Richard Browne, Author at The Ring Finders

Scussett Beach, Borne, Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Bracelet Lost, Found & Returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

The last day of vacation was not to be the last day on Sunny Cape Cod for Dargel. While tossing a football, running sprints, back flopping into the bay’s cool water somewhere along the stretch of beach Dargel’s very sentimental bracelet came loose, fell, and buried itself in the sand. Hours of searching until darkness set in was not enough time to find the bracelet. After flight changes and with a wing and a prayer the bracelet would be found the following day.

When I received the call, and after getting information about a lost bracelet, I knew I had to go. With such a large area to search I would need all the help I could get. I called Leighton, another Ring Finder, and we set up a meet time at the beach with Dargel. His world wide travel companion said that they would be in an army green Jeep Wrangler. OK, who would have known there would be two such Jeeps in the parking lot? It took a call before we found each other. Then it was off to the beach.

Unknown if the loss was in the water or on the sand, we started searching in the water then up the beach front to the dunes. Only a few targets were heard as we detected and gridding the best we could among some late day sun bather. It was my turn to leap-frog past Leighton, make my way further down the beach, stop, turn toward the water, and start detecting again. I heard a good signal which turned out to be a Matchbox car, and then a second car. I gave both cars to a young beach goer who took them to rinse them off in the water. My next signal came from a rather deep target, maybe another car, as I did not think the depth would be correct for bracelet to be at. I had to dig it anyway. WOW the rope bracelet now in my scoop had cubes on it with initials made of diamonds. NICE! Even better than nice, it was Dargel’s missing bracelet. A verification by a photo really was not needed as Dargel’s description would only match the bracelet I had in my scoop.

After some great conversation and taking of photos there was a quick good bye before Dargel was off to Boston and back to Cuba on the next day’s flight – with his bracelet. A terrific ending to two beautiful days. Look out in the next day as tropical storm Isaias will be over the Cape Cod Beaches. Dargel sure knows how to time his trip and is thinking about another trip back to Cape Cod, after having a jeweler repair the bracelet’s clasp.

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Old Silver Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts Diamond Wedding Band Lost, Found and Returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Arriving at the resort earlier than check in time Sylvia and her party went to the sandy beach to wait for their room to be readied. The sun was warm and breeze delightful. A bit of sun tan lotion was in order. As with most beautiful rings with mounted stones one would take the ring off so to keep the cream from lodging itself under the stones. The the ring should be put back on. OOPS here is were Sylvia stood up before putting the ring back on. That was all it took for the ring to disappear into the fluffy sand.

No matter how hard the ring was looked for it had not been found. An attentive lifeguard stepped in to help save the ring by giving Sylvia information about TheRingFinders. A quick call to me and I was on my way. Parking and meeting up with Sylvia took a couple of phone calls before we met up. We were then on the way to the soft sandy area.

I began the search finding several Nip bottle caps, who said no alcohol on the beach? A couple of beer bottle caps and the growing crowd were beginning to wonder if I would ever find the ring. It all happened very fast as it took only about 5 minutes to capture the elusive wedding band in my scoop.
I walked over to Sylvia so she could take her ring from my scoop. This was my third successful wedding band return in one day.

How cheerful the crowd turned. Congratulations were offered and a jeweler chimed in with some useful information on sizing a ring and a reason not to have “bumps” put inside the ring. In one word: Comfort.

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Dennis, Massachusetts Chapin Beach Platinum Ring Lost, Found and Returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Talk about coincidence:

Leighton and myself had been successful in an early morning ring return, some leisurely detecting, a cup of coffee and departed each other’s company for the day. OOPS Leighton left his wallet in my car. I called and he did a U-turn and returned to retrieve the wallet. While I was waiting a call came in for help in finding a lost wedding band. Yes, Leighton would join in on the search immediately.

Jack lost his platinum wedding band when he did a back flop into the thigh deep water too cool off. He did succeed in the cooling off and also offed his ring as well. This was happening at the same time that Tim took his wedding band off to apply sunscreen lotion not but a few hundred yards down the beach. All the searching that was done did not located the ring.

That evening Jill, Jack’s wife was talking to Nicole, Tim’s wife. They were astound that their husband both had a Platinum wedding band, each of which were lost within minutes, within yards of each other and each would be found and returned by the same person.

Is it not strange how incidents just seem to harmonize and bring people together and make a sad situation into one to celebrate. After Smiles, Hugs, and many Thanks, Leighton and I were on our way home. Total time was less than an hour to the conclusion of this happily ending adventure.

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Mayflower Beach Cape Cod, Massachusetts platinum wedding band lost, found and returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Nicole’s call to her father was returned with a link to TheRingFinders.com. After a short conversation with Tim I was on my way to the bay side of Cape Cod. At the end of the road I tried to call Tim but due to No Cell Phone Service I could not contact him. He was somewhere out on the beach among the 100s of beach goers. One such beach goers was kind enough to let me use her phone to call Tim. When she heard me asking about the ring she was ready to tell me the story. It seams the loss was well known by many of the beach goers.

