Mike Baker, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 7 of 11

Watch Found Near Waterbury Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got an email this morning from a gentleman who needed help finding his watch. It was a nice Citizen watch that he gotten for Christmas last year and really enjoyed wearing it because it was tough and waterproof. He said he lost it 2 weeks ago and he had searched everywhere around the house. He finally concluded it must be hiding in mulch that he had put down then. He and his wife have beautiful flower gardens and blueberry bushes all through boulders around their house. He had put fresh mulch all around the plants and boulders. The area was much too big to search by hand, so he was going to rent a metal detector, but then saw my ad.
I told him I could come right away, even though it was raining, because one of my detectors is amphibious. When I got there his dog came running to greet me. He was a sweet lab mix that he had also gotten from Central Vermont Humane Society. All 3 of my dogs are from there. He showed me the area to search and his dog and I got started. After over an hour searching, I was almost to the end of the mulch area when I got a good strong tone. There was his watch, about 5″ down. I was about to switch to a different detector with a small search coil on it and do the search all over again.
He was very happy and said he would be looking for a different band to put on it.

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Earring Found In Woodstock Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got a voicemail from a couple visiting Woodstock, Vt. The lady had lost one of her diamond and gold stud earrings in the grass. She was giving her child a ride on her shoulders and somehow the earring got dislodged from her ear. They bought a metal detector, but had no luck with it. Most metal detectors are not designed to pick up such tiny targets. She asked me if my detectors would pick it up, and I told her we could try my detectors on the earring’s mate. So, I went there this morning to search. I love going to Woodstock because I am a carpenter and enjoy looking at all the classic old buildings there.
She gave me the earring to test my detectors on, and 3 of them picked it up, but one did real well. So, she showed me the area to search and I got started. There were lots of “junk” signals in the soil, but luckily this was a recent loss and the target would be on the surface, so I could ignore all the other signals. In about 15 minutes, I got a good surface signal giving the correct numbers for gold. There it was under the grass, pushed lightly into the soil with the stud sticking straight up. She was real happy to have it back!
I also helped her husband learn how to use his detector so they could have a little fun with it.

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Rings Found Near Champlain Islands, Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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7/4/18
Got a call 2 days ago after I got home from work. It was a gentleman who said his wife had lost her engagement ring and her wedding band while swimming and relaxing with their 2 young kids at a State park about an hour from my house. He was born and grew up in Vermont, then joined the military. They got married, started a family and found work down on the East coast. They were in VT for the week visiting family and they all had gone to the park, being a great place to be with the air temperatures in the scorching 90’s.
The rings were beautiful platinum and diamond rings that he had custom made for her. He was so glad to reach me and said he needed help urgently. Being lost in a public area, I knew we needed to search immediately. I offered to come right away and he said they would all stay to show me the areas she had been.
I got there at 7:00, met everyone and found out where the search was to be. At some point she had taken her rings off and put them in her hat for safekeeping. Later, she put her hat on, not thinking about the rings, and took the kids for a swim in the lake. Sometime after that she realized her rings were missing. They did have insurance, but these were too sentimental to have replaced. She was feeling terrible for losing them.
I got started with my detector and he searched visually. His mom, very kindly went to get me some supper. The 2 of us searched until midnight that night with no luck, and I got home around 1:30. It had been a beautiful evening, but the bugs had been brutal. About two-thirds of the search was in the water, which is much slower due to the water’s resistance. I said I would try to come the next evening, July 3rd, as well. There was even more urgency because we knew there would be a huge crowd there on the 4th.
The next evening I got there about 7:00. I asked him if he would like to use one of my other detectors and sand scoops to improve our chances of finding them that night. Around an hour later he got a good signal which turned out to be a man’s wedding band, which he gave to the Park Ranger. Around 9:30 he found his wife’s wedding band. Two happy guys, because we then knew that she had lost them in the water and that no one else had already pocketed them! We searched another hour and then reluctantly headed for shore, needing sleep. I told him I would leave that detector with him so he could search the next day(I couldn’t be there on the 4th). As we were leaving, something told me to try one more pass before leaving. I decided to try going into deeper water, got a signal, which was junk, then got another loud signal. There it was in my scoop, a beautiful engagement ring! I shouted out and brought him the ring. He confirmed it was hers and phoned her. She screamed and thanked us.
A great team effort and he is now my official ring finding partner!
I love endings like this, definitely worth the hard work and loss of sleep!

