Two Gold Rings Lost Over a Span of Ten Years Found in Mt. Juliet, TN With a Metal Detector.
Harriet contacted me on 10-29-2025 regarding not one, but two very special gold rings that she had lost on her property in Mt. Juliet, TN. One of the rings was lost just earlier on this date while doing some yard work. The ring had been custom made for her twenty years ago, with the names of her four (now all adult-aged) children engraved around the circumference. Harriet had used her National Geographic metal detector that she’s had for years to look for the ring, unsuccessfully for several hours before finding my information on TheRingFinders website.
Harriet then told me about wedding ring that she lost on her property ten years ago, also while doing some yard work. She described it as a woven, Celtic patterned heavy gold band. Her husband has a matching wedding band. These rings were custom made for them in 1986 by a goldsmith in the “Arcade” area of Downtown Nashville.
We agreed that I would come and conduct a thorough search of the property for the rings on 11-01-2025. I arrived at 10am as promised and Harriet met me outside. The expansive property was once where a log house stood, but burned down over 100 years ago. The property has been in her husband’s family for generations. After Harriet pointed out the areas she had been when she believed she had lost the rings, I grabbed my gear, started a timer and got to searching.
Right at the three minute mark I found the first ring that was lost just days ago. It was in the general area, buried deep in pine needles, where Harriet thought it could be. I knocked on the door and handed the ring to Harriet, who was in total disbelief. She gave me a huge hug. She said she had swung her detector over that area, but it was basically making noise wherever she swung the coil over. One ring found and one to go. Timer reset.
I went to the brush pile where Harriet believed she lost her wedding band a decade ago and has been throwing tree trimmings and weeds for over twenty years. There were also thorny vines, weeds and saplings in this area to complicate things. After knocking down much of the vegetation growing there, I was able to squeeze my metal detector coil in between some saplings. After about thirty nails, screws and other miscellaneous metal pieces were detected and removed from the soil, I found another grouping of six large rusty nails about six inches deep in the soil. And let’s not forget the four inches of vines, decayed wood and weeds that had accumulated on top of the soil over the last few decades. Using my pinpointer, I probed around the loose soil and finding each of the six nails, one at a time. What I expected to a seventh nail was in fact Harriet’s beautiful gold wedding ring. The timer was now at 55 minutes. Wow! Two gold rings found in just under one hour.
I brushed the wedding ring off and placed it on top of a fence post. I called Harriet and asked her to come outside because I had some questions about the weed pile. I told her about all the trashy metal items that I was digging, then said, “Oh, and then I found this!” and handed her the ring. The shocked and joyous look on her face was worth a million bucks. She again gave me the biggest hugs. She said for ten years her wedding ring was right in the area where suspected it was. She even said another friend of hers who gold prospects had looked for the ring with his metal detector, but could never find it. She specifically bought the National Geographic metal detector after losing this ring, and used it countless times around the brush pile, but only heard the constant chattering from the machine.
I know this is a long story, but it gets even better. Right after Harriet lost her wedding ring, her husband, Larry, started growing a beard, which she did not approve of. Larry told Harriet, when she finds her wedding ring, he’ll shave off his beard. Harriet asked me to help her play a joke on Larry, and of course I agreed. She handed me her wedding ring and she retrieved a disposable shaving razor from inside the house. At this point Larry was only aware of me finding the first ring. After a few minutes of conversation with Larry and Harriet near the back of my truck, I started showing Larry all the nails, screws and other metal junk that I dug up around the brush pile. I then pulled out Harriet’s wedding ring and said, “Larry, this ring I found sure looks a lot like your wedding ring, don’t ya think?” Harriet then pulled out the razor and we both told Larry a deal is a deal and he needed to shave off his beard. Whether Larry shaves off his beard or not, I know in my heart that I brought so much joy and relief to Harriet and Larry. It’s truly a blessing to be able to recover precious items that people think are lost forever. The story behind these two rings will go on. I wish all ring searches were this successful, but sadly a 100% success rate is not realistic. To find one missing ring for a client feels awesome. To find two missing rings for the same client, with one being buried for the last ten years, well there just aren’t enough words to describe how great it feels.