Tim showed up and off we went eager to start searching for his ring. After about 20 feet of searching to my surprise there were no signals. Oh, my mistake, I had left my detector set to a very specific setting to find a hearing aid. A quick change of a program setting and I was searching again. Quarter, soda bottle cap, 2 beer bottle caps and then the platinum wedding band was in my scoop. I left the ring in the scoop for Tim to remove and place on his finger. I wish I had my camera handy to catch the kiss between Tim and Nicole. As I didn’t and that they would not repeat it for a camera I will just have to settle on attached photos for the Book of Smiles.

In the short talk we had after finding the ring it was revealed that the ring went missing after re-applying sunscreen and not removing the ring from the beach chair’s pocket before moving the chair to a different location. The second bit of information was that Tim had proposed to Nicole on the same beach. Only fitting the wedding band was found and returned with enormous gratitude and smiles.

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Harwich Port, Massachusetts gold ring, lost, found and returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Jeff was enjoying the yearly family get-to-gather on Cape Cod and a football catch in the water of Nantucket Sound. The inevitable happened. His left handed toss of the football was fallowed by his flying wedding band.

After several hours of searching by Jeff and his friends without any sign of the ring. A call to a newly renewing member, Leighton Harrington, help was on its way. The time of day and tide was such that a search could not be started until 6am. Leighton and I often detect together and keep each other company on the trip to the search area, during the search and ride home.

In the water and looking, two rings were found on the first morning’s search, neither were the object of quest. During the day Jeff marked the area with a few coins before Leighton and I returned to search the second day. Leighton found a few of the coins and I found the ring in the same area we had searched over the previous day. If you miss it by an inch, you have missed it. That is why we don’t give up after the first search and crisscrossing the area.

Back at the house, pictures were taken and the return was made. Big smiles and the thought of a tear was observed. After a few stories were exchanged, Leighton and I were on our way for coffee and to set up a meeting time for the next day’s detecting experience. We were feeling great about putting a smile on another person’s face.

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Yarmouth Beach Lost Ring Found & Returned Cape Cod, Massachusetts

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

One facet that I love about my hobby is meeting many people. Maurice is one I will never forget. His true feelings for his heritage going back to the Wampanoag Tribe on Cape Cod to his love for a cherished ring that belonged to his grandmother kept me wanting to hear and learn from his words.
What a wonderful story he has about his heritage from the original inhabitants of Cape Cod and their trading, bartering and relationships with other tribes as far away as New York. All this information went along with the fact the larger ring was his grandmother’s who had raised him.

Maurice’s grandmother’s ring along with another ring were dislodged from his little finger while playing in the seaweed with his 5 year old daughter. He searched for the two rings until sunburned.
The next morning he was back searching again. His personality engaged other beach goers to help in the search. The one that helped the most was Sue, the Yarmouth beach’s gate attendant. She remembered The Ring Finder from a ring I returned last year. This lead to our contact. A half an hour later I was ready for the search. Within 15 minutes I had retrieved the smaller band, and anther 5 minutes the second ring was in my scoop. The search and recovery was made easy with Maurice knowing when and where the rings slipped from his finger. The entire beach came alive with cheers and smiles as Maurice removed and showed his grandmother’s, one of a kind, ring.

Maurice and his family left the beach for a Cape Cod lunch and continue enjoying their sea shore adventure form the distant hills of Westfield.

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Red Jacket Beach, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts: Lost Ring, Found Ring, Returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

An early evening call from a very distressed and emotional young lady, Krista, pushed me to the limits to find a lost combination ring of great sentimental value. So much so that I went out at dusk to look for it. I only had about 45 minutes of daylight left but did my best to no avail.

The next day I had plans to detect with another Ring Finder, Gary Bonin from Woonsocket RI. I had to change our plans and go looking for the lost ring. Nothing we would not have done, as long as were were enjoying our hobby, we would have a great day. With sunrise and permission to park at the resort Gary and I headed into the water to search for the ring. Hours past, the tide went out and came back in without either of us finding the ring. My mouth was drying out, I had used my last bottle of water the night before so it was time for me to call it a day. Gary on the other hand wanted to finish covering an area before leaving. OK, another 15 minutes I could survive. I was not paying any attention to holding a grid pattern and just wandered aimlessly when my detector’s audio signal brought me back to reality. I looked down to my coil, where to place my scoop and much to my surprise I saw THE ring! What a ring, it made my knees shaky, my heart rate went up, all was great. Had it not been for Gary wanting to stay just a bit longer, the recovery would not have been made without another search, another day.

Krista, a quite remarkable person, what an interesting life she has lead. Within the first hour of this vacation she with her two sons and husband were playing a bit of football in the cooling water of Nantucket Sound. Her ring had never slipped off in the water either salt, fresh or pool. This day was different for whatever reason it did followed by frantic searching over the next 5 days. Krista had to leave the Cape, the traumatic vacation was now a thing of the past. She had kept up her best spirits as to not spoil the vacation for all involved. But she was not to give up on finding her ring.

Social media came into play. A plead for help lead Krista to TheRingFinders.com and to my name and contact information.

If you have read this far you know she was to have her ring returned. Many options were mulled over such as mail, a 4 hour drive to pick the ring up, seek help on social media… The last provided the perfect solution. Sandy and Larry, close friends of Krista, were leaving Cape Cod the next day and were to make a drive to my house, pick up the ring, and return it to Krista on Saturday.

Covid19 be danged, Krista asked Sandy to give me a “big, well deserved hug”. Somethings just have to be done. This return is one that will certainly be one of my top 5 of the 243 I have now made, almost half while a member of TheRingFinders.

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Palladium Ring Lost Covell’s Beach, Craigville, Massachusetts: Found & Returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Beyond belief is my take on this return, but you will have to decide for yourself.

I was called by Alec in hope that I could find his ring. I was on my way out to find a diamond engagement ring and did not take the usual information that I should have from Alex. That being said I was on my way to search for both rings. After successfully finding the ring first in fresh water I was on my way to the sound side of the Cape. I could not talk my way past the gate guard so I saw two women talking in front of two empty parking spaces in a private residential area. I asked if I could park in their area. After telling them about TheRingFinders.com they agreed and saved me the $25 parking fee.

I searched for about an hour and half before finding a wedding band. I did not pay much attention to the ring, put it into my pocket and started to leave the beach. An the way out I chatted with a lifeguard and told her I had found the ring I was looking for. She then told me that there was a silver ring in the lifeguard house. We chatted with the gate guard and two other lifeguards. The gate guard said he would let me in without charge the next time I needed a parking space.

Believe it or not I left the ring on the wall were we all were talking, At the car I realized what I had done, ran back to meet one of the lifeguards coming toward me with the ring. Back again at the car and I was on my way home. At a stop light I re-read the little information I had from Alec. It was then I realized I had found a ring that was not Alec’s. Alec’s ring is Palladium, not Gold. Dang, the ring is the lifeguard shack must be Alec’s. But the lifeguard had mentioned Len as the person they had tried to call.

It turned out Len is Alec’s uncle and it was he that left contact information with the lifeguards two days after the ring had been lost. I went back to the beach the next day, confirmed via a picture and e-mails that the Palladium was indeed Alec’s. They gave me the ring and I will give it to Alec’s father on Saturday when he returns to the Cape for the week. The ring will be carried back to Alec when his brother returns home on Sunday. I will then be sent a big, wonderful smile in picture form as the ring goes back on Alec’s finger. All this just one month before Alec’s 5th anniversary.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Rick

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Private Dennis Beach, Massachusetts: Lost Ring, Found Ring Returned

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Sunday was a beautiful beach day for Natalie and her daughter. As they played in knee deep water Natalie’s engagement ring slipped from her finger. A frantic search did not reveal the ring. Later a friend called for help. Unfortunately the help with her metal detector was directed to an area that did not behold the ring.

That next day I was contacted to help look for the ring. I did and quite a distance from the “area of loss” I found the beautiful 3 diamond white gold engagement ring. I left the fresh water beach to go and search a sandy salt water beach for a man’s lost wedding band.

I was at home when Natalie called and made arrangements to pick up the ring on her way home. As for me…I now know that the ring is back where it belongs and I have a wonderful picture of to beautiful girls with impressive smiles.

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Bristol Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts: A Lost Ring Found by Ring Finder

from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact: 1-860-309-3307

Melissa, with great hope in finding her husband’s wedding ring she had dropped in the fluffy sand, took a local lifeguard’s advice to call “Rick, he is amazing at finding lost rings.” The lifeguard remembered me when I had help find another lost ring. All was great for me to go and follow Melissa’s description of where on the beach she was when the ring was dropped.

This was the second time for Ezequiel losing a ring. His first wedding band was lost in the water and never found. Ezequiel promised not to wear the replacement ring into the water. Keeping his promise he took the ring off and gave it to Melissa. Now they both had a bad moment with this wedding band on a beach.

I arrived a few minutes before Melissa and Ezequiel arrived at the beach. I went straight to the area that was described to me. A few words with the lifeguard that remembered me and my search began. It was not but less than a minute and I had the ring in my scoop. Again an amazingly quick recovery. Next I had to find the owner. In the parking lot there they were, waiting for me.

I was told the ring would never see a beach again. It will be left in a safe place when the family with smiles frolic in the summertime sandy adventures and return home with the same smiles.

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