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Rings Found In South Burlington Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got a call at 8:30 last night from a guy who had lost his 2 rings while working in a garden around his pond earlier in the day. I could clearly hear the sadness in his voice, so I asked if I could come right over and search. He said he would appreciate it, so I threw my gear in the car and took off.
When I got there he explained the stories behind the rings. He had recently lost his wife after caring for her in their home for many years. They had been a team since shortly after he got back from Vietnam, and hated to go even a day without his wedding band on. His other onyx ring had a long, interesting story behind it, going back to when he got it from his grandfather before he went in the service, and had even been lost in Vietnam. Both rings were fitting loosely on his finger so a jeweler had bonded them together in an attempt to make them fit tighter, but that hadn’t helped much.
I began the search and unfortunately there were lots of random signals in the soil. Finally I got a good signal from next to the roots of a flower, pushed the pinpointer deep into the mulch under it and found his rings. He was so relieved to have them back! Afterwards, we shared many “battle stories” of taking care of our family members at home (I had also taken care of both my parents at their home for about 10 years). Lots of funny and sad things we both remembered. It was nice to hand the rings back to such a good man and husband.
Got to bed real late, but this hobby is sure worth losing sleep for!

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Earring Found In Middlebury Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got an email a few days ago from a young man going to Middlebury College. His girlfriend, also a student there, was out running on a path and lost one of her pearl stud earrings. These earrings had been given to her many years ago by her mother, so they meant a lot to her. She didn’t need any more stress at this time, because she is graduating in a few days and had lots of papers to write and finals to take. They both looked hard for the earring, but because of all the crushed white stones on the running path, it was nearly impossible to find.
I went down early this morning, met him there, and he showed me where the path was. He was so thoughtful, willing to stay and help and even got me some coffee. She was working hard on homework and couldn’t be there for the search. I knew he had some papers to write, so I went to work and told him I’d call when I found it.
The odds were against me. Finding a stud/post style earring is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, partly because of their shape and partly because there’s so little metal in them. They give off very faint signals. We were lucky she lost them in an area that wasn’t deep grass or brush. It started raining pretty hard, and after about an hour and many junk signals, I got a signal that was from an earring backer. The problem was it was the wrong backer. But shortly after I got another signal that gave the right numbers on the ID display. I bent down close and there was the pearl! I was so glad to find it. I emailed him a picture and told him I’d continue to look for the correct backer. Soon they both showed up, she was so excited. She also told me that the backer I found was the one that she had been using, probably why the earring fell out.
We had a nice visit after.

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Found Wedding Ring In Old Vermont Mill Town

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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Yesterday morning, while I was at work, I got an email and a voicemail from a woman very much needing help finding her wedding ring. She had been working in their back yard moving branches and brush. She rented a metal detector and searched with that as well as by eye. Her property has been a residential yard for probably over 150 years, therefore was full of metal scraps and nails, making it very difficult for an inexperienced person to operate a metal detector. Her husband went to work, but the ring was heavy on his mind, too. He found a link to The Ring Finders website and emailed it to her.
I called her as soon as I got out of work and we made plans for me to come right away to do the search. The weather was beautiful and the drive was nice to the old Vermont mill town nestled between some very steep Green Mountains. Their house was on the edge of the town, with Springtime lush green fields, a huge barn and waterfalls in the back yard. What a place to raise their children.
She showed me the areas where it should be and I got to work. After about an hour and a half, No luck with one of my favorite detectors. The raspberry and blueberry patch was so thick I decided to use another detector with a small diameter search coil. In about a half hour I got the solid ring tone and moved the weeds and twigs and there it was!
The ring was extremely sentimental to them, because it was custom made using diamonds from a mother’s, grandmother’s and great grandmother’s old rings. It sure was beautiful. When I handed it to her she broke down with happy and relief tears and gave me a huge hug. Her husband was happy and offered up some beer to celebrate. Her older son even gave me a hug. As always, I was extremely happy for them.
They invited me to come back some day and hike the waterfalls and do some “archeological” digs on the old trail by their house and up to an old cellar hole.
I love this hobby!!

