mi Tag | The Ring Finders

Beautiful Ring Lost for Years Recovered in Beaverton Michigan

  • from Wixom (Michigan, United States)

I received a text one afternoon that seemed a little strange.  Debbie had lost an expensive ring and was losing sleep over it. The message focused on how far I was willing to drive and the cost of a several hundred mile ring call.  I asked about the ring and got a very vague description of a costly ring with a big diamond and that she was sick over losing it.  She was asking me to drive several hundred miles to  search, but she was not willing to pay a large amount, and that was assuming I found the ring.

When someone is having health problems and losing sleep over a lost item, I figure I will have to go, regardless if they can afford me.  I offered to drive up the next day. I was almost releaved to find she no longer lived in Michigan and would not return for many months.  « I will let you know the details later » she said.  Perfect I thought,  I will likely not hear from her again.

The next time Debbie contacted me it was with a date several weeks in advance.  I agreed to the date and got a precious few more details. It was a very expensive ring and she knew exactly where she lost it several years ago.  She left me with the impression it was a huge diamond on a thin white gold band.

So now I have a commitment to drive several hundred miles, the promise of a relatively small reward, the ring was lost a few years ago and it is tiny so it will be difficult to find.  She knows right where it is in the back yard and has looked hard to find it herself, so no doubt it is now below the surface.

The appointed day came and because I couldn’t interest anyone else in taking the call, I got in the car and drove for two and a half hours to meet Debbie and her mother at her mother’s home in Beaverton.  About half way there it started raining so hard I could hardly see to drive.

I tried to maintain my confidence as I realized the back yard was about 40 acres and it was overgrown.  Debbie led me across the mowed yard and into the brush.  Eventually we reached a very non descript spot on a almost non existant trail.  Debbie stopped abruptly and declared « this is the spot » and  starts wacking at the brush.  Her mother behind me is also wacking at brush.   I cant even swing the detector and in fact, I haven’t move a step from where Debbie  abruptly stoped.

I had enough of this ever worsening scenario. They were destroying the site and all I could detect was the oversized mucking boots both ladies are wearing.  I have never ordered a client to leave a search before, and I knew both ladies were worried as the ring was very valuable.  They wanted to watch but it was raining and I talked them into going back to the house.

As they walked away I swung the detector in the original spot Debbie had just trampled and got a hit, a faint but clean repeatable 40 on the meter.  My pinpointer located the ring a second later. I had not moved from the spot where I was standing when Debbie halted the procession.

I shot a little video of the ring in the hole because it was difficult to see the ring in a picture.  Click here to watch me find this beautiful ring:  https://youtu.be/oRjJsu1IWq4  Sadly the video I made  minutes later when I went to the back door did not come out well. It was hard to keep a discouraged look on my face while I explained it was raining too hard to continue searching.  She was shocked when I  handed her the ring.

I think this was the most beautiful ring I have ever found.  It was nothing like the ring Debbie described.  Yes it had a big diamond but it was so much finer than the plain band they led me to believe I was looking for.

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Platinum wedding band found in Kingsley, Michigan with a metal detector.

I received a text from Ed asking my availability due to the holiday weekend. He was cutting some wood with a saws-all and noticed his Platinum wedding ring missing after he finished. I told him, I need 10 minutes to load up and can be to his house in 20 minutes.

Once at Ed’s house he took me to the fire pit area to start the search. I did a grid search and found the rind after 10 minutes searching. Because the soil in our area is sand based the ring was already an inch under the surface. Ed was happy to have his ring back.

Keys found after falling in Lake Leelanau, Mi

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)

I saw a post on a local Facebook forum asking if anybody had a waterproof metal detector. I answered and got a response from Marcy that her husband lost his keys in 3 feet of water. They had tried to use a rake to get the keys but had no luck. They keys were lost over the side of a dock with muck about 12 inches deep. I drove up to the location and got in the water and immediately got stuck in the thick muck. It was very difficult to move and turn around. I ended up getting a faint signal I told Marcy was not the keys but dug it anyways. It was a piece of aluminum about 10 inches long. Searched a couple more minutes and got a stronger signal. I told Marcy this signal should be the keys. I was trying to dig the signal out with my T-Rex scoop and having issues because the muck was so thick and deep. Just then a neighbor walked past and offered the use of her large magnet on a rope. I ended up trying to drop the magnet hard into the muck to get it deeper. After about 5 tries the keys came out. I will be adding a large magnet on a rope to my equipment I take on jobs from now on. Now Marcy and her husband can get there vacation started.

Palladium wedding band found in Glen Arbor, Michigan

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)

I got a call from Rocky needing help finding his Palladium wedding ring. He was in shoulder deep water in Lake Michigan and felt his ring slip off his finger. We agreed to meet Friday morning at 9:00am.

I asked the normal questions when we first met. We marked off an area 50 feet wide by 70 feet long in the water. Rocky is 6 foot 5 I’m 5 foot 8. I searched out as deep as I could go then handed Rocky my Excalibur II. Rocky searched the deeper area I could not reach. We had no luck in finding the ring, so I started searching shallower all the way to the shoreline. I could tell Rocky was getting discouraged so I had him go search the condo to keep his mind busy. Ended up grid searching the 50 by 70 foot area twice from two different directions and did not find the ring. This took 5 1/2 hours to grid search the area twice.

After the 5 1/2 hours in the water I was whooped and ready to call it a day. Rocky just happened to walk back down to the beach. I had already had a couple conversations with him about what had happened. He stated his ring has never fallen off before and was not loose. I told him again something physical happened to cause the ring to slip off. He was still sticking to the story of having the feeling of his ring coming off his finger. I told him if he wanted his ring back he needed to trust me 100 percent. I told him that people are stressed when they find out there ring is gone and that moment is burned into there brain that is where the ring is at. I told him your mind plays games with you and we need to turn this into process of elimination. That something physical happened to cause the ring to come off. He thought about it for a couple minutes then said I trust you. Then I asked him what else has happened the last couple days.

He said well, I fell out of a Kayak a couple day ago up the river. He said he did not tell me about it because there is no way he went 1 1/2 days without his ring and not notice it missing. I told him we need to go to the spot he fell in asap. We paddled up to the spot then I fell out of the kayak in the same spot. When I stood up I saw a shinny round looking object on the bottom. I turned on the Excalibur II to make sure it was metal. I got a really loud nice signal. Bent down picked it up and handed him his ring. His reaction was about 8 NOWAY!’s On the paddle back down river I heard him ask himself how he went 1 1/2 days without noticing his ring missing.

Lost Wedding ring found at Glen Arbor Beach Glen Arbor, Michigan

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)

I received an email from Mary stating her husband lost his wedding ring at the beach in Glen Arbor. I had Mary call me to set up a time to search for his ring after I got out of work. I drove the hour up to Glen Arbor and met Josh. Josh took me to the spot they were set up the day before. I could tell Josh was heartbroken that the ring was missing. He said they have been married 6 years and he did not want a replacement ring, he wanted the original back. I started the search and got an immediate 12:06 on the CTX3030. A good ring number but also a pull tab number. The depth meter was showing 6 inches deep. I got my pin pointer out and realized I forgot to put a new battery in it. So, I pinpointed with the CTX3030 then started digging by hand. I dug down to the wet sand and got the signal out of the hole pinpointed again and found the ring. Josh was so grateful to get his ring back he must have thanked me 20 times. I was very happy to help get his original ring back and appreciate the reward.