South Yarmouth, MA Gold Charm Went Down the Drain
July 2, 2024
While Brenda was untangling her grandson’s necklace her star fish charm slipped off and right down into the sink’s drain. What was she to do? Brenda knew enough not to run any water. Hey, if water went down, maybe she could suck it up with a vacuum cleaner. Good try, but all she got was a bit of water. Next, call a plumber, but she was not absolutely positive that the charm she referred to as “Henry” was indeed in the P-trap. Maybe a magnet, help from the hardware store…yes. On her way to the hardware store she passed by J&E Metal Detectors. She stopped in and found out gold is non-magnetic and a detector could not be swung in the area. Eleanor’s suggestion was to call me. She did and within a hour we had a plan.
First I had to ensure “Henry” was in the P-trap, that was stainless steel and had no drain plug. My answer was to use a stroboscope. I remembered another member of TheRingFinders had used one in search of a ring lost in a car. IT WORKED in this situation also, Henry was indeed in the P-trap. I loosened one pipe nut by hand but the second one required much finesse with a 16 inch channel lock wrench.
Once the nuts were undone, the P-trap slid out and so did the star fish which was then slid onto its chain. Two things remained: first putting the sink back into working order. Second: pictures and a Thank You. My reward and best part of the day was seeing the smile on Brenda’s face while holding “Henry” against her chest. Just another reason for me to keep on offering my talents to those in need.
Its a beautiful afternoon in one of New Jerseys finest beach towns, Seaside Park. The oceans were calm, winds light and variable, which made for a perfect day of shell collecting. Dylan and his daughter set out to do just that. Unfortunately all the absolutely beautiful shells they had gathered together, just couldn’t make up for what had just happened. They were down at the very bottom of the tide line, by the drop off, picking up just one last shell, when Dylan decided to rinse off his hands and call it a day. At that very moment he watched his ring slip off his finger, and drop into the sand, just as a wave was rolling in. Even thought the ocean was as calm as we will experience here, Dylan had absolutely no luck over the next two days locating his beautiful wedding ring. When he called me and told me it had already been two days, and that it was just about dead low tide where his ring slipped off, I didn’t have a good feeling about the recovery, at that moment. What he did have in his favor was the fact that it had been dead calm, and was going to continue that way for the next few days. I told Dylan I would be on the beach for the next low tide which was day 3 of his ring being lost on the bottom of the ocean. I was out at 4 AM scouring every inch of the location he had marked with his phone in google maps, with not even one signal. Unfortunately I had prior obligations the next 2 days and would not be able to return until the following morning low tide. It was 5 AM or so, and here I am wondering around in the ocean again, but this time in about thigh deep water my machine sounds off a perfect low tone that you can tell almost in an instant was Dylan’s ring. I missed it in the first scoop, then BINGO !!!! I had his ring after 6 full days in the ocean. Believe me friends, this situation almost never exists in the state of NJ, but luckily for him it did that week. I messaged him asking for a detailed description, because all we had mentioned was white gold in our other conversations. I was pretty positive this was his ring, and the pictures confirmed that. I texted him pics and he was in total shock. We agreed to meet a few hours later for the monumental return.
