Mike Baker, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 9

Beautiful Ring Found in Vermont Fall

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

11/5/22

I got a message last night from a lady who had lost a very special ring a few days earlier. She had heard about my services from another member of the local online Forum. She had been on errands to several places and also had been helping her husband doing the Fall gutter cleanings and scrubbing the siding. She also may have lost it indoors. I am at least able to search the outdoor part of those possible locations!

This ring had huge sentimental meaning. When she was nineteen, her mother had taken her on a vacation to an island in the tropics. There was a local artisan on the island who made custom jewelry. Her mother spotted a beautiful ring and gave it to her. She has treasured it ever since.

When I got to their house, they showed me all the areas they had been working and dumping leaves. So, I got started. At first, I quickly searched the more likely spots. No luck. So, I settled in for a longer, more intensive search. After about an hour of trying to sort through hundreds of signals, I finally got the magic sound and numbers. There it was under a vinyl trough that carried water away from the house. I guess someone had accidentally kicked or raked it under there. I was so glad she hadn’t lost it downtown!

When I handed it to her, she went from the somber “given up” mood to a very happy mood!
I love these successes!

Tags:
Category:

Found Wedding Ring in Central Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

9/30/22

Got a call from a lady who’s husband is a specialty drum performer. He was participating in a music and drum event in the back yard of a local church. Before he began, he put his wedding ring in his pocket. I’m guessing playing drums that energetically probably isn’t comfortable wearing a ring! I’m a carpenter, and I also have that trouble occasionally.

She, her husband and friends had searched for a long time and pretty much given up and decided to call in a detectorist. So, she and her grandson met me there and I got started. On the very first pass of a grid search, I got that great tone you get from a surface ring! Wow, I was happy to give her their ring back! What a nice Fall evening!

Tags:
Category:

Wedding Ring Found on Vermont Ball Field

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

8/20/22

Got a voicemail last night from a local baseball player who had lost his wedding band a couple days ago during a game. Unfortunately, my new phone wouldn’t let me call him back because during the transfer from the old phone a bunch of functions were lost. We gave up our landline long ago, so I had to drive all over town trying to find a pay phone. I wasn’t able to find one anywhere, how frustrating! Finally, a store worker let me borrow their store phone.

I called him and we met at the baseball field this early morning before the fields became busy. He told me that he and his friends and fellow ball players had spent a long time searching visually for it, with no success. He described what position he was playing, and thought that he may have lost it on the way back to the bench when he took his glove off.

So, I began at the bench and crisscrossed a grid pattern heading out towards where he had been playing. There were tons of pull tab signals near the bench! In about 20 minutes and about 20 feet from the bench I got a great signal. I reached down and poked into the grass and there it was! His theory was 100% correct. He instantly knew it was his because of the jewelers initial inside. He was one happy guy!!

I love these successes!

Tags:
Category:

Many Important Non-Jewelry Searches Lately

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

7/2/22

I’ve had some real fun and important non-jewelry searches for The Ring Finders in the past few weeks.

One was a search for a lady’s cell phone with case and credit cards enclosed. What made this search much more important was this cell phone had many photos of her and her husband, who had passed away just this Winter. She was very happy to have it back.

The next search was for a tractor part. The part wasn’t real valuable or sentimental, but it could’ve caused major damage or injuries if his high speed mower had hit it. The couple gave me a loaf of homemade sourdough bread after I found it. Yum!!

Another search was for car keys for a young new business owner. Her business relied on her driving 60 miles a day. The car is a 2004 Toyota 4-Runner and the dealer and a mechanic said it was going to cost around $2,000 to replace the key(Toyota should be sued!!). She had located a parts vehicle for $800, but that would mean she would have to pay extra for labor and towing, and her business would be on hold for several days. She was extremely happy when I found it!

Another successful search was out in the woods, high on a ridge in Woodbury. This person was a wildlife photographer who had lost an SD memory card with lots of fantastic photos and movie clips on it. It was an absolutely beautiful area I got to see!

Another search was to help out an excavator who was digging trenches all around a home. We had to locate an underground power cable, buried gas lines and a septic tank. He appreciated my help because without the metal detecting, the job would’ve taken much longer, and potentially could’ve been much more dangerous and expensive if something had been damaged.

