Centerville, MA Beach Holds a Ring for 3 Days, Found and returned by Richard Browne
July 8, 2025 I was having my second cup of coffee, catching up on the news and weather – thunder storms in the afternoon when a text came in for help with a lost wedding ring. I read the following: “I’m Mattie and I lost my wedding band at the beach. I found your profile on ring finders and was hoping maybe you could help. … I know it’s been a few days of shifting sands and beach goers, but I was curious if you might be available to check it out. … I’m at peace if the ring ends up being a beach treasure in the end: it was a family ring but my mother and her parents were huge beach lovers and in way it would be poetic. … it was a ring my Yia Yia (grandma) gave to my mom, who gave to me when I was about to get married and we used for our ceremony! I’ve worn it since. It was loose on my finger in the water so I asked my older daughter to bring it back to the chairs we had while I stayed with my younger daughter (safety first!) but unfortunately she dropped it in the way. I saw how heartbroken she was and I just knew that the right thing in the moment was to not stress and move on.”
What could I do but assure Mattie that I would go and search the area. I would also reach out to other detectorists that I know frequent the area in case I did not find the ring myself. Once on the beach and in the area, I could not guess why that one area was void of towel and sun umbrellas. There was one person with a metal detecting scoop, but no detector in sight. At the end of my first pass I stopped and talked with the gentleman with the scoop. A local that regularly detects the area. I told him what I was looking for and he assured me he had not found much of anything over the past three days. Oh well, back to detecting … a coin spill of 45 cents … well no one gets it all. Another two steps and another target was beneath my coil, a quick scoop and it was in my scoop. Boy will Mattie be happy was my thought as I saw what had to be her ring, and it was. No one had found the ring in its three days in the sand. It was truly a lucky day for Mattie and a happy ending to the story for her older daughter.
As the family had returned to New York, I would mail the ring the next day and wait for a picture for the Book of Smiles. Yes, I just love my hobby for making happen endings to stories just like this one.