Diamond Engagement Ring .. Found .. San Clemente, CA. Beach
Alexis and Andrew had gone to San Clemente State Beach on Saturday 1/17/15. They walked about three hundred yards south of the main entrance to set up for the day. Before going out in the water Alexis still had her engagement ring on her finger. She put it into the pocket of her blouse and carefully laid it with the rest of their belongings. When they began to leave she picked up her blouse and decided to hang it on her backpack, forgetting that the ring was in the pocket. After walking several blocks through the sand to get to their car she went to get her ring from the pocket and it was not there. Andrew, Alexis and their friends looked through the immediate area with their hands, but it could have fallen out during the long walk to the car. They gave up the search. After returning home Alexis went on line locating TheRingFinders.com .
I received the call at about 3:30pm while detecting at Huntington Beach. It took me awhile to walk a half mile to my car, but I was able to me Alexis and Andrew at 5pm. We talked about the circumstances leading to the loss of the ring. I explained to them how my equipment works. Some people think metal detectors can find things several feet from the coil. Other people do not believe the work for such small items as rings. I knew it was possible to search the long walk back to the parking lot, but the best place to start would be where she picked up her blouse. Sometimes other persons move an item containing the ring or keys not knowing something was hidden inside. I set up an area to grid search about 40’x30′.. Making six passes parallel to the beach with out success, I setup my CTX 3030 to beach mode – all metal and began a cross grid. The next move would have been the long walk back to the parking area. (time consuming and the sun was setting). Three 30 foot passes to and from the water I got a nice 12-02 signal. Calling Alexis over to see the signal and hear the sound, I told her this is your ring and I scooped it. It was a beautiful ring. She dropped to her knees in tears of joy. Andrew also came over to thank me telling me that he had all but given up on ever seeing their ring again. It was a great day and I got another lesson of humility. It is a game of inches and it pays to cross check.
How many people have been given a very special gift only to loose it shortly after receiving it? Jared got a unique gift from his mother for Christmas–a silver pendant– and lost it two days later while playing soccer! He is a good friend of mine and knows that I enjoy helping people find their lost rings and things. And the field where he lost his pendant is just across the street from where we live so I figured in my spare time I could begin a grid search of the 70X50 yard field. So early the next evening I set up my Whites DFX in Coin and Jewelry mode and started down the middle of the field. And as it was a very recent drop and the pendant being silver I figured it would give a loud signal and be just under the grass. Sure enough on my 5th pass down center field, there hidden in the grass was Jared’s pendant! So glad to help out and thanks Jared for the reward!
Jason called me Saturday evening from home in Corona, Calif. asking if I could help him. His friend had told him about TheRingFinders. He noticed his wedding ring missing after six hours of doing chores around his large property. Jason had spent a day and a half retracing all his activities in search of his wedding band. He lives on a large piece of property and had been doing a lot of work in almost every part of his yard. Almost everything he had been doing could have caused his ring to slip from his finger. He was taking down Christmas lighting decorations from his two story house, fences and trees. Dealing with hundreds of feet of cords coiling them up then putting them in storage boxes. He also took the Christmas tree from the house cutting off all the limbs to put them in large trash containers. On top of all that work he spend time cleaning his pool. All these activities were done without gloves and all these activities were the type of movements that would cause a ring to slip off a finger.
I found a white gold wedding band today for a young fella named Austin. He lost it while mowing roadside ditches this summer. When he parked the tractor he noticed his wedding ring was gone.
I received a call from Evan asking me if I could help him find his 18kt gold wedding band. I was a couple miles away so it was just a few minutes to get to the park where he had lost the ring the yesterday. He and his wife were sitting on a curb along the side of a service road in the park. They realized they were sitting on some ants. When he stood up he swatted the ants off his pants with his hands and felt his ring fly off his finger. He actually heard the ring hit the asphalt, but it had bounced off the side of the road. Heavy leaf and ivy covered the side of road and the edge of road was a steep slope. It could of bounced 20 feet or more down the embankment . After crawling around in the leaves and ivy I moved 50 feet down the road from where Evan had been sitting. A few swings with my CTX 3030 about 12 inches off the edge of the road laying in the leaves and rubble was Evan’s ring. The ring was not only special because it was his wedding ring. His dad had made the ring for Evan. It was a special search with some tuff conditions. Another time that I was thinking about coming back tomorrow with some other search coils and equipment. A couple more swings outside the main search area proved to be the solution to making this a successful search. And a lot of luck.
