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Lost Ring – Never Give Up Hope, Ring Found 3 Years Later

  • from Madison (Wisconsin, United States)
Contact:

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Recently, we were featured in an article by Doug Moe, a local reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal. The story was about our Ring Finding activities (http://host.madison.com/news/local/columnists/doug-moe/doug-moe-the-man-who-finds-lost-rings/article_3ef64cca-adf5-5735-8399-4f6e440631e0.html). After the article ran, I was contacted by about a dozen people who had lost their wedding ring between 1 and 8 years ago. This was awesome, because a lot of time people just give up looking for their ring. If you have a good idea on where and how you lost your ring, there is probably a pretty good chance it is still there. One of the couples who contacted me was Heather and Ron and this is their ring story.

Three years ago, Heather was preparing for an Easter Egg hunt in her backyard. The weather was just starting to warm up, so she decided it would be nice to have the hunt outside. She first wanted to clean up the dead leaves that were around her shrubs and in her planting beds from the past fall. Heather’s lot backed up to a wooded area, which was a convenient place to throw leaves and other yard waste. It was here that Heather tossed the leaves from her yard.

The next day, she was busy preparing for Easter dinner, when suddenly she realized that her wedding ring of 19 years was missing. She had been so busy getting ready for company that she didn’t focus on the fact that her ring was not on her finger. She felt absolutely sick, but hoped that it would show up. Days passed, but still not ring. She wondered if she had lost it in the house or maybe it fell down the drain? Ron, Heather’s husband, inspected all the traps under the sinks in the house. No ring. Time went on, but still no ring.

Heather thought back to the day she lost it and remembered that the day prior, she was in the backyard raking and cleaning the leaves. She also remembered that she was not wearing any gloves while working in the backyard, and there was a chance the ring could have fallen off while scooping up or tossing the leaves in the woods. They searched the areas she was working, but did not find anything. It’s amazing how a ring can quickly disappear from sight. After about a year of searching and wondering, Heather gave up – accepting the fact that she’d never see her ring again. They went to the jewelry store and picked out a new ring to replace the one missing from her finger.

Fast forward 3 years, and Ron was reading the Sunday paper one winter day. He showed Heather an article about some local “Ring Finders” who had helped others find their lost rings in the area. Ron called me the next day and told me their story. I said we could help, but needed to wait till Spring when the snow had melted and the ground thawed. This past weekend, I happened to be visiting an old family friend on the same side of Madison that Heather and Ron lived. I called Ron and setup a time to come out and take a look.

When we pulled up, we were greeted by Ellie, the family dog. Kylie, my daughter, enjoyed playing with Ellie … and I think Ellie enjoyed playing with Kylie too. Carter, my son, and I immediately started the search. We first scanned the planting area where Heather was working in 3 years ago. Amazingly, we found nothing. Typically around the perimeter of the house, we find a fair amount of junk left over from building projects or a recent roofing job – but there was nothing (which is awesome). So, we moved to the area where Heather had tossed the leaves. Almost immediately, we got a good strong and consistent signal. Carter scratched away the soil and we could quickly see the edge of a ring start to appear. The ring had been lost for 3 years, and after only about 5 mins we had found it!

I called Heather back out and distracted her with a “question”, when she turned around, she saw me holding up her ring.  She was shocked.  I don’t think she would ever had guessed that we would find her ring that quickly. After a couple of seconds, she let out a loud scream and jumped up and down with joy. This is my favorite part of Ring Hunting … the reveal. I love the reaction and expressions on people’s faces when we pull something out of the ground, that just seconds earlier, had been lost forever.

Thank you Ron and Heather for the generous reward. We will donate a portion of the reward to Carter and Kylie’s school, as we do with all rewards. We will then use the remainder to purchase some additional “test rings”. We have a couple of rings that we’ve found and have not been able to return. These prove very valuable when first starting a hunt. If we can get a similar ring and drop it in the same environment, it helps us tune our machines and focus on what signals to look for.

Remember, even if it’s been years – there is still hope that your ring can be found.

Every ring has a story, what’s yours?

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iPhone 6 Lost at Redondo Beach, CA…Found.

  • from Redondo Beach (California, United States)

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I received a call from Joseph this morning about an iPhone 6 that he lost yesterday at the beach. I went through my litany of questions to find out how the phone was lost in order to make the recovery quicker. It was then Joseph told me he checked the Find My iPhone app this morning, and it showed the phone near the pier. This has been the second iPhone 6 in about 4 weeks, both using the find app, so I thought it would be quick and painless.

We got to the spot and he showed me the general area. It was not real small, but manageable, I figured it would not take a great amount of time. I gridded the area, with nothing, I then went outside of the area, supposing it might have been thrown in a way he was not sure of, still with no luck. After about 3 hours, I asked if he would show me the find app, so I could judge where the phone was, when he told me he did not have the capability at the beach, but had to go home to access it. There were more and more people arriving at the beach, which was making the hunt more difficult, so I told him I would go home until about 6 or 7 this evening, and come back to search. Before I came back though, I wanted him to check the find app to make sure the phone was still there, which he agreed to do.

