Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 20

Ring lost at Mission Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Anais and family were visiting here from Spain and spent the day at the beach. Anais decided to try a bit of surfing, and left her wedding and engagement ring with a family member while she went into the water. Unfortunately, when she went to reclaim her rings, one of them was missing. All manner of searching came up empty and a call for help came to me after they searched online for a solution. Knowing the location, I wanted to get right on that search before someone else happened onto the ring. We agreed to meet at 11pm on the boardwalk close to the search area. Even though it had only been a few hours since the loss, the beach always looks different at night vs the day. Landmarks such as tents, cones, sand castles, etc. can disappear or be moved, so, it took a few minutes to get oriented and zero in on the spot. Once there, with their best guess as to where the X should be, I started a grid. After five minutes and only a couple of junk signals, I got a nice solid 28 on my Equinox 900. That sounded so good and I said that this is  likely it! Yup, after filtering out the sand and dead sea grass out of the scoop, A beautiful engagement ring was sparkling under my headlamp beam. I handed the ring to an emotional Anais who teared up, hugged me. and then cried with joy in her husband’s arms. A pleasure to meet you both, have a good resumption of your trip, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in San Diego found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Chelsea contacted me about a ring lost by the husband of her friend Rebecca 3 weeks ago, and most likely lost in a volleyball court. Rebecca had taken off the family heirloom ring to play the game, and gave the ring to her husband to place in his pocket for safe keeping. After the volleyball game, a game of basketball, and a walk in the park, they discovered the ring missing from his pocket. Not much I can do in a paved basketball court, so, the most likely place to start would be the volleyball area. Normally volleyball courts are detected often, so, it was not likely still there, but, always worth a try. In this case, the court in not in a high use area, so, the odds were getting a tad better. I also learned that a detector was already used to try and find the ring. The odds were now getting worse again until I found out it was just a cheap kiddie detector and the person using it didn’t have much experience using one. The odds went up a bit again. My wife and I met Chelsea at the site and she relayed as much info as she knew while we walked to the court. Once we got there, I noticed that even though it was a sand court, it was fairly hard packed. The odds just dropped again. Hopefully it was a lot more fluffy when the ring was lost as a ring wouldn’t sink into this surface very easily. I fired up my Equinox 900 and was hit with all sorts of interference signals when I started sweeping the coil across the sand. There must be all sorts of big metal down deep under the court. That actually improved the odds to someone with some detecting experience. A novice would be overwhelmed, but, I’ve learned a few things over the years about dealing with bad conditions. Knowing that the ring is a fairly recent loss, and should be relatively shallow, I mainly just turn the sensitivity way down to help eliminate the deep targets. Knowing what the ring should read and sound like also helps in this situation. I made it maybe 8 feet along one side of the net when I got my first likely signal. Sure enough, it was the ring we were hoping to find just two inches down. My understanding is that the ring is going to be a surprise reveal to Rebecca from her husband. A pleasure meeting you Chelsea. You’re a good friend for taking charge of this, and thank you for the reward.

 

Ring lost at La Jolla Shores found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

James and family were visiting here from out of town, and spent the day at La Jolla shores. James called me to ask for help finding one of his wife’s three rings. Apparently, she had take them off to apply sunscreen and temporarily placed them between her lips. Once finished with the lotion, she reached up to grab the rings, but, they instead fell into the fluffy dry sand. They found two of them, but, the engagement ring eluded all their efforts. I fought the traffic and parking issues normal for a sunny summer afternoon and met James at the site.  It was a nice small area, and I mentioned to James that this might break my quickest recovery time of 10 seconds. Sure enough, after 3 swings and 8 seconds, I got the perfect signal on my Equinox 900, looked down, and could see part of the ring without even having to dig for it. I pointed it out to James and let him pluck it from it’s sandy bed. A pleasure to meet you all, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Maria was at a Coronado park enjoying the day, then decided to go to the beach next door. She took off her ring and stashed it in a pocket. In gathering up her gear, the ring must have fallen out somewhere in the grass. She didn’t discover it was missing until she got home. A return and visual scan of the area didn’t result in finding the ring. An online search the next day brought Maria to TheRingFinders.com website and my contact info. Since Maria was at work when she called me, and couldn’t meet me to show me the search area, I had to use a photo and directions as to where she had been in the park. When I arrived, there were dozens of kids playing soccer in that area. I fired up the Equinox 900 and hit the fringes of the search area and worked into the main area as I was able. Lots of targets in this park, but, after a few passes, I heard that nice low tone and 20 I.D. number I expected. I looked down and there in plain sight was her ring. A pleasure to meet you Maria and thank you for the reward.

