Cudahy, Wisconsin resident, Chris Roberts was closing a metal gate behind his home when his one-of-a-kind wedding ring got caught on it. Married four years, he was horrified to feel the white and black diamond ring leave his finger and disappear into the cold, snowy night. Despite careful search efforts with a leaf rake in the snow, the ring’s hiding place remained a secret. The next morning Chris reached out to me with a text message asking if I might help. We arranged to meet on location late that afternoon.
It was dark when I arrived. I donned a headlamp and followed Chris to the back of his house. I could see the telltale signs of raking in the snow, evidence of Chris’s valiant search efforts. The thermometer was falling fast, hovering in the mid-teens Fahrenheit (-9.4 Celsius). And a brisk wind made it feel much colder.
Sweeping the area with a mid-sized coil revealed the presence of many metallic objects in the ground beneath the snow. Most of them were ferrous (iron) signals that could be ignored. Also, a heavy wire-mesh fence screamed its presence in my headset whenever I was close to it. I quickly eliminated the more obvious signals and zeroed in on a non-ferrous target near the metal gate. As I probed the area with my pin pointer, a small lump of ice invited investigation. Breaking it apart in my gloved hand, Chris’ precious ring appeared among the icy crystals! And the smile on his face tells the rest of the story.
Chris’ ring was the 9th one I’ve extracted from the snow this winter season. In the process, I’ve observed a strange phenomenon. All but one was encrusted in an icy lump, the result of a warm ring melting the snow on first contact, then cooling and finally freezing the ice and snow around it, forming an icy tomb. Encrusted in this way can make the ring invisible to the naked eye. Little wonder Chris and others have been unable to find their rings! Apart from using a metal detector, the ring’s hiding place would have to wait until warmer days when the snow and ice have melted away. But by then, the ring may have been shoveled off or plowed away to another location. This is why time is of the essence when a ring becomes lost in snowy conditions.
If you or someone you know has lost a ring, don’t let its story end. Whether recent or long ago, in the snow, leaves, grass, sand, lake or river, call a member of The Ring Finders in your area. Chances are, like Chris, we can put a smile on your face again.
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