Richard Browne, Author at The Ring Finders

December 7. 2018

Having lost his ring while leaf blowing Jim and his wife visually searched on hands and knees turning over every leaf in hopes of finding Jim’s ring. Having failed at with a visual search they came to the correct idea for finding the one of a kind wedding band, the use of a metal detector. They rented a metal detector and searched with it for many tiring hour of swinging without finding the ring. They resigned to the fact that it was gone forever. After returning the rental, Jim and his wife made plans to locates a similar ring before Christmas. It would not be the same as the one that had adorned Jim’s finger for over forty years but it would have to do.

I stopped at J&E Enterprise, the local metal detector dealer, and was told of the still lost ring. I placed a call to Thelma, Jim’s wife and left a message. Minutes later I had a return call. Thelma was almost convinced that I might help, but wanted to talk to Jim before committing to having me detect their property for the lost ring. Two hours later I was starting a search of their yard. Knowing the loss was recent and therefore there would be no need to dig to retrieve it. After recovering three surface targets; a small piece of copper, a nail with a piece of aluminum attached and a pull tab from a soda can, I heard the perfect sound, that of a round object close to the surface. I looked at the point where my detector showed the object should be and there it was three-quarters of it’s edge shining in the sunlight. It was hard to stop Jim from picking it up, but I asked him to wait until I took a picture and have Thelma come and see just were the ring had been for the past few weeks. A happy ending of a few stressful weeks.

Why did I find the ring in a area that had already been searched with a metal detector. It really boiled down to the facts; I had 36 years of detecting experience, knew which of my 14 detectors had the best chance isolating the one target in an area that had a potential of several trash targets in a short amount of time and understanding the nuances of each sound the detectors was giving off from each detected object, in this case Jim’s ring.

November 12, 2018 Chris on left, Eric on right in the picture

While I was helping a neighbor with a computer problem, Chris called asking about help in finding his lost wedding band. He thought it might have been lost while burying his deceased cat. The answer to his question on how deep the detector could “see” a ring was not what he wanted to hear. The cat’s grave was some two and a half feet deep and my detectors typically can “see” a ring at about 12 inches. With this information, Chris new he would have to remove some of the dirt before I would be able to scan the full depth of the grave. He said he would call me back.

About an hour before sunset I received the call asking if I could come and search the area. I left home with the anticipation of finding the wedding band. When I arrived at Chris’s home, he had already sieved the dirt removed from the grave and no ring was found. I scanned the grave site with no indication of anything metal. I then began a search of the areas where Chris had also been doing yard work. As the sun set I brought out my flashlight is hopes of spotting a flash of gold in the darkness. Another half hour passed and I found “the” ring right on top of the ground. I returned to the house, put the ring in my hand and my card over it. Inside Chris’s house I let Chris take the card from my hand as I said “please take “your” ring also”. The joy of getting his ring back turned to sorrow as Chris said “this is not my ring”. How could that be? Neither he nor Leah, his wife, knew of anyone that might have lost a wedding band in their yard. The closest known loss of a ring was that of Leah’s father, Eric, had lost his ring at the beach this summer, not in the yard. As it turned out that Eric indeed did loose his band while cutting down a tree in Chris’s yard and not at the beach. I am glad I had not been asked to look for it at the beach. However a call to Vermont confirmed it was more than likely to be Eric’s ring. Now it was to dark to continue searching so I left for the night with a promise to return the next day.

The next day’s search of two hours turned up nothing except a long lost mail box key and a few coins. Not having any luck with my detector of choice I exchanged it for my second choice detector. Just to have a different “set of eye” and I continued to search the area again. Another hour and I was ready to call it quits for the day. I walked back to the car, I was just dragging the detector across the ground and next to the rear wood porch I heard one signal and it sounded good. The coil of my detector was unable to give me a pin-point location so I put my hand held pin-pointer to work getting closer to the wood riser. There it was. The ring I had been looking for some 5 hours. This “one” was verified as “the one” by Leah. Chris was at work, so I could not give the ring to him at that time. I left the ring with Leah who promised to sent me pictures of the return. Not bad, in two days time, two wedding bands found in one yard and returned to two members of the same family. Needless to say there were big smiles all around including the biggest one the one on my face.

Please read the posting: Lost Wedding Band at Beach, Found in Son-in-Law’s Back Yard. It is about an unexpected find – a missing wedding band of Eric.

And you ask “Why do I enjoy my hobby so much?” This story tells the story very well.

It was not my grandmother’s hearing aid. It was super small, no wires, Bluetooth enabled and lost.

It took two detectorists from TheRingFinders to locate a “lost” hearing aid, one that others had no luck in locating. Denis, Anne, neighbors, friends and even the sales person of the hearing aid did not eyeball the lost left hearing aid. Denis with his Bluetooth enabled hearing aid on had been out listening to The Beatles Here Comes The Sun while leaf blowing his front yard. After finishing up an early leaf fall and back in his house he noticed the left aid was missing. The noise from the leaf blower masked the missing music. With the aid of a new detector with a visual indication of the type of metals along with an audio sound, it took me about a half an hour to be fortune enough to hear the signal response of the aid’s battery among all the not so possible signal returns. With a bit of help from a flash light the hearing aid came into view among a bit of tall grass under which it had been hiding from other prying eyes. I surmised that a tree’s branch had brushed the hearing aid from Denis’s left ear which lead to the search. The initial request for help in finding the lost hearing aid came to me from J&E Metal Detectors. I was in the middle of having roof work done on my house and being unsure if I would be able to do a search before darkness fell, I called on Luke for a bit of assistance. As it turned out Luke and I showed up about two minutes apart. Many magnificent people all came together to help in the search and return. My hobby allows me to meet such wonderful people, and friendships I and others can count on in time of need.