Stan Ross, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 84 of 86

Lost Ring playing soccer… Cherry Park – Lake Forest, Calif. .. Found in Grass

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Saturday  Sept. 28, 2013

I had just parked at a beach in Laguna and was getting ready to do a little metal detecting.  I got a call from Daniel, he was in a park in Lake Forest which is about 10 miles inland.  He told me he had just lost his ring while playing soccer. This sounded like an easy search so I asked him if he could stay in the location and I would be there in 45 minutes. When I arrived Daniel showed me the exact place he was standing when he blocked a ball that came at him.  This really sounded like it was going to be a quick recovery.  I started about 20 ft.  back from that location to begin my grid search. Daniel was familiar with metal detectors because he had used them while in the military. I started showing him how good my detector could separate different targets and identify quarters from pennies, etc. Also I could tell how deep things were eliminating a lot of work stopping and checking deep signals. Even with all this advantage I was unable to find Daniel’s  tungsten wedding band.  He was super positive that the ring flew off his finger in this 10 ft. square area. I probably cross gridded it 4 or 5 times.  I spent a total of 2 hrs. searching the rest of that end I’d the field till dark. Then  I had to admit I could not find it.  Parks are not the easiest searches because there is a lot of trash metal. If you want to make yourself crazy rent a metal detector and go try to use it in a park.

I went back to try the search for a second time after about 12 days.  I had thought about Daniel’s lost ring several times wondering what I had done wrong. Chris Turner often says it’s a game of inches and I agree. This time I took a another tungsten ring to get an accurate ID reading from my Minelab CTX 3030 metal detector. I had planned to set up my grid to cover the whole soccer goalie  area and places he may have chased the ball.  After the first 15 minutes it started to rain, the first rain in So. Calif. that we have had for 7 months. I went to my truck to get rain gear because I wanted to give this my last try.  It took about an hour and a half then I found the ring. It was more than 20 ft. from where Daniel had blocked the ball. Here’s the best part of the story. It was actually within the first couple feet where I started the search the week before. I believe that I probably wasn’t paying attention to my detector when I was bragging to Daniel about how good my expensive detector was.  

I had not told Daniel that I would return to search for his ring. After finding his ring I sent him  a photo of his ring and he called me back excited. He and his wife had already been researching the purchase of a new ring. We made arrangements to meet up the next weekend when he gets back in the area. Besides being able to return the ring, this was definitely a humbling experience and I’m learning more with each search.

IMG_2726 IMG_2706

Tags:
Category:

Lost Ring … Dog Beach, Huntington, Beach, Ca… Found 3 weeks later

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Sunday.. Sept. 29, 2013

Summer is just about over and I just wanted to spend Sunday at sunset searching a part of dog beach doing a little pleasure detecting. They had a big dog surfing event today with a couple thousand people watching. Yes, dog surfing ..It’s a California specialty.

After an hour or so with very little finds, a nice elderly lady walked up to me and asked me if I could hear her with my head phones on.. I thought she was going to ask me what my best find was. ( which detectorsts get asked many times a day). To my surprise, she asked if I had found a gold wedding band within the last 3 weeks. Her son had lost a nice white/ yellow gold wedding band that had been passed down to him from his dad. I told her that I was a member of The RingFinders and I find and return rings for people.  I asked her if she knew where and she pointed down the beach. Then I asked here if her son was here on the beach. She said yes and we  walked over and talked to Darren. Three weeks ago he was walking his dogs and had a little sand on his hands. Darren brushed his hands together and against his pants. The ring flew off his finger into the soft dry sand. He told me that he spent a couple days searching. He even rented a metal detector with no success. He pointed down the beach describing a area that I thought I recognised. I got his contact information and gave him my contact information. Then I asked him if he had time to walk the 3 or 4 blocks to show me exactly. It was starting to get dark but I wanted to get a good location to possibly search later this week. After three weeks on this public beach it may have been found or pushed too deep for the detector to get a reading.  Darren showed me an area about 40ft by 60ft. At the last minute I told him I wanted to give it a quick try before dark. They wanted to leave and I assured them I was ok.  I normally start from the center and spiral for left to right. For some reason I started from the left side planning to work the 60ft. to the right. I went 6 feet and BOOM! there it was. I looked down the beach and Darren, his Wife and Dad were 100 yards away. They were close enough to hear me.. They came back with giant smiles and very grateful that the ring had been found. I was just as surprised as they were.  It’s not only having the top quality detecting equipment, smart phones and computers.  I’m learning that when I say “I WILL TRY ANYWHERE” it works out for the good.. Staying positive and asking the right questions works real well.