La Jolla lost ring mystery solved.

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Edith is a repeat customer. I had found one of her rings about 5 years ago that had been accidentally lost in her back yard, so, she knew who to call when she needed help again. This time, she had misplaced 6 rings! She didn’t remember having specifically removed the rings at any point, except maybe removing one of them while wringing out a wet vest. She wore two rings on one hand and the other four on the other, so I figured she had probably taken them all off at one time rather than losing them one at a time. Edith is in the middle of a move from her large wonderful home to a downsized apartment a few blocks away. As many of us know, moving is a royal pain, and with some of her items going to the new place, some going to charity, some to be sold, some just being thrown away, along with dealing with realtors, etc, you get pulled in many directions at once. It’s easy to get sidetracked and forget your exact movements and tasks. Some of the trash had already been taken away, so, there was always the possibility that the rings went with it. The job I was faced with was looking through scores of boxes, bags, and her vehicle to see if the rings could be found. I brought my wife along with this hunt, as, it was going to be more visual than detectable. I also brought my endoscope kit for checking all the nooks and crannies of her car. We first eliminated her house where the donation boxes were and some of the items to be taken to the new place. Nada. We then headed to the new place where we first searched the master bed room with all it’s boxes, and the master bath next to it. I did run across a couple of rings in one suitcase, but, they were the ones that had belonged to her husband who had passed away a few months ago. She was happy/sad/emotional in seeing those, as they matched two of hers that we were still searching for. While my wife finished going through the last of the wardrobe boxes, I went down and searched the car. Still nada. Back upstairs in the apartment, I stood in the entryway trying to decide what to do next, if anything, as I was running out of options and came to realize that they just might not be here, or, that they were in some very unlikely spot that might not be found for months, or, at least until all the boxes and bags had been unpacked and emptied. Maybe not even then if the rings had been accidentally tossed out in the trash. We had been there more than 3 hours and had searched virtually all the likely areas that Edith had accessed during the time between Saturday afternoon when she knew she had the rings, and Sunday morning when they were discovered missing. Time to call it? Well, I turned around to assess the remaining boxes in the entry and living room when I spotted another box down the hall and sitting in another room….another bathroom that I didn’t know was even there. I went into the 2nd bath and looked through a box on the counter direcly to the right. Nothing there, so, I turned to look in the rest of the room. There, sitting in plain sight on top of the far side of the sink were all 6 rings! The photo shows where they were found, but, they were more bunched together and sitting just left of the shell when I spotted them. Edith would have found them eventually, but, she was so happy and relieved that they were found now and that the symbols of her love with her husband Jim hadn’t been thrown away.  A pleasure to help you once again Edith, and thank you for the generous reward.

Ring lost at Mission Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Ethan was visiting here from out of town and lost his ring in the dry sand at Mission Beach on a Saturday afternoon. I got the call Monday afternoon along with the details. Since Ethan had already returned home, I had to work from a map and description of the search area along with a photo and metal makeup of the ring itself. With two days having gone by on a busy summer weekend, there was always the chance that someone else had already found the ring, either by eyeball or by one of the many detectorists that search that beach. Time was not on our side, but, you never know until you try. I arrived a bit later that afternoon and tried to find the spot shown on the map and a photo of a damaged wall in the area that Ethan included. Well, it turns out the photo was a stock online one and not an actual one taken by Ethan at the time. Since I couldn’t find that section of damaged seawall (repaired since the photo was taken), I talked to Ethan on the phone and between the two of us, we were able to find the exact spot. I began my grid search and after several long passes without a single signal (not a good sign), I got a nice 53 displayed on my Equinox 900. Sure enough, it was Ethan’s ring. Some happy phone calls and arrangements made for a certified package to be sent to Ethan, which arrived today. Thank you for the reward.