I also found a tiny earring for my bosses daughter.

So much fun!

Tags:
Category:

Ring Found in Burlington VT

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

6/15/22

Got an urgent message from a woman who’s close friend had just lost her engagement ring. She gave me some information, pictures of the ring and a phone number to call. So I called her friend right away.

She sounded absolutely devastated. This ring was extremely sentimental. Her fiancé had recently proposed to her and the ring had once been his great grandmother’s. And plus, it was a beautiful ring!

My wife, being the big hearted sweetie she is, told me to go on the search, even though we had plans for the evening. She knew how important this one was, especially being lost in a public area.

So, I left immediately and met her and her fiancé on the beach where she might have lost it. She had also been riding her bike, but we decided the beach was more likely. She and her fiancé had borrowed a metal detector from a friend, so I showed them some basic detecting techniques. I got started with my gridding, and got a ton of junk signals. On the second pass I got a good, semi-shallow signal, pushed my fingers and pinpointer into the sand and felt the shape of a ring. I pulled it out and it was hers!!

When I gave it to her it you could sure see the relief and emotions. I was so happy it was back on her finger and wished them a long happy life together.

I love this hobby! Please click on my name above for more stories and contact information.

Tags:
Category:

Found Wedding Ring in a Vermont Barn

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

3/26/22
My wife and I were enjoying a nice day together. We topped it off with a late afternoon matinee. During the movie, a voicemail came to my phone. Right after the movie I listened to it, where a husband explained that his wife had lost her wedding ring of 35 years at their farm.

I called him as we were driving home and we made plans for a night search. After a 90 minute drive, I arrived at their farm just as it turned dark. He told me that she had probably lost it either at the house, on the walk to the barn or most likely in the barn where she had gone to feed their sheep. They had spent the better part of 4 days searching for the ring in their house and raking through the hay in the barn. While watching their favorite hockey team on tv, she also looked online for someone to help search, where she found my contact information.

So, he took me up to the barn which seemed to be the most promising place to start. Barn searches can be very difficult for a metal detector due to interference from nails in planks, rebar in concrete, and other numerous metallic things throughout. I got started and sure enough their were lots of bad signals, especially near the welded wire fencing and metal gates. Nevertheless, a good signal chirped through the bad ones . I got out the pinpointer and started to dig down into the hay and dirt. About an inch or two into the dirt a bit of gold appeared. It was her ring, packed with dirt after being stepped on probably multiple times by the sheep! We gave it a quick cleaning and hurried back to the house to give it to her. She was absolutely beside herself with joy!! What a great feeling for me as well! We had a nice visit and I got to pet their 4 dogs.

I love this hobby! Please click on my name above for more stories and contact information.

Tags:
Category:

Found Ring in Middlebury, Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

3/13/22

Got a call from someone in need of help this morning. He’s a young man from Los Angeles, California going to college here in snowy Vermont. He was out having fun in the snow throwing snowballs at each other. He went to shake some snow off his cold bare hands and felt his tungsten promise ring go flying off. He and his friends dug through the snow for awhile and gave up. He was researching where to rent or buy a metal detector when he came across my listing for The Ring Finders. He figured calling someone with experience was the way to go with a ring that means so much to him.

I had just been called out on a wedding ring search in Stowe, right before he called me. So, we scheduled a search for later in the day.

I met him at the college around 3:30 and we walked to the area where he was sure it had fallen off. I turned on the detector, adjusted the settings and ground balanced it. Literally on the first swing, probably less than 5 seconds, I got a great signal coming from the snow. I pushed the pinpointer in and there it was! My new speed record for a recovery! He was so happy!

I love this hobby! Please click on my name above for more stories and contact information.

Tags:
Category:

Found Wedding Ring Frozen in the Ground

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

2/15/22

Got a call yesterday from a guy who had lost his wedding ring last Summer. He was doing some landscaping around his house, which involved planting a tree, some flowers, moving and replanting sod, followed by spreading mulch. He bought a metal detector, but got discouraged by all the signals in the ground. Months later a coworker told him about The Ring Finders service.

Despite the ground being frozen hard this time of year in Vermont, I decided to give it a try, hoping it wouldn’t be too deep. Also, there is a Winter Storm warning predicting deep snow for tomorrow!