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Lost Wedding Ring Found In St Albans VT

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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Several months ago, during the Winter, I got an email from a gentleman in St Albans, VT. He lost his wedding band 5 years ago, had spent countless hours searching for it and even used a metal detector, with no luck. He and his son were in their pool throwing a ball to each other. He went to catch a fast ball and felt his ring go flying off his finger. He had recently lost some weight and had a jeweler add some bumps to the inside of his ring to make it fit tighter, but it was still too loose. He and his wife’s rings were matching, custom made rings, with a special and meaningful pattern which they didn’t want to cut and re-size the conventional way.
They searched the lawn and the pool filter for hours. The kicker was that the pool was only a few feet from a short fence which his ring could’ve easily flown over. On the other side of the fence was a thick patch of brush and weeds. Beyond that was a paved parking lot to a large apartment house. He and his son looked there for a long time and those neighbors helped and kept an eye out. The thought did cross his mind that maybe someone over there may have pocketed the ring. Sadly, he gave up hope of ever seeing it again and went to a department store and bought an inexpensive replacement ring.
Then, 5 years later, his wife saw my ad for The Ring Finders on Craigslist. She gave him my info and he emailed. I said it would make sense to wait until Spring, when the snow is gone and the ground wasn’t frozen hard. It is very easy to damage a ring when digging in frozen ground.
So, yesterday I went up to do a search. He showed me the area and I began. The ground was full of signals from many years of human activity, toy cars and coins. His son was an awesome helper, he trampled down lots of brush on the neighbors side so I could swing the detector. After about 3 hours, I went back onto his lawn to search some more. I got a great signal, dug down into the soft soil about 2 inches with my finger, and felt that slippery feeling of gold! Without him seeing it, I rinsed it off a little, got his wife to come out and showed it to them together. Wow, such a fantastic moment! Words couldn’t describe the emotions. I love this hobby!

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Lost Engagement Ring in Central VT…..Found

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got an email a couple days ago from a woman who lost her Great Grandmother’s gold and sapphire engagement ring on a snowy day. She searched hard and then a helpful neighbor who owned a metal detector came over and helped search, too. They didn’t have any luck. As good fortune would have it, I didn’t get called into work today, so I sent her an email asking if it was good to come down and take a look. I told her a big snowstorm is coming tomorrow night and it might be good to search now. She said yes and I went right over to her house. I got there and put all my detecting equipment on the hood of the car. She was telling me where she may have lost it and pointed up the driveway where she had parked. That’s when the Ring Gods spoke! From 20 feet away my eyes zeroed in on what looked like a ring laying on the ground. I walked over, looked down and there it was! Never even had to turn on the detector! It was all muddy but it perfect condition. So lucky, because it was laying right in the wheel tracks of the dirt driveway.
I handed it to her and out came the happy tears! She said that she had never met her Great Grandmother, but her Grandfather wanted her to have it. She said she had already decided that if we didn’t find it that she was going to have a goldsmith make her a replica of it. But now all she needs to do is have it resized!

I love these happy endings!

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Wedding Ring Lost in Burlington Vermont….Found

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got an email from a woman in Burlington Vt this morning explaining that her husband lost his platinum wedding band in the snow behind his office last night. I called her immediately and told her I could be there shortly.

He had been working late last night and went out back to throw things in the dumpster. He heard his ring hit the ground, so started searching, with no luck. Some coworkers came out with him to move cars and help search. It was snowing and no one could find it. They found my listing on the internet and decided to try The Ring Finders service.

When I arrived there this morning, I thought “oh no, there’s metal everywhere”. There were large metal tubs, dumpsters, guard posts and concrete full of re-bar. I was glad that I brought 3 of my detectors, in case there was a lot of interference. We started with the most likely spots and then had to get inventive. Using my plastic snow shovel, we dragged and shoveled snow out onto the parking lot where I could scan it with no interference. I was beginning to get nervous that it had driven off stuck in someone’s snow tire tread or that someone else had walked away with it through the night. After about a half hour I got the ring tone! It was in perfect condition and now it’s back on a happy hubby’s finger. What a nice way to start a day.

I also found out that their dogs are rescues! My kind of people!

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Engagement Ring Found in Snow Near Newport VT

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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I got an email yesterday from a woman in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, God’s Country! She had lost her ring outside her home a week ago and had been trying to find it all week. We messaged each other and she told me her husband was having a potentially serious medical scare and they were off the ER. I wished them good luck and told her don’t worry, the ring’s on her property and it will be safe until they’re ready to search for it. This morning she said it was okay to come search, so I headed up there.
I started gridding the area with one of my waterproof detectors(it was snowing and cold), got a bunch of false signals and about 45 minutes went by with no ring signal. I could tell they were getting a little fearful that I wouldn’t find it, when I got that awesome ring signal! There it was under about 4″ of snow, in perfect condition.

A very happy couple and ring finder!!

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