 

Ring lost in Ocean Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Bailey was at the beach, took his ring off, and tucked it into a shirt for safety. This is not just an ordinary ring. I is a big silver ring with an Indian cent mounted in the center, and was willed to him from his now deceased brother. Such an important family heirloom just had to be found!  With sunset approaching and the tide rising, I had to hot foot it down there immediately. I met Bailey at the beach and he showed me the relatively small search area just above the wet sand. At one point, he had moved from his original spot to a different location on the dry sand and apparently his ring escaped and fell somewhere between the two spots. The first spot was empty, so, I proceeded to the other spot, detecting along the way. My first target along the way sounded like it could be the ring, but, it was just a quarter. I continued my grid line and my next target was the object we both wanted to see. Bailey was very happy and relieved that it was recovered. A pleasure to meet you Bailey and thank you for the reward.

 

Ring lost at Mission Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Uriel was playing in an impromptu volleyball game when his ring flew off while hitting the ball. He thought it landed somewhere close by, but, after looking and searching, it didn’t show up. An online search brought Uriel and his friend to TheRingFinders.com site. His friend called me, and Uriel called Curtis Cox further north. Since I was a lot closer, I got the nod. As usual, the traffic on a Memorial weekend Saturday was a nightmare. I’m glad my wife came with me to circle around with the car as I went out to meet Uriel and search for his ring. I searched the inside boundaries of the court with only one target……a full Busch beer can! They can celebrate with that later! With nothing else in the small court, I started just outside of it. Got a nice hit on the first pass, and it was his ring. Total search time was only a few minutes. Drive time to the beach and back home was over 2 hours for just a 26 mile round trip! A pleasure to meet you Uriel, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Michael was at the beach tossing a ball around when his yellow gold wedding ring flew off into the dry sand and disappeared. Having lost his ring before, and with a good outcome by contacting TheRingFinders.com, he knew just who to call this time. I headed over quickly and met Michael at a pre-arranged spot. He escorted me to the search area and explained the circumstances on how the ring was lost. Not a big area, maybe 20 foot square, and after a minute or so, I got the signal I was expecting. A probe with my pin pointer zeroed in on the target and I plucked his ring from the sand. Michael was a happy repeat customer. Thank you for the reward.

 

Ring lost in La Mesa found.

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Joe was cleaning out a clogged drain on his backyard deck, and when he slung the clog downhill onto a construction debris pile, his family heirloom family crest ring was launched with it. He searched in the mud and debris in vain and contemplated buying a metal detector to help him find it. Instead, he found TheRingFinders.com online and my contact info. We made arrangements later that afternoon to meet and conduct a search. Not a huge area, but, there was a moderate amount of junk in the construction pile, along with some flora and broken up concrete on a steep muddy slope. After gridding that area with two different detectors and two different coils, the ring was still missing. Being a fairly heavy gold ring, maybe it slung farther than the area I was searching, so, I asked if we could check the neighbor’s yard as it was possible the ring made it that far. In looking over the fence, there wasn’t any place for the ring to bury, so, it should just be a visual surface find. There was a walkway down the side of the neighbor’s yard next to Joe’s fence, so, we slowly headed down and checked the ground and plants as we went. With Joe leading the way, we made it about 3/4 of the way down when Joe spotted the ring right on top of the ground in the dirt close to the fence. Joe was very happy to get it back, and as I learned, it was his grandfather’s ring that had been one of the few items he had taken with him out of Hungary right before the USSR took over the country back in the mid 1950’s, and then eventually got passed down to Joe. The ring story continues……..