IMG_2662

IMG_2665

Tags:
Category:

Lost Weddding Ring … Tourmaline Beach, San Diego, CA. .. Recovered Ring

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Friday, Sept. 27, 2013

I live in San Diego, CA. part of the year .  I go to my club meetings of Coinshooters of San Diego on the 4th Friday of the month. Thursday night I checked Craig’s List .. Lost and Found. Just out of curiosity. I usually don’t reply to Craig’s List postings, but I sent a message to Becca who had ask for help finding a ring that she had lost a week before. She and her husband had been surfing at Tourmaline beach Saturday 9/21/13.. They both put their rings in a backpack with cell phones and car keys. At one time during their stay at the beach, they took the car keys out to get something from the car. Later, when they were at the car getting ready to leave they went to put the rings on. His ring was there but Becca’s small platinum w/ 3 clear diamonds was not in the back pack. They assumed that the ring had been pulled out of the backpack when removing the keys earier on the beach.

The next day they sifted through the sand and Monday they rented a metal detector ($60 ).. They could not find the ring.. A week pasted and Becca took a chance and posted on Craig’s List.  After I contacted her, I told her I was a member of TheRingFinders metal detecting service. She could research my blog to see if she could trust me. She gave me a general location and said she could meet me after I got there. Sometimes when people assume the ring was lost at a certain time or place it just turns into a time consuming, failed search. I just had to give it a try. If I couldn’t find it I had a nice beach and a beautiful day to go metal detecting. I got there at 10am and found the ring within 30 minutes. Becca was still on her way to the beach. I texted her a photo of the ring and told her to drve careful. It will be waiting here for her. It stayed under the sand for a whole week evading other metal detectorists and the high tides of this week.

This ring was given to Becca by her husbsnd when they worked in South Africa several years ago. It ment the world to her. It also made my day. All these recoverieso are important to me and I often get caught up in retelling these stories to other people.

IMG_2617 IMG_2622

Tags:
Category:

Lost Ring … Laguna Niguel, CA. … Found at the beach in sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Saturday .. Sept. 28, 2013

Sara’s boyfriend Conner called me around noon Saturday asking me about The RingFinders.  He needed help to find a small silver ring that his girl friend Sara lost in the sand at the beach. I was able to meet them at a small secluded beach in South Laguna. All these beaches are accessible only by stairways with over 200 steps. They are beautiful and not used by many people.

As we walked down the steps Sara told me that before going for a swim she put her ring on her sandals. When she came back she picked up the sandals and the ring went into the sand. Several people spent a couple hours searching the sand. I could see the whole area they searched from the top of the stairway. I started a grid search from the middle of the area spiraling outward. Conner started his stopwatch app on his iphone.The same iphone that helped him find The RingFinders and call me with directions to their house.  Eight minutes later we had the ring. There was another family on the beach that had helped sift through the sand before I got there. They all yelled and applauded when the ring was found.

Sara burst into tears. She told me that this small silver ring was given to her by her mother, when she was baptised 10 years ago. Her mother passed away 3 years ago and this ring was so very special to Sara. I will never look at a small silver ring the same. You can never tell how sentimental a ring is by it’s size or what it cost. I believe I’ve found and returned more than $70,000 worth of jewelry but this small silver ring I will not forget. I have found many rings that I could not locate the owners. I’ll look at them differently from now on..

IMG_2640 IMG_2635

Tags:
Category:

Lost Ring … Doheny Beach, Dana Point, CA. … Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Monday, Sept. 23, 2013

Just after finding the two rings that Jordin lost in Newport Beach, I recieved a phone call from Kattie.  She had been searching the internet to rent a metal detector. She got a hold of a dealer in New Jersey, Demarco Detector Sales. Joe Demarco told her about TheRingFinders and Kattie called me.

I was able to set an 11:00am meeting at Doheny Beach which is in Dana Point, CA. Kattie and her friend Rene drove down from Marina Del Rey, CA. which is probably 60 miles the other side of Los Angeles. I drove about 25 miles to meet them.

