Clare Winslow III, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 3 of 6

Lost Platinum Tiffany Engagement ring taken back from West Twin Lake in Lewiston, Mi with a metal detector

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This adventure started with a call from Sue about her daughter-in-law Rachel loosing her engagement ring in west Twin Lake in Elsworth Mi while on vacation. Her Daughter-in-law was floating on a tube and the diamond caught on the tube and got pulled off her finger. They had taken a pontoon out to the a sandbar on the lake and anchored to let the kids play.

I arranged to go to the location after work. Even thought this is a small lake in a small town I did not want to take a chance on another detectorist getting the ring before I could find it. The drive up was an hour and a half, so I ended getting to the location at 7:30 pm. I had about 3 hours light before it got dark. Sue had sent me a hand drawn picture of the approximate location they were at. I took my boat out to the location and started a grid search of the area. I was noticing not very many foot prints in the area. I searched about an hour with no luck. I called Sue from the lake trying to get a better location. She ended up sending me a bunch of pictures, but due to bad cell service only 3 came through. One of the pictures I could line up a line of sight and get an approximate location. I got to the new area and was finding the water to deep compared to the picture. After an hour grid searching I came across a small little gravel hump about 3 feet across. I knew at that point this was the spot I was looking for. About 30 seconds later I got the nice sweet tone I was looking for and it was the ring. Sue and the rest of the family were back down state about 4 hours. I had to go down state the following weekend. Sue came to my location to get the ring. She gave it back to her daughter-in-law for her birthday on 8-3-21.

Here is the text from Sue after returning the ring.

“It is with much thanks and appreciation for all the help of Clare in finding my daughter in laws ring that was lost while she was on vacation . His compassion patience and kindness in finding the ring made my daughter in laws birthday surreal . I can’t say enough about TheRingFinders”.

I thank Sue for trusting me to find this valuable ring and the generous reward.

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Lost wedding ring found at the Torch lake sand bar with a metal detector

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I received a text that Rickie had lost his wedding ring at the Torch lake sandbar playing catch on July 4th. The Torch lake sand bar is like being at a Nascar race for boats.

The Torch lake sand bar gets detected every day by multiple detectorist. For that reason, I wanted to get on this recovery asap. I loaded up and headed out to Torch lake and got on location about 8:00 pm on July 4th. It was a pretty interesting night. It was like being at a Nascar race with fireworks.

Rickie had text me his location he saved when he lost the ring. I used my Kayak to get out to the spot and started the search. I searched for a couple hours and had no luck. The spot was about 1/4 mile off shore on a sandbar off the main sand bar. At 10:30 pm Rickie sent me a picture he took off the boat he was on. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew the original location he sent me was no where near the spot the picture was taken. I know the shapes of the sandbars around the main sandbar just from experience detecting the area for the last 5 years. I could not do anything due to it being dark out so I returned Tuesday morning to continue the search. When I got home I blew up the picture and identified 4 spots on the picture to get a location off. 2 placed tree trunks line up with the side of house. 2 other spots tree branches line up the windows. Tuesday morning I took the kayak out to the spot the 4 marker in the picture line up. Unfortunately a boat was anchored right on the exact spot. I did not know how far Rickie got away from his boat so I ended up searching all around the anchored boat and had no luck. The boat ended up moving right after I was finishing up detecting around it. I moved into the area the boat was anchored and found the ring. This call ended up taking about 9 hours total to find the ring due to an extremely large area and being off shore.

Rickie was not it the area any more he had return home. His uncle ended up meeting me and getting the ring to get back to Rickie. Rickie is supposed to send me a picture when he gets the ring back.

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Lost keys and cell phone rescued from Bass Lake in Traverse City, Mi with a metal detector.

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I received a call that Hugh lost his keys and cell phone in Bass lake. Hugh was anchoring his boat in waist deep water. When, I got to the location Hugh’s wife told me off the right side of the dock in waist deep water. The muck was about a foot deep in the area. The keys and phone disappeared in the muck as soon as they hit the bottom. I got the waders on and headed into the lake. The first target was an old ice shanty. I moved out a little further then found the keys. I found the phone right next to the keys. A nice easy call, I was in the water about 10 minutes.

 

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

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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.

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Lost Engagement ring found in Roscommon, Michigan

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)
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This adventure started with a text from fellow ring finder Chuck Raison. He asked if I could go to Roscommon to look for a ring. He had commitments the next two days and Karyn would like some sooner. That turned out to be a good idea on Karyn’s part.

I met Karyn at 6:00 pm at a cross country ski shop and got the details. She had lunch outside on Friday with a friend then they went skiing. She did not realize the ring was missing till after she woke up Saturday morning. She had searched her house and car and could not locate the ring. That’s when her thoughts took her back to Friday and spending time outside in the cold. Her Fiancee did an internet search and came up with The Ring Finders and here we are on Monday night.

I started the search in the parking lot in the area her car was parked. I search the intimidate area where the car was and the area where they plow the snow. I searched the snow piles and had no luck. Then the search moved to the front of the building and the sides of the road. The trails are across the road from the business. No luck in those areas also. Then we moved the the deck where she had lunch outside. I searched the outside areas where they shovel the snow off the deck and had no luck. Then, I moved up on the deck and the area was shoveled clean and I thought there is no chance the ring is up here somebody would have picked it up. I walked around the deck area and once I rounded a black plastic spool they were using as a table, I spotted a round shining ring on the ground. I called Karyn over and said is that your ring? She picked up the ring and we were both in disbelief on how the ring sat in plain view since Friday and nobody picked it up.

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Engagement ring found in the snow Petoskey, Michigan with a metal detector

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)
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This adventure started with a Facebook message from Jasmine asking if I was available the next day. We exchanged messages for about a 1/2 hour. I got an address and details on the lost ring. I agreed to meet her the next day after work.

I got to her house and got the details and the search area. She was outside the back of the house playing with her dog in the snow. She was in an area about 25 feet by 40 feet. After going back into the house she immediately noticed the ring missing. Jasmine and her fiancee went and bought a metal detector from a local big box store and had no luck. They also used a blow torch to melt the snow without any luck. Then she searched “metal detector specialist” and my Facebook page came up.

I got the area down and started the search. Within the first 2 minutes into the search, I knew this was going to be a hard search. I was hitting 5 signals per swing of the detector. I ended up telling her this was going to be a hard find because all the signals. I asked whats with all the pocket change in the grass. She said her fiancee likes to throw his pocket change out the truck window into the grass. I ended up telling her not to wait outside with me this is going to take awhile. The temperature was below zero with a light wind. I initially tried to clear every signal and finally realized it would take a month to do that. I ended up putting on the 6″coil and just look for a gold signal. I knew by the size of the ring it should ring up between an 12:02 and 12:10 on the ctx. So after 2 hours and 10 minutes, I finally get a nice sounding 12:05 on the ctx. Slightly moved the snow with my foot and saw the ring sit up straight. I left the ring as it was and went to get Jasmine from the house. I almost had to drag her out of the house she was moving very slowly. She later explained to me, that just before I went to get her, she came to terms with herself that the ring was gone. We got out to the ring and I shined the flashlight on the ring and said I think your going to be very happy. She looked down at the ground and once she realized it was her ring she started screaming and jumped straight up into the air. She thanked me about 10 times and I just kept playing it down like normal. Then she said “No! you don’t realize what this means to me, You’re my hero you saved my wedding! I’m going to name a child after you!”. I was left speechless and didn’t know what to say after that. It turns out the ring was made from both grandmothers wedding rings being melted down to make this ring. They put the wedding on hold till this ring could be found. I’m not going to hold her to naming a child after me. If it happens, I would be happy to bring my family up to Petoskey to meet the child.

Jasmine, I was glad to help you and save the wedding.

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Lost Wedding ring found in the leaves in Frankfort, Mi

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)
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I received a call from Christine that her sister had lost her Wedding ring at her parents house while getting the flower beds ready for winter. We agreed to meet the next day at noon.

We met at noon and I got the story. She was cleaning leaves out of some beds in front of the house. She had bagged up about 10 bags of leaves. She also dumped other plants/grass in the back of the property in 3 different piles. She had me check 2 of the bags of leaves and the area in front of the house. We had no luck so off we went to the piles at the back of the property. I searched the area twice with no luck. Her father had walked out to talk to me and watch the process. He stated she was in all 10 bags of leaves they had in the garage. So, off we went back to the bags in the garage. We had to bring them out into the driveway because the detector way picking up the tracks on the garage doors and the car. I searched through about 5 of the bags and finally got a signal in one of the bags. We took the bag out in the side yard and dumped it out to search further. Just as I was zeroing in on the ring they spotted it in the leaves I has moving around.

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Lost wedding ring lost in the brush found with a metal detector Frankfort Michigan

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)
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I received a call about a lost wedding ring in a small brushy area on Crystal Lake in Frankfort Michigan. I knew this would be a short hunt just because the search area was about 10 feet by 10 feet. I started searching in the brush and overgrowth and found the ring under a low hanging branch from a pine tree. This was a short fun little search after work.

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Custom designed Platinum wedding ring found at a Traverse City beach.

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)
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My wife showed me a Facebook post from Keri. She had lost her Platinum wedding ring while at a local campground beach when throwing a football. Her post told the location of the lost ring. I told her I could help, but she needed to take the post down asap. I informed her someone would go in and get the ring and keep it. She took the post down and I went to work.

This call should have taken me 20 minutes to complete but ended up taking 2 1/2 weeks. The beach she was at metal detectors are not allowed. I’m not going to go into all the details here. I’ll just say due to a miscommunication between the park staff and Keri the permit took 2 1/2 weeks to get. Once I got the permit, I read the whole thing to make sure I followed all the rules on the permit.  One of the rules was, I could not be in the swim area when the the area is open for the day. So, I waited till 10:00 pm and went to hopefully get the ring. 2 1/2 weeks is a long time for a ring to sit at a public beach. I know people have snuck into this area at night to detect it, also people camping metal detect the area not knowing they are not allowed to detect the area. One of the other rules is, I could not take any compensation for helping Keri. I left work early twice costing me 4 hours of pay and 5 trips driving to the park trying to get the permit. One other rule was anything I found that was not Keri’s ring had to be turned over to the Ranger station.

In talking to Keri after she lost the ring her daughter paced off steps from a buoy in the swimming area. 34 paces deeper into the lake and 21 paces toward the middle of the swimming area. When backup Dave and I got into the swimming area I paced off to the location and set up marker. We were in the water less than 20 minutes and had the ring. I checked out with the Rangers, turned in the pendant we found and emailed Keri I got the ring. We met up at 11:00 pm and I gave her the ring back. I accepted no compensation for this 2 1/2 week ordeal. I did not ask for a picture of Keri because all issues completing this call.

 

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Custom one of a kind Gold Wedding ring found in lake Michigan at Lower Herring lake.

  • from Traverse City (Michigan, United States)
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I was on Facebook last night and noticed a post from John saying he has been married for 51 years and his wife lost her Wedding ring in Lower Herring lake at lake Michigan. He gave very a detailed description on where the ring should be. I get very nervous when people give very specific directions online. I am always afraid somebody will go find it and not give it back.

About 45 minutes later, I get a call from John asking if I could help. I said sure, but I think this needs to happen tonight and not wait till morning. I told John if he would meet me and show me the exact spot they were at I would head out right away. He said he was good with that and gave me the directions to the cottage they are renting for 2 weeks.

I got to the cottage at about 9:30 pm and John told me we needed to use his boat to get to the location. We got everything loaded into the boat and headed out. Lower Herring lake dumps into lake Michigan through a small channel. People park boats before a coffer dam and walk to the mouth of the channel at lake Michigan. We got to the location and John showed me the area to search. Search time started at 10:00 pm. The water in the channel is about knee deep but moving very fast. Its very difficult to walk across you have to scoot your feet on the bottom. Helen got onto a tube and floated from the channel out into lake Michigan. When she got off the tube she noticed her ring missing and was devastated. John is a metal detectorist and searched the dry sand and into the water. He was having problems in the fast moving water and a knee that needs to be replaced.

I started using the ctx3030 but was concerned about breaking the shaft from the pressure of the water moving so fast. I was hanging onto the detector with both hands just to be able to get it to move in the water. I scanned the whole river and out into lake Michigan to about 15 feet. I decided to switch to the Excalibur II and go out into lake Michigan further. I was trying to do the best grid pattern in the fast water and being at night. Finally after 2 hours of searching got the signal I was looking for about 40 feet out into lake Michigan. I got the ring in the scoop pulled it out and thought this is no normal ring. I took the ring up to John who was waiting on shore and asked him about the ring. His wife had the ring custom made its a one of a kind. We headed back to the cabin to make his wife very happy with the find. I had a fun time on this search and spending time with John and Helen. The time on the clock in the back ground shows 12:23 am when we got back to the cabin. I thank John and Helen for the generous reward.

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