The Ring Finders
Metal Detecting Service Inc.

"The Good . . !"

"The Bad . . !" (some of it)

"The Happy . . !"

I had just gotten off work on Monday afternoon and was heading out to go on a pleasure hunt when I got a call from a pleasant young man who had lost his Sprint “smart phone” on a local beach near my home. (Apparently their not making them “smart” enough to keep from getting lost).  The owner (who was from San Francisco 1-1/2 hours away)  had lost the phone the previous day. He had already driven back that day and tried his hand at locating the phone with a rake but had no luck and that’s when he called me. He informed me at that time that the phone was not nearly as important than what he had  in it ! He had a new arrival at home ( a new puppy !) and he had all of his pictures on the device. The pleasure hunt was off as I had a new target in my sights now. I had the perfect setup all ready to go back at my house so I stopped back by and grabbed my MXT 300 with my 300mm (12″) coil and headed straight down to the area. It was an incredibly beautiful summer day here in Santa Cruz with a pumping South swell so the 10 minute hike through the dry sand was a treasure in itself. Mark had given me some good points of reference over the phone so once I got in the area and located some of his left over rake marks I was on the “scent”. Even though this was a large target I was using the same tactics I use for any recovery and was digging everything but obvious small iron bits. Trash and other target signals can do bad things to good signals. “Target masking” must always be considered when searching for a known valuable so a thorough “dig everything” approach is mandatory . . even for a large target. Assume nothing, dig everything . . . discipline is essential. 45 minutes into the search ( and a good 10′+ from where he was “certain” it was dropped) I was really beginning to think the phone had been found already when I caught a hint of a large object with the edge of the coil. After sizing it up I carefully wiped away at the sand until just the very top corner of the phone was poking out about 4-6″ down in the sand . . on edge. It looked to still be in great condition but the bottom of the phone was just starting to reach the damp sand when I dug it out. We were due to get a very high 6′+ high tide later that evening so there’s a good chance the phone would have been drowned without a prompt recovery. I called Mark with the good news and offered to ship the phone to him (and save him yet another long drive but he was anxious to get his precious pictures back asap. He came by the next evening to pick up his phone and I gave him the painfully obvious suggestion of “backing up” his pictures next time before this happens again . . .he agreed with a big smile.

Moments after the find...

I recieved an a.m. call today from Paul stating that his platinum wedding band had been lost the day before. The ring had apparently been dropped in the sand in an area near the bottom of the stairs to their property. Upon meeting Paul, I found out that he had done his homework.  After searching briefly for the band he realized that it was more likely they would drive the ring deeper than find it so the search was stopped. He also performed a perfect re-enactment of how the ring was lost so I figured it was just a matter of putting my coil over it. Being a platinum ring, I decided my Whites MXT would be the best machine in my arsenal to find this lower-conductivity material. It turned out to be the right call. I began my search about 6′ outside of my pre-determined area of highest probability….just to be thorough. Another good call. I started by sweeping my coil into and around some large rocks and also across the bottom step of the stairs, which was covered with about 3″-4″ of sand. I swept out in front of the stairs and made one more sweep across the bottom step. That is when it got interesting. These old concrete stairs were reinforced with steel. It is exposed and rusting out in many spots. My MXT was very noisy and chattery dealing with this when I noticed the threshold null out (go silent)  in one spot. Nothing that stood out too much but just a little….different. It was directly over the bottom step…with it’s reinforcing steel ! It was also up against the riser of the next step (also with reinforcing steel in it) so there was very little room to sweep the coil and a lot of interference. This one particular spot was a worst case scenario for trying to locate anything let alone platinum. I re-swept the spot in tighter and tighter arcs and was eventually able to isolate a “clean” signal.  A repeating VDI of 30. From the looks of it, the target was probably a large pulltab. The reading I was getting was too high for what I was searching for…or was it ? Paul is a pretty big guy and he did say that the ring wore a little loose but could it be this big ? I reached down into the sand to retrieve my “pulltab” and out came a beautiful, huge Tiffany’s platinum wedding band. I was stunned. Total search time…about 1 minute BUT the thing is, the ring was sitting in the one spot in the area it COULD have hidden. The iron in the concrete was almost hiding the ring. The signal was being overwhelmed and almost completely masked. The detecting gods were testing me today and I passed.  This “easy” recovery could have easily been missed without a solid plan and sound tactics. The feeling of reuniting Paul with his “lost” ring is one I can’t describe..and won’t even try. I even got a tearful “I love you” from his mother-in-law and THAT was worth it’s weight in gold…or platinum.

I was contacted on the eve of 7/31 by a local area woman. She had lost a platinum wedding band and wondered if I could help her and was I interested ? I was at her house by 11a.m. the next morning. The ring had been” lost” after it had been thrown into the front yard. The situation appeared to be tailor made for an “easy” recovery. It proved to be anything but that.  To begin with, the area had the worst interference I had ever encountered. The EMF from the power lines and the conductive salts from the fresh fertilizer was giving my machine fits. It would not ground balance properly and I couldn’t push my gain past 4 or 5. This combined with the fact that platinum is inherently difficult to locate made me realize I was in for a serious challenge. The entire possible area was only around 500 sq. ft.  It was about 3/4 nicely kept lawn with the remainder planted with shrubs and covered with redwood bark mulch.  I first carefully and thoroughly searched the lawn and easy open areas. With these eliminated I then scoured the planted bark-mulch area, pushing in as tight to the shrubs and plants as possible. After an hour still no ring. As luck would have it, she had a matching band from her husband. I tied a flagging line onto the band and had her mimic the throw she had made with her own ring. The ring flew about 6′, way short and in the middle of the lawn where it definitely wasn’t hiding.  After shortening the flag as much as possible she gave it another throw and it ended up even with the planted area but a little right. I had my range ! I deduced (correctly or luckily, you pick) that she had probably thrown it even harder but I knew it hadn’t been thrown over the area.  It was concrete and asphalt past the shrubs and since she hadn’t heard the ring hit , it must be in the shrubs.  If she HAD thrown it harder, but not farther, it must have been a low line drive so my next search attempt was planned accordingly. I went to the range of her throw but in the center of the planted area. I pulled up the edge of the largest shrub as much as possible and nosed my coil in as far as possible.  I heard one faint high tone on my MXT but the signal was confused and looked to be trash. After a  minute I was about ready to walk away but I decided to try and pinpoint it one more time. I got a good spot on the pinpoint and when I set my pro pointer to the ground I put it right on top of the ring ! A great day for everyone !

Platinum band in it's hiding place

Going back home

Hello Everyone,

My name is Scott Foss and I’m a Metal Detective.  I’ve been a hunter by nature my entire life, fishing, abalone diving etc but when I discovered Metal Detecting  some time ago…I knew I’d found my calling. When I was introduced to Chris Turner and his incredible organization at “The Ring Finders”…I knew I’d found my home.  I’m a long time resident of Santa Cruz, California and I plan to stay here for a lot longer.  Being a member of “The Ring Finders” is giving me the opportunity to give back as well as also being able to pursue my passion. I can’t think of a better win/win situation so I’m here to tell you, if there’s a lost ring in the Santa Cruz/ Monterey Bay Area…it CAN be found !  Thanks for stopping in and remember…just because you”ve lost  it, doesn’t mean it’s lost.

Scott Foss- Ring Finder