When they got there, I was told that Sunday they came to Doheny Beach so Kattie could do a some surfing. Doheny is a great place to learn to surf. When Kattie went into the ocean she gave her ring to Rene for safe keeping. Rene put it on her finger and not being use to wearing a ring she did not notice that the ring had slipped off her finger until after Kattie came out of the water.

The best part of the story was Rene had remembered exactly where she had been and I was able to find the ring within a few minutes. They both were very excited and really didn’t believe I could find it. Then they both gave me giant hugs. Rene was no longer guilty and the ring was back on Kattie’s finger where it belongs.. It was a pleasure to help two very nice ladies. They took a few minutes to listen to my RingFinders stories and do the photo opp, which is part of my deal with them..

 

IMG_2592

IMG_2594

Tags:
Category:

Lost Rings … Newport Beach, CA. … Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2013

I checked my emails about 9:30 pm Sunday night. Jordin had emailed me about 6 pm. Inquiring about how “The RingfFinders” service works. I wrote a reply with a short explanation, asking her to call me at any hour. She called me about 7am. Giving me directions to where she lost her rings two days before. Again I raced to the beach trying to beat the beach cleaning machine or possible another hobby detectorist that doesn’t know how to return a sentimental piece of jewelry.

Jordin is from Bakersfield, CA.,visiting her father in Newport Beach and will be returning tomorrow. Saturday, she took her children to the beach and had put her rings in her backpack with the kids toys. When she got to the beach she dumped the toys on the sand. She did not realize till Sunday morning that her rings were lost.. She spent several hours Sunday sifting through the sand and went that night with a flashlight hoping to see a reflection from the diamonds. Her search was not successful and she did not want to tell her father. The larger of the two rings was her mother’s wedding ring and her mother had past away when she was 3 years old. The ring was given to her when she turned 18 years old. How could that ring ever be replaced ?

After following the directions that Jordin gave me over the phone. I was at the beach within 30 minutes and both the rings were in my scoop after grid searching about 20 square feet. I took a photo and sent it to Jordin with a message. Just after I sent the message she came walking towards me from across the beach. When she got to me I asked her if she got my message. She said she had not recieved it.  Then I held up her two rings.. That turned on her tears of joy..

The next day, I came to the same beach area and I could see where the beach sifting machine had passed over the same area on the beach where I had recovered the rings. It feels so good to be able to use my years of using a metal detector to help Jordin and others..

IMG_2585 IMG_2570

Tags:
Category:

Lost Diamond Wedding Ring… Seal Beach, CA… Found in Surf

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

IMG_2507IMG_0338

IMG_0337

Sunday, Sept. 01, 2013

Chrisy’s mother called me excited that I had answered the phone. Her daughter had lost her diamond wedding ring in ankle to knee deep water while throwing a football. While searching the internet Christy’s mom some how called DeMarco Detector Sales in New Jersey. Joe DeMarco helped her to locate my phone number (Thanks Joe) . She contacted me. It was 4pm and the tide was coming in, but I made the trip to talk to Christy and her husband Ryan. It’s half the battle to get the location and all the information that will help make the search successful. They showed me the area and she explained that she was sure it was on her finger before playing ball, but she did not exactly feel when she lost the ring.   I told them I would return at 1 am in the morning. I was worried because the sand was very soft, mushy and there was no shell or rock base. After searching for 2 hours the ring showed up in my scoop. Actually it was less than 4 inches deep. What a beauty !! King Neptune doesn’t get to keep this ring. Christy and Ryan walked out onto the beach 10 minutes after I found the ring. It was like a new years celebration at 2:30 am with 3 people.

This was one of 17 rings found and returned using My Minelab CTX 3030 metal detector sense January, 2013.

Tags:
Category:

Lost Ring… Strand Beach, Dana Point, CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Chunky – White Gold – with 1 ct. Square Cut Diamond

I had just finished doing some recreational detecting of 27 fire pits at Corona Delmar Beach. I like to practice detecting around the fire pits because it’s a challenge to find a good targets amongst all the trash. That’s how I entertain myself. I call it practicing my hobby. Driving home with my detectors ready to go, I got a ringfinders call out from Emily.. She lost a gold ring yesterday afternoon while trying to catch a football. Her and her friends spent hours crawling around on the beach running their fingers thought the sand to no avail.

