Tom Caldie, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 3 of 4

On March 21st, I received an email from a person named Kate, who had lost a vintage silver ring last summer while wilderness camping near the two-hearted river in Upper Michigan. It was her grandmother’s ring, and her fiance had been wearing it on a chain around his neck for seven years. They planned on getting married soon, and needed the ring to design their wedding bands. I explained that the trip would be pretty far, but she offered to pay expenses. Finally, we heard the snow melted there, so decided to leave. My detectorist friend, Brian,  and I drove there last Friday. Brian did the driving because his vehicle has better climate control and he can see deer better. We drove, and drove, and drove. It was about 500 miles, plus an extra 60-mile trip to get a park pass from the State DNR Park office, plus kind of getting lost a few times because GPS, two phones, and a few maps all said different things. Finally, we found the camp site coordinates on Brian’s portable GPS, hiked a ways to it, and he found the ring! We celebrated with a couple of Yuengling beers. Taquamenon Falls was amazing, and the campsite was pretty cool, too. 

On Saturday, May 26th, 2018, Brad contacted me to say he had lost his wedding band at a popular sandbar while throwing a football with his family.   He called a friend who metal detects, who lived too far away to drive, but recommended me.   I tried to find someone who would be at the lake, but nobody was available.  So, I quick popped in the car and drove about 75 miles to the cottage.  The entire family rode out to the sand bar with me to witness the search.  They were all very nice, though worried it might never be found.  Luckily, they had marked the spot using GPS on a cell phone, so we knew we were close.  Well, maybe not, as opinions differed as to which direction the 14k ring had flown.  Gold can grow wings when it catches on a football!   After about 20 minutes of pattern searching, a handful of pop tabs and a few coins, I heard what I thought was another pop tab signal in my AT Pro Headphones.  A beautiful wedding band with inlaid diamonds appeared in the scoop, and Brad plucked it out with a big smile!   His finger needed that ring back on it after 21 years!   It was well-worth the drive to make Brad and his wife happy! 

Dan’s gold wedding band has been on his finger since 1969.    He lost it while setting out a Christmas scene in his yard last December.  Snow and cold, not to mention a late April blizzard made searching impossible, but Dan waited until the thaw.   Finally, on April 29th, I received an email asking me to look.  I drove to his home around noon and found it in 45 minutes.  I never saw such a big smile.  He didn’t feel complete without his ring back where it belonged.

I forgot to post this last September, but it’s an aweseome recovery story!  I was called out by a married couple who needed some help searching a sand bar for her lost ring set.  It consisted of three beautiful 14k rings from their engagement, wedding, and anniversary with many sparkly diamonds, and it was her pride and joy, in addition to their four wonderful children.  She was throwing a football in the water with some friends and noticed it gone.  She never  thought it would be recovered until they googled Ringfinders.  She, her husband, and  I searched for the better part of a day with no luck.   Then, I went out on my own for a full day, again with no  luck.  I ventured out a third time with my two friends,  Jeff and Brian, thinking three experienced detectorists would have better results.  I found the signal right about where she had searched with me the first time, and quickly texted a pic to her husband.  He drove to pick it up and bought the three of us some hot hamburgers and cold beer.    It was great to see his smile!  He didn’t tell his wife it had been found, but just laid it on the kitchen counter and snapped her picture when she saw it.   Nice of him to share it!   The Ringfinders make a lot of couples very happy to recover their treasured memories.  It’s more than just finding rings.  

Last week I received a call from a woman whose husband lost his ring on a soccer field in a park on the far west side of town.  I trundled out early in the morning to avoid the kids, and searched one goal for about 30 minutes, then switched to the other end.   In about 10 minutes, I found it just outside the chalk marks.  It must have slipped off of his finger just when he leapt out to block.     I snapped a photo of it, but forgot to ask his wife to pose when she drove by to recover it for her groom.  Oh well!   Will remember next time.   

Tom Caldie was helping a friend with an art gallery near Fish Creek in Door County, Wisconsin when he received a call from a Milwaukee resident who had been visiting over the weekend.    She brought her two young sons swimming for their first time in a lake, and the experience was saddened by the loss of her 14k diamond engagement ring.   Even though the family purchased a metal detector, their inexperience and lack of a water scoop meant the ring was probably lost for good.

A Google search brought up Tom’s name, and Ringfinders came to the rescue.  By coincidence, Tom was only minutes away from the beach where it was lost, and quickly started a grid search as soon as the gallery was closed for the day. After a few hours of sweeping the area, and a phone call  to the owner to pin-point the probable location, this beautiful diamond ring and its memories were finally  recovered.    It was shipped overnight to Milwaukee and back on her finger in no time.

Not much later, on July 4th, Tom received a call from a man who had lost his palladium art carved wedding band near Sturgeon Bay.    After a joint effort involving scooping and moving several large rocks and gravel,  the ring was found.   Another happy ending!   I don’t have a pic of that one because of a phone glitch, but the memories and feelings that went with it will always be unforgettable. 

On June 15th, Tom Caldie received a call from a homeowner in Appleton, Wisconsin, who had been burglarized.    The alleged thief was spotted running out the back door with a laundry bag over his shoulder.  He burst through a hedge, scurried down a retaining wall, and darted downhill through a neighbor’s heavily wooded lot to the Fox River.   911 was called and the police arrived shortly to find a man attempting escape by swimming across the river.   He refused to come to shore, and a police boat was launched to apprehend him.  No trace of the loot was evident because he had stashed it with the hope of recovering it later, and he would not reveal its location.

That night, two young men from the neighborhood found bracelets and necklaces in shallow water along the shore by shining lights into the river, but not much was recovered.   A few days later, the homeowner found Tom Caldie’s Ringfinder information through a Google search and called him.  She couldn’t believe such a service existed, especially in water.  Tom packed his wet suit, Garrett AT Pro, and Titanic water scoop and arrived at the site within an hour.    He followed the burglar’s track precisely, detecting under plants and brush, and found a few pieces of jewelry on the hillside leading down to the water.   Once in the river, he discovered a trail leading downstream of pearl necklaces and bracelets,  and some silver turquoise pieces.  They were mixed with weeds, between rocks, and in the muddy river bottom.  A   Then, a sudden tornado-like squall arrived with lightning, heavy rain, and high winds, and the search was cut short.

The next day, the river was only four inches higher because of the storm, and the water, which is normally a root beer color, was muddy, so Tom brought a compost rake to move debris.  Resuming his sweep, he followed the trail of dropped pieces to a loud signal submerged three feet under the surface and tangled under a large fallen willow tree.  Reaching in with the rake, he found laundry!   The third pair of shorts had two gold chains on it, so he knew he  was close.  Then, the rake pulled out a large purse with an assortment of necklaces and earrings in it, and some appeared to be gold.   A few more tries and the laundry bag was recovered as well, with watches, necklaces, and more clothes mixed in.  (Later, the police estimated the theft at $40,000.)

After cleaning up more loose pieces off the river bottom, Tom brought the two bags to the homeowner, who was ecstatic to recover her platinum engagement band, wedding band, and ten-year anniversary rings!   She was quite happy to retrieve the other items as well, but those three rings brought tears and smiles.   It would have been a shame if they would have been lost forever on the muddy river bottom.