the highway to meet John and have him and buddy lead us back on the dirt roads to where the lake was.  I set up my gear and went into the lake, it was amazing how deep it got so close to the shore.  John told me while I was in the water that he had used swimming pool cleaning poles to try and drag the ring up on shore and he also had a friend bring out his metal detector but no luck finding the ring.  I spent maybe 20 minutes in the water getting a feel for the area where John thought the ring would be.  I was getting lots of hits on my detector and using my water scoop was very difficult in the muddy bottoms.   As I went to change hands with my equipment my detector passed over a flat rock covered in algae  and my Garrett AT Pro went off loudly so I knew something was there.  I reached over with my hand and felt along the top of the rock and there was John’s wedding ring.  My wife and John had been talking along the bank and I said « hey John would you like to have your ring back? » and held up his gold wedding band .   He was flabbergasted, he said over and over « I thought I would never see it again ».  These reactions are what make this so much fun.

My wife was filming with her IPhone and began to ask John some questions.  He said this was the first time this ring had been off his finger in 57 YEARS.  He buddy then said, ‘tell them what you did’.  John replied with a sheepish grin, « I did not tell my wife »  he said I have a friend who owns a Pawn Shop who got him a temporary wedding ban to wear until we could hopefully find his ring.  We laugh and laughed.  Then John said…. « I wonder if the Pawn Shop with take the other ring back ».

It was a wonderful day.

Another great find for « The Ring Finders »

Don & Ellen Wilson

 

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Found Wedding Ring in Trophy Club,Texas

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We received a call from a lady who said « thank God I reached you »I have a lost ring for you to find.  I said OK and ask for the details.  She described it as a Men’s gold wedding ban.  I ask her where is was lost and she said in her backyard.  I ask as I always do, « are you sure that’s where you lost it » and she said she was positive.

I said OK then we can find it, then I asked the most important question.  How was the ring lost, what was he doing when he lost it……. there was a long silence and she said « I know it’s there because I threw it there ».  I said that was no problem and we would drive the 28 miles to Trophy Club,Tx around 7pm to let the heat go down, it was 101 degrees warm.

We arrived at a beautiful home, got our equipment out, the lady kindly showed us where she was when she threw the ring and then my wife her re-inact the event (this is a must we have learned).  We spent maybe 20 minutes detecting the yard and there was a lot of underground trash.  We knew the ring would « Hit Hard » on our detectors because it had only been 3 days since it was lost and men’s wedding bands are typically large in size.

We were correct in our assumptions and the Ring was returned for another happy customer for « The Ring Finders ».

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Don & Ellen – The Dallas Ring Finders »

PS…. the husband was in counseling while we were looking for the ring.

 

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