In the morning Emily and her friend got online and found a link that brought up The RingFinders. I always carry my cell phone and pulled to the side of the road to get the directions and ask a few questions. I did ask her what type material was it made of and was it small or large. She told me it was gold and it was “Chunky”.  I had to drive about 10 miles and walk down about 150 steps. By the time I got to the location I Emily had text message a google map and other information. The best help was they were near a group of 3 trash cans and about 20 ft. from the rocks . I started in a straight line swinging slow and low. Only 30 ft. into the search I got a signal that almost overloaded my detector. It was that beautiful unique ring and I now know what “Chunky” is. I sent her a text photo of her ring on my finger, saying Guess What.

What’s special about this is, we did this all with our smart phones and it wasn’t necessary for Emily to drive 40 miles to show me the location. It was less than an hour from the first call. We arranged to meet back in Newport Beach and she had her ring in about 2 hours from the time she called.  It was all smiles and a  big thank you. She promised me that she was never taking the ring to the beach. Also promised me to send me a message with the weight of her ring. It was definity unique and would have been a heart breaker to lose it.

IMG_2450 IMG_2456

Tags:
Category:

Another Lost Ring.. Laguna Beach, CA.. Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I had just found a 56 year old ring for Marco about 20 minutes before and was only about a block from where I found Marco’s ring.  David came walking up to me and I figured he wanted to ask me ,”What’s the best thing you’ve ever found ?” I hear this 5 or 10 times a day when I get out before everybody leaves the beach.

David did look a little serious and he asked me if I could find a platinum ring he had lost the night before. I told him this is what I do and it should be easy if he was sure of the general area. This is what he told me. He was sitting on a stair step and fiddling with his ring(kind of rolling it with his other fingers) when it popped off right in front of him in the dry sand. He could not find it that night. The next morning he came directly to the place where the platinum ring slipped off his finger. This time he had equipt himself with a bucket, shovel and a sifting tool. David had excavated a 5 foot square area down about 8 or 10 inches and all the sand that had been sifted through the screen was piled up on  a rock. He was very organized and said he had spent more than two hours working his project.

I thought possibly the ring could have got buried too deep to find, because of the amount of sand that was moved. Trying to stay possitive, I searched the pile of sand and the excavated area. Then I did a couple passes of the coil just 3 or 4 ft. to the right of his digging. Right away there was a hit. A nice strong signal and up popped a beautiful platinum ring when I dug it with my scoop. I will not try to retrieve it with my fingers, because I know it is almost impossible. It just keeps slipping through your fingers..  David could not believe that it was that far away from where it dropped. He and his wife Kimberly were very happy to have their ring back and promised to recomend The RingFinders to all their friends and customers. They own a business in Laguna and have seen me on the beach before but didn’t know about our service.

IMG_2430 IMG_2434

Tags:
Category:

Lost Wedding Band… Laguna Beach, CA… Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Wednesday,  August 14, 2013

I was sitting at home trying to decide what beach I was going to today, when I got a call from Marco Semerano, who was vacationing in Laguna Beach with his family. He  had been helping his son dig a hole in the sand Tuesday afternoon when his ring slipped off his finger. He and his wife searched the rest of the day and that night they asked everybody around if there was any way to contact somebody with a detector. No body could help them so they went to the internet and called sporting goods stores, etc. with the idea of buying a detector. That’s when they found The RingFinders and my contact information. I’m only 7 miles away so I was out the door and met Marco on the beach where he was guarding the location where he had lost the ring.

Marco told me how important his ring was to him because it was his father’s. Rocco and Laurie Semerano married 12/29/57.. Knowing the history of his ring, I had to find this ring. I started to swing my search coil and I was getting odd signals so I asked them to move the metal beach chair. After moving the chair I swung my coil where it had been and behold the sound of gold. One scoop and there was Marco’s ring. His face lit up and so did mine.

Marco asked me for some cards because he wanted to make sure the people at the Hotel and the Lifeguards know about The RingFinders service. Someday people will automatically Google the RingFinders to get help. How often have I heard ” I didn’t know a service like this existed”. It’s nice to be part of this group and someday I’ll be able to say I was a member in the early days.

After a couple photos, we talked for a few minutes. Marco telling me the whole story of this ring and me telling him lost ring stories. Then I went off to spend the next few hours detecting on a beautiful beach for pleasure, this is what I do normally. It’s a tuff life. I love it..

IMG_2421 IMG_2418

Tags:
Category: