Jeff Lubbert, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 6 of 8

Military dog tag returned to Highlands Ranch Family

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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On january 12 I was asked to look for a military dog tag that belonged to a young man named Jordan. It was his grandfather’s dog tag from when he was in Vietnam, unfortunately Jordon’s grandfather passed away this past September. The dog tag was lost the previous weekend either playing football or possibly while sledding. I arrived at their house a little before 9:00 AM and we talked about their efforts to recover the dog tag. Jordan and his family had spent several hours searching the neighbor’s yard in search the mis-placed dog tag with no luck. The neighbors who own the house where the football game occurred also spent several hours searching the yard as well. After nearly an hour of searching my hands were beginning to get numb from the cool temps and the windy conditions, I spotted the dog tag just as my coil passed over it. Jordan and his family were very happy to get this family heirloom back. Mary, Jordan’s mother, commented that she was surprised as to the diligence of my search. I reassured her that when I get asked to search for an item I treat that search as though it is the most important search I will ever conduct.
Dog tag recovered January 12, 2014
Jordan happy to get his grandfathers military dog tag back.

Jordan happy to get his grandfathers military dog tag back.

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Engagement ring recovered from Eldora Ski Area parking lot

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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It was a Tuesday night and I had just gotten home from the gym at 7:30 and was about to get something to eat when I noticed the answering machine blinking. There was the sad voice of a young lady asking me to help her search for her lost engagement ring. I called Jamie back and we had a brief conversation, she believed that her engagement ring was lost while changing out of her ski bibs in the parking lot of a “nearby” ski area. I had Jamie call the ski area to inquire about doing a search. While Jamie was making her call I quickly made a sandwich and ate. Jamie called back after several minutes stating that she couldn’t get ahold of the ski area as it had been closed for several hours by then.
The weather that night was a bit brisk; at my home the thermometer read 1 degree above 0 and it was snowing. I knew that going up to a ski area the temperature would be even colder so I needed to change. By the time I changed my clothes, gathered my gear and loaded my truck it was now 9:00 PM. The ski area that was my destination was an hour’s drive in good weather, but I still made drive in an hour and 15 minutes.
Upon arrival I checked my trucks thermometer prior to stepping out, it read -17. WOW, my coldest search yet. Luckily there was only a slight breeze so with wind chill it had to be around -20 to -25 degrees. Jamie, Mike (Jamie’s other half) and I talked about the location of their car during the ring’s loss. While marking out the search area in the fresh snow a guy in a front end loader who was clearing the snow form the parking lots stopped by to see what we were up to. Upon hearing that Jamie lost her ring and that I was there to search for it he raised his eyebrows and said “Good luck” then he continued on his with his business.
I began my search on the east end of our search area, after a half hours search my XLT’s screen had become very sluggish and pretty much useless. I typically detect by tone anyway so the lack of VDI was not a big deal. Another 5 – 10 minutes later I heard that wonderful tone and I scraped the top layer of snow away. The signal moved so I broke out my pinpoint probe and zeroed in on the target. When I brushed some more snow away there was Jamie’s ring, I must say her ring is quite exquisite. Jamie and Mike were so excited to get her ring back. I received a bone crushing hug and a good hearty hand shack and then we proceeded to get some photos.
Jamie and Mike live in Texas and were heading back home in just over 24 hours. I am sure that they will have some good things to say about us Coloradoans, metal detectorists and The Ring Finders.
Ring recovered February 4th, 2014.
Cold but happy

Cold but happy

Jamie's engagement ring

Jamie’s engagement ring

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Custom wedding band recoved from Dever area school grounds

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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On December 29, 2013 Ryan Law was out playing with his dogs at a school football field that was near his house. During this play session his beloved custom made white gold wedding band had gone missing. The ring is a tad large and had become even looser by the cool temperatures that afternoon. Ryan spent the rest of the afternoon searching for his ring with no success. He called me that evening and we arranged for me to come and search for his ring on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.

I arrived for my search and Ryan and I went over the events of the rings loss and he showed me the areas that he and his dogs were in that day. I began my grid search of the area closed to the gate that we came through to get into the sports field. For being the last day of the year of the year the weather was unusually warm but after just over 2 hours of searching I had not recovered Ryan’s ring. Ryan needed to go to work so I told him I would be back the following day to continue the search.