He was away for the day, but he gave me a great sketch of where he had been landscaping. There was a wire fence, aluminum siding on the house and many years of dropped metal things in the ground that made it a real challenge trying to sort out the better signals. I searched for about a half hour and was beginning to think I should wait until Spring when the ground was thawed, when I got a good mid range signal coming from under a rock. I moved the rock and used my pinpointer to narrow down the target area. Slowly and extremely carefully, I chipped away the frozen dirt until the golden rim was exposed. I hammered my trowel into the soil beside it and out it popped. It was still in great shape even after having a rock on top of it!! I waited for him to come home from work and was greeted by a huge happy smile!

I love this hobby! Please click on my name above for more stories and contact information.

Tags:
Category:

Lost Wedding Ring Found in Stowe

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

12/11/21

I was out on errands when I got a call from a guy who had just lost his wedding band in the snow in Stowe. I always keep at least one detector in the car in case I get an emergency call, and told him I could come immediately to do a search.

He and his wife and two daughters were here for a long weekend of skiing. He was helping one of his daughters out of the car and threw some of her nut shells out into the snow. Luckily, he felt his ring fly off, otherwise, he may not have known where to look.

They searched with no luck. His friend looked online to see where to buy or rent a detector close by, and he came across my listing for The Ring Finders service.

In a little less than an hour I met them there, he showed me the area where it should be, and I started the grid search. After a few false alarm signals, I got a good signal, pushed the pin-pointer into the snow and there it was! A very handsome platinum and rose gold ring. He quickly put it right back where it belongs, on his finger.

Hopefully he never loses it again, it’s not a pleasant experience to lose your wedding ring!

I love this hobby! Please click on my name above for more stories and contact information.

Tags:
Category:

Lost Ring Found Deep in the Mud in Vermont Pond

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

9/4/21

A week ago I got a call from a guy who’s wife had lost her engagement ring while swimming. They were visiting Vermont from Connecticut. While here, they heard hurricane Ida was going to come ashore near their home. They decided to cut the trip a little short and go home to prepare for it. Before they left, they decided to take one last quick swim in the lake.

She knew her ring was fitting a little loose, so she checked it half way through the swim. When she got back near the dock she looked at her finger with horror when she saw the engagement ring was missing. She and her husband spent quite awhile searching with no luck. The bottom is thick with mud, rotting vegetation and weeds. So they headed out on their sad trip home.

That week they found my ad for The Ring Finders and gave me a call. I was available for a Saturday search, so they drove back from Connecticut and met me at the lake. I put on my wet suit, gathered up my underwater equipment and waded in. Once I realized how thick the mud was on the bottom, I knew it was probably going to be a tough search. I spent about 8 hours in the water that day using my standard underwater detector and only found some scrap metal and a few coins. I figured either the ring must be too deep in the mud for my metal detector’s signal to reach it, or that it was too far out in the lake for me to wade to. They also swam around for a long time trying to see it. Sadly, we gave up for that day. I told them I could try it again in a week or two.

They got permission from the camp owner for me to go back the following weekend. Unfortunately they were unable to come, so I went back alone. This time I planned to mainly use my mud probing system, which I knew would be extremely slow and probably would require many return trips. The odds were against me for finding it that day. The water was much colder and the wind was blowing hard. After about 4 hours, shivering from the cold, I was up to my chin in water and up to my shins in bottom mud, when I got a faint signal. I dug down several times, bringing up huge loads of muck and debris with the scoop. On the fourth scoop, getting real deep in the muck, I put the load on my floating sifter. There was a signal in the pile and I stirred through it with my fingers and felt something that felt like a ring!! I grabbed it, rinsed it and there it was! An absolute miracle to find it!! That ring was at least 10” down into the mud!

I went to shore, texted him a picture and got a huge disbelieving thank you. He said he would go show her the picture and send me a video of her reaction. It was the sweetest video, one of the best thank yous I’ve ever gotten! I offered to meet them tomorrow, half way, to give her the ring personally. After what she’d been through, I didn’t want to take any chances of it getting lost again by mailing it!

I love this hobby! Please click on my name above for more stories and contact information.

Tags:
Category: