Stan Ross, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 53 of 73

Keyvan called me after losing his custom designed wedding band. He felt it come off his finger while pushing his daughter on the swings at the beach. After a frustrating hour of searching the sand his wife had Google searched metal detector where my name came up on TheRingFinders.com.
The loss occurred at a beach playground area near the Balboa Beach pier which is only a couple miles from my home. There was some traffic problems but I was able to get there in about 20 minutes. It was an easy search and we had the ring back on Keyvan’s finger a few minutes after arriving.
When I arrived there was a audience of more than a dozen people that had heard that a guy with a metal detector was coming to find the ring. After scooping up the ring on my first pass there was applause and congratulations from the crowd. I felt like a rock star after finding the ring.
It was starting to get cold and dark when I rushed to get photos so they could home. Sorry the photos didn’t focus well.

I spent the afternoon doing a water search at low tide. I do not carry my celphone in chest deep water. When I returned to my car I found a voicemail on my phone from Jane Doe. She was very upset asking for my help finding three rings lost while taking an evening walk near her home.
When I called she said they had found two of the rings after searching all day but the third ring was still missing. If it was possible she could still use my help. I agreed to drive to South Orange County because we still had a couple hours of sunlight.
When I arrived Jane met me at the security gate of the gated community. We drove to a corner a couple blocks from her house. That’s where she got honest with me, telling me that she was angry and actually threw the three rings. I assured her this was more common than people know. It does help the search to understand what really happened.
Jane showed me where she was when she threw the rings. They had purchased a metal detector but had no success using it. The two rings they found were found about 30 feet away and in plain site. One on the sidewalk and the other in wood chip garden. I searched the most likely grass and wood chip garden. As I was beginning to search the difficult heavy bushes and rose garden, I asked Jane to double check the street because it was begging to get dark. Ten minutes later I heard her yell out, I found it.
It had been 30ft from the other rings more than 60 ft. from where she had been standing. It must have landed just right to roll that far. If you look at the ring you can see that the design would allow it to roll on a hard surface.
I didn’t find the ring but Jane gave me credit for having her double check the street where her ring had been lying in plain sight for more than 20 hours.

Brittany sent me a text about 4pm from Disneyland while waiting in line for one of the amusement rides. She had lost her wedding ring earlier that morning in a lawn near their hotel. She asked if I could help explaining they would be leaving tomorrow.
I called her to get some details, telling her that I could meet them after they return to their hotel later that night. She was able to send me an address where we could meet. We had a little delay meeting because it was Disneyland parking lots are very congested at closing time.
It was 10pm when Brittany’s husband Justin walked me to an small lawn in front of a RV park. That morning as they walked on a public sidewalk to a nearby restaurant Brittany made a jester with her hand and both rings of her wedding ring set went flying into the 8’x 20′ lawn area. They found the engagement ring on the sidewalk but after an hour searching the lawn they had to leave to share the day with their two children at Disneyland.
I thought this was going to be quick and easy. I got my CTX 3030 metal detector out of my car and started to search the lawn. A security guard walked up to me asking me to leave as this was private property. I asked him when the office would open in the morning, thinking it would not be a problem if I talked to the daytime manager.
We were sure the ring was there and it would not go anywhere before the next morning. I drove back the next morning to talk directly to the RV park manager. Again the same response that I got from the security guard, company policy would not allow me to use my metal detector on that small lawn. The manager did say we could look, but ” no metal detector.”
I tried to be polite thinking this may take days to go through the upper management to get proper permission. Nevertheless I went out the lawn and began a slow eyeball search. I did have a handheld pinpointer in pocket. ( it doesn’t look like a big metal detector).
It did take about a half hour on my hands and knees but the wedding ring showed up 8 ft. away from where the engagement ring was found. It was not in the grass. It was not visible and was under some leaves in shrubs.
Brittany had been busy with her two youngsters and trying to talk to the manager of the RV park. I met her as she was walking out to tell me thanks and that I shouldn’t look any longer. She had given up. I then showed her the ring which brought tears of joy to her face and a big smile.

Chelsey had called me with a strange request. Her brother, Arron was planning a special way to ask his girlfriend to marry him. He wanted to take her to dinner at the Montage Resort in south Laguna Beach, CA..  His plan was to walk on the beach after eating and to have me find a small treasure box next to them with my metal detector.
I wasn’t sure how we would accomplish this but I met Arron’s sister on the beach known as Treasure Island. We buried the box with the engagement ring. She marked the location with some small sticks. It was a beautiful location and it was about to be sunset.
Arron and Mandie walked out onto the beach while I was detecting near them. As They stood almost on top of the box, I approached them with my detector. I had the speaker mode on, so there was an audible signal they could hear.
When my detector sounded off, I looked at them, saying there is something big just under the surface. I asked them if they could retrieve it. Mandie looked confused, but Arron reached down to scoop up the box. I turned and walked away. He opened the box where a beautiful engagement ring was. Then he dropped to his knees presenting the ring to Mandie, asking her to marry him. We also had a photographer who was sitting on the beach. She recorded everything.
It was a fun to be a part of this special moment for Arron and Mandie.

Arron and Mandie just after he proposed to her.

Arron’s sister Chelsea burying the treasure box.

It was near 8:45pm on a week night when Giovani called to ask if I would be able to help him find his wife’s wedding band that he dropped in the sand. I asked him what beach he was at when at when he lost it. Also if it was in dry sand or in the water.
He was half way home about 20 miles from Huntington City Beach when I talked to him. I told him I would go to the location right away. He was thinking that we could meet the next day, but he was willing to turn around and drive back to the beach.
He had told me it was about 12″ inches from the metal frame of the lifeguard tower. This could be a problem, if it was next to the metal skids, so I brought a large sifting tool.
The area was small but so was the petite white gold ring. I’m not sure what position or how deep the ring was. I did get a faint tone that did turn out to be his wife’s ring. Katelin was standing there as I passed my sand scoop for her to see her cherished wedding ring in the bottom of the scoop. It was almost 10 pm and very cold out. We took a couple photos and got on the road to return home. Giovani and Katelin were very grateful to have their special ring back after several hours of thinking it was lost forever.

Casey has moved to Newport Beach recently from the east coast. She had lost keys in the sand the night before contacting me.
Casey was very concerned and upset with herself because the keys were not hers, she had borrowed her cousin’s bike with the lock. If we couldn’t find the keys it was going to be more work and expensive to have somebody with the proper tools to come remove the lock.
I was very close to the location and we met about 30 minutes after she first contacted me. Casey was able to walk me very close to where she had been sitting  yesterday. It didn’t take long to locate the two keys on a single key ring. But! It could have been a failed search if I didn’t have my detector in the all metal setting. I get lazy sometimes because I do use discrimination setting at the beach where there are all types of metal trash. These keys and the key ring were basically ferrous metals that I could have missed with the wrong settings. It also helps to ask questions about what kind of metal the missing item is. We might of been able to use the magnet, but the metal detector is faster.
It was a quick successful search and a very happy lady that was smart enough to search the internet to solve her problem..