New Year’s Day morning we were receiving a rain/snow mix so my search had to wait till afternoon. I drove to the school grounds and started my search of the area that had yet to be searched. After an hour and a half or so the ring was recovered by eyeballing it on the cinder running track that surrounded the football field. I called Ryan to let him know I had the ring but he was out of town. Just as I got to my car to put my gear away the snow started to come down, good timing.

Ryan ended up coming to my house that evening to claim his ring. He and his wife were quite happy to get his ring back.

 

Ring recovered 1-1-2014

Ryan Law - Custom white gold ring Ryan Law - happy to get his ring back

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Gold Tiffany & Co. ring found in Aurora, Colorado park

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Jena Manning was visiting a friend in Aurora, Colorado. While their children played on the playground equipment the girls chatted and then Jena did something that is normally not in her nature, she tossed her gum into a nearby patch of juniper bushes. When she did this her Tiffany & Co. ring slipped off finger and followed the gum into the junipers. The two girls searched the junipers for several minutes with no success.

Jena sent me an email and we exchanged phone numbers and played phone tag for a couple of days. Finally we connected via phone and decided to meet so she could show me the location of her loss and for me to search bright and early Sunday morning. The search area was a large patch of knee high juniper bushes. I placed my 12” coil on my White’s V3i and began my search hoping that the ring was hung up on the branches of the juniper bushes. Trying to perform a grid search while walking through those bushes was not easy and though I did hear a couple of signals the ring was not found. I then placed a 4”x6” coil on my MXT and began to poke around the bushes. This was the only effective way to search this tangled mess of shrubbery. After a couple of hours search the ring was still hidden amongst the bushes and I needed to get going due to prior commitments. We made arrangements for me to meet Jena again the following Tuesday to continue the search.

Tuesday evening I arrived back at the site and began my search again. When Jena arrived I had her toss a ring with high visibility string attached a few times. The ring always made its way through the bushes and to the ground so that would mean that I needed to use my small coil and poke through the bushes. After a little over an hour of searching and finding only garbage I had Jena toss the ring and string a few more times. I noticed that a couple of her tosses were shorter than the others so I started searching a bit closer to the edge of the patch than my previous searches. Within a couple of minutes my V3i sounded off and there was Jena’s ring. Due to the rings design, basically gold chain mail, the ring gave an exceptionally low VDI number. Jena couldn’t believe that I had found her ring as she was beginning to give up. Luckily I don’t give up too easily or this ring would have never made its way back to where it belongs, on Jena’s finger.

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Jena gets her ring back!

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Not an easy find, a VDI of 3 due to the ring being chain mail style.

Ring found 3/19/2013.

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Wedding ring set found in Fort Collins, Colorado

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Chiyoko reunited with her rings

While out walking her dog with her kids Chiyoko Hogan lost her wedding & engagement rings while attempting to toss a snowball at her two wonderful daughters. The rings escaped her hand, hit a handrail that was beside the sidewalk she was on and then hid from sight under 2-3 inches of freshly fallen snow. Chiyoko did not see the ring set leave her figure but she did hear it hit the metal handrail. Immediately the search for the rings began but due to the two pre-teen children and dog on the lease, efforts were hindered. She went into her apartment with tears in her eyes to get her husband Joshua to assist in the search. The couple moved several inches of snow because of previous snow along with the fresh snow in an attempt to find the ring set.

After a couple hours of searching Joshua went to a local retail store to purchase a metal detector. The detector that was purchased was not of very good quality but should have been able to find the ring. They searched the area again without luck again. Joshua knew that the detector that was purchased wasn’t of good quality so he went to a store where he could rent a metal detector. The rental detector was definitely a better quality machine, but without experience using such a machine even the world’s best metal detector would not be much help. They searched the area that they expected the ring to be in one more time hoping the detector would alert them to the rings’ location.

After a quick internet search the couple came upon my Ring Finders profile and contacted me Friday night night. Unfortunatly I was not home that night due to having plans with my wife that niht. But Joshua left a message and contact information so that I could get ahold of him at an appropriate time. I called Joshua the next morning and he told me the basic information of the rings’ loss We made arrangements for me to come and search for the ring later on that day, Saturday, February 11, 2012. Unfortunately Chiyoko would not be able to be there when I made my search for her rings due to having to fly back to her former home town to see a sick relative.

Upon arriving at their residence Joshua took me to the area of the rings loss and described the circumstances of the rings’ loss and their attempts to recover the ring. I put my detector together and proceeded to search the area that they had searched previously. After recovering a couple of non-ring targets I decided to switch coils in order to get closer to some metal yard edging. While changing out coils I also needed to put on my gloves, the temperature at that time was around 17 degrees. After another 15 minutes search I heard a good signal on the opposite side of the sidewalk that they expected the ring to be. I looked over at Joshua and said “This sounds REALLY good”. When I pulled some snow back I could see the glint of the 14 kt while gold shining up at me. We had recovered Chiyoko’s rings! Joshua was ecstatic and a bit taken aback as he had previously searched this area with the purchased and rented detectors. This once again proves that expertise in the use of a metal detector can be the key to finding such things as this BEAUTIFUL ring set

Chiyoko's 14 kt white gold wedding ring set

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Platinum wedding band found in Denver, CO parking lot

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Chris's platinum wedding band

Sunday night December 4, I am sitting in my bed reading my favorite metal detecting magazine when I hear our phone ring at 10:30 pm. My wife’s mother was expected to call that evening so I assumed that that was who was calling. Within a few seconds I hear my wife walking up the stair talking on the phone. Diane hands me the phone and says it is somebody who has lost a ring. I answer the phone and Chris Tatum is on the other end, he is in the parking lot of a pizzeria where he has just lost his ring. He tells me that he has searched the area around his car but cannot find his ring and was wondering if I could come out that night and look for the ring. There are a couple inches of freshly fallen snow covering the parking lot and the temperature is 11 degrees. I realize that timing is critical because this parking lot will more than likely be plowed first thing in the morning. I let Chris know that I will be at his location in about a half an hour.

I get dressed, start getting my equipment together and then I have to explain to my wife why I am heading out of the house at 10:45 with my metal detectors while snow falling in bitterly cold temperatures. But we both agree that this search has to occur now so out the door I go.

I arrived at the pizzeria and introduce myself and Chris explains how he was wiping snow off his driver’s seat when he heard his platinum wedding band hit the asphalt parking lot. It was quite obvious where he and his wife had searched for the ring without any luck. I prepped my Whites XLT with Bigfoot coil and began my search. I began my search over the areas that they had searched by eyeballing the site. Soon I expanded my search beyond our original search area, still no luck. By this time my hands are numb and I need to get my gloves out. I continue my search beside a concrete wall that is loaded with steel reinforcing where I heard the definite sound of a ring come from my XLT. I carefully dug through the snow and got my hands on Chris’ ring. The ring laying under 3 inches of snow 20 feet away from where I had expected it to be. This search took only 20 minutes but it was a pretty intense 20 minutes due to conditions.

Ring recovered December 4, 2011.

A frigid Chris holding his wedding band

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14 kt wedding ring found in Denver, CO yard

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Ben Spiking was doing the typical fall yard work of racking up leaves and dead grass, bagging that debris and placing it for pick up. While cleaning up after his work he noticed that he no longer had his 14 kt white gold wedding band on his figure. He immediately began a search for his ring. He quickly pulled the bags of refuse from the back alley and placed them within his fenced yard. He

Ben's wedding band

started to empty the bags one at a time and carefully go through the yard waste.  After three of the bags had been gone through leaf by leaf, Ben realized that going through the 8 remaining bags was going to be a daunting task and may be fruitless as well.

A quick internet search led Ben to Ring Finders and my profile page. Ben called my home phone and left a message which was relayed to me by my wife as I was in the mountains elk hunting at the time.  Where I was camping there is no cell phone service but I had made arrangements to check in back at home every couple of days. My wife gave me the critical information and I called Ben’s wife Kim to set up my search.
I arrived at the Spiking’s residence and Kim gives me a quick explanation of what had occurred the day of the rings loss. I began my search with my White’s XLT with a bigfoot coil. I searched the whole front yard and then the path through the back yard to the gate. I search the remaining bags of yard waste and the area where Ben had searched through the first 3 bags of yard waste, no luck. I then made my way back to my truck and switched out coils to my factory 9 ½” coil and searched the front yard again. There was an area in the northwest portion of the yard with several pieces of shredded aluminum can and pieces of aluminum fascia were just under the surface of the ground. I pulled up several pieces of the aluminum but there was enough metal in the ground that pinpointing was difficult at best. Once again I head to my truck and switch to 4”x6” coil and head back the area with all the aluminum. After another 20 minutes search I found the ring. I spent just over two hours searching this yard,  and even I was beginning to wonder if I could find the ring. But with the right equipment for all kinds of searching you can tilt the odds in your favor.

Ring recovered November 11, 2011.

Kim happy to be holding Ben's wedding ring.

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Wedding ring found in Longmont, CO yard

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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While cleaning up debris left behind by a recent snow storm Matt Smalley lost his 14 kt white gold wedding band. Matt performed an “eyeballing” search for his ring but it was unable to locate his ring. Matt found my profile on Ring Finders and contacted me, giving me the basic information and we set a date for me to come and look for his ring.

I arrived at the prescribed date and time; Matt had taken that afternoon off work so that he would be able to explain his work site and what he was doing the day of the rings loss. The day was a bit cool so after Matt had shown my around he went back into his house to stay warm.

I prepared my equipment and set about on my search. Within a couple of minutes I heard the sound of a ring laying on the surface. As I parted the grass I could see the white gold band that was hiding very well under the leaves and brown grass. I retrieved the ring and made my way to the front door to return Matt’s ring.

Ring recovered November 1, 2011.

Matt's ring

 

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Platinum wedding band found in Denver, Colorado yard

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Mark very happy to be holding his ring once again

Mark Rubinstein was hanging out in his back yard having a couple of brews with a buddy on a cool September evening. Guys being guys they ended up in a friendly slapping match, the kind where it is all fun and games till somebody loses their wedding ring. The pair searched in earnest that evening trying to find Mark’s platinum wedding band without any luck. The next day mark searched the area one more time on his hands and knees pulling the grass apart and visuallysearching, again no luck. A couple of weeks went by with sporadic but intense searches yet still the searches were fruitless.

Mark sent me an email regarding my services and explained that the ring was lost in him back yard. I assured him that if the ring was truly in his back yard I stood a very good chance of recovering it. But I also made no promises about the rings recovery as I have made searches that were not successful.

Another week went by and I did not hear from Mark so I sent him another email and also left him a message on his cell phone.  After a couple more days Mark sent me an email and we arranged for me to come to look for his ring the following day at 1:00 pm.

I arrived at the address Mark gave me at the prescribed time, Mark was in his car taking care of some business on his cell phone. He showed me to the back yard and explained what had occurred the night that he lost his wedding ring. I readied my Whites XLT with my Bigfoot coil and prepared to search.

Mark needed to take care of a bit more business so he excused himself and left me to my search. Within 10 minutes of starting I had recovered Mark’s ring. The ring was well hidden by the grass and not visible to the naked eye, but the ring was quite visible to a metal detector. By the time Mark made his way back I had already taken close-up photos of his ring and was just hanging out on the deck.

Mark was elated that I had found his ring as he thought that it could possibly be gone for good.

Ring recovered October 21, 2011.

Mark's platinum wedding band

 

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Tungsten Carbide ring found in Morrison, Colorado sports complex

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Andy's ring

Monday October 17th while playing in a rousing game of kickball on a cool and crisp night Andy lost his tungsten carbide wedding band. He had played in a couple of games before noticing that his ring had gone missing. He was pretty upset as he had been married for less than two months. Over a dozen people helped to look for the ring that evening but they had no luck in finding the ring.

The next day he placed an ad on Craigslist noting the location of the sports complex, a description of the ring and his contact information. This is where I came into play; I normally check the ads on Craigslist to see if there is a need for my services. Tuesday morning I noticed Andy’s ad and researched the park as I do not live in or visit that side of the Denver metropolitan area very often. I called and left Andy a message asking for more information as I wished to narrow down the area of my search. I printed a map of the area and prepared my equipment for my upcoming search.

Upon finding the park I noticed that there were several ballparks within this sports complex, luckily Andy’s ad mentioned which ballpark he was in when he lost his ring. Time did not allow me to search very long as I had other obligations but I was hopeful that I could find Andy’s ring in the time I had. I proceeded to search the designated field without luck. I called Andy and informed him I was unsuccessful but that I would be back to search again.

Late Wednesday morning I finished up my “honey-do” list and prepared my equipment for another trek to search for Andy’s ring. Just as I was about to leave Andy called me to let me know that he had gone back out to the sports complex the night before and that his ad mentioned the wrong ball field.  The ball field that I needed to search was one field to the east of the one mentioned in the ad. Upon arriving at the park at I set up my equipment and began my search at the proper ball field. Within 15 minutes of starting this search I had recovered Andy’s ring. I called him to let him know that I had his ring, we were trying to come up with a means of getting Andy his ring back because I mentioned before I don’t get to this side of town very often. It turns out that Andy’s place of work was on my way home, so I just swung by and dropped off his ring on my way home. 

Ring recovered October 19, 2011.

Andy gets his ring back

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