About 5 this evening I received a text message with a picture from Joseph, and it was showing the phone on the beach, but when I looked at the picture, it was no where near where I had been searching. It was then that I noticed, it was at the County beach cleaning site, and the app was showing the phone where the County dumps all the trash it picks up off of the beach. It must have been caught by the beach cleaning machines sometime after they had first checked the app this morning. I went to the site, and looked at piles of garbage bags, and a pile of seaweed mixed with all kinds of beach trash. I figured the phone would not be in the bags, because someone would have had to pick it up and put it in one of them, so I exempted the bags from the search. I then focused on the seaweed pile using my AT Pro with small coil to find the metal, and using gloves, started working through the mess. Within about 10 minutes I found the phone, and although it had been damaged by the beach cleaning machine, it was still functioning.

Joseph and I met at the first spot, at about 10:30 PM, so I could return the phone, and it was a happy ending to a long day.

If you lose your ring or other metal item of value, call as soon as possible. I will work hard to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search,  Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, and Ventura County.

Lost Engagement Ring Houston, Texas (Recovered)

  • from Sugar Land (Texas, United States)

Engagement Ring Lost in the Backyard for a Month (Recovered)

04/11/2015

I was contacted by Brian from Houston regarding his wives lost engagement ring.  Brian said several weeks ago his wife was doing some yard work in the back yard of their home. He said at some point his wife had removed the gloves she had been wearing and her ring apparently came off her finger and landed somewhere in the backyard.

Brian said he had borrowed a metal detector several weeks ago and was unsuccessful at finding the missing ring. He said it was at that point he turned to the internet and tried to find someone to help. Brian said he had tried a few different key searches “”person who helps find lost rings” and after not having any real success suspended his search efforts.

Brian said a few days later he began searching the internet again and used a search phrase “ring finder” and the rest is history.

Brian called wanting to know if I was still helping people find lost rings, and of course the answer was YES.

I met Brian today at his residence and was shown the area needing to be searched. I started working the backyard in a traditional grid search, hitting several deeper targets. After completing a through sweep of the primary area, I expanded the grid, and hit the missing ring on the first pass outside of the initial search area.

 

 

 

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The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service

We can search virtually any location, some of the most common places are parks, lakes, beaches and even your own front yard…If you lost your “Ring” or other precious item…We can find it!

We train regularly and use the best Metal Detecting Equipment available insuring the greatest possibility of finding your lost possessions.

www.theringfinders.com                                         Texas

www.theringfinders.com/john.volek

Don’t wait… Call now!

John Volek

281-330-7758

Silver Ring Possibly lost in Sand .. Spring Break .. Newport Beach, CA. .. Recovered

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)

 

Thursday April8, 2015

Jessie’s family is visiting Newport Beach from Texas. They have been staying in a condo on the beach with several friends and their kids hanging out enjoying our awesome sunny weather.
When Jessie called me she told me she had lost her ring the day before, but she was not sure when or where she lost it. The beachfront house they are staying in has sand right up to their front patio. She had spent most of the day in the sand with the younger kids. There was a time during the day that Jessie put sunscreen on the kids. She could not remember for sure if that was when it went missing.
When I got there I was lucky enough to get a parking space within 25 ft. of the sand. That is the first miracle. You have to know 43st. Newport Beach. As I returned a call to Jessie to let her know I was here, about four or five little girls started yelling Metal Detector Man.. They were part of the vacationers family. I only had to walk around the corner to meet Jessie. I set my detector answering a few questions of how it works. They asked how deep it would detect because they had spent several hours sifting through the sand yesterday and today. Because she wasn’t quite sure where or when it was lost, I said we can start out about 4 feet from the wall to eliminate that area. With about 15 people watching my every move, I started my grid search. First target one penny ( not a silver sound), then a piece of tinfoil ( closer to a gold tone) , the last sound could have been a quarter. It was not a quarter, but it was Jessie’s silver ring. Found within the first five feet probably 5 minutes. It surprised everybody including me. It took longer to get pictures of the ring and Jessie with the ring for this blog and our book of smiles. It is a good feeling for me to know that their vacation was not spoiled by the loss of a sentimental keepsake.
They had called a friend of mine who told them to look me up in TheRingFinders.com. I was on the beach in Laguna when she called but it’s less than ten miles and it took about 45 minutes to drive to their place. It’s only about three miles from my home.

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I Found Chris Turner’s Platinum Diamond Ring .. Huntington Beach, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)

Hyatt Regency Resort  … Huntington Beach, Calif. … Monday ..  April 6, 2015

I received a call from a lady who said they had lost her husband’s ring Easter Sunday in the sand while staying at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Huntington Beach. She told me her husband’s name is Chris Turner and he was in a meeting. He would contact me soon. For a second I thought the call was some sort of prank, because the founder and CEO of TheRingFinders is also Chris Turner. It was just a coincidence. I told her I would not wait for him to get out of the meeting, because this is one of the most heavily hunted areas of Huntington Beach by recreational metal detectorists, especially the day after spring break. I would go to the general area and wait for Chris’s phone call.
After arriving I walked out on the beach to the towel line. I could see that the beach sifting machines had already passed through this part of the beach. They are very thorough, but sometimes they set up their machines for surface cleaning allowing them to travel faster covering more area.
Chris called saying he was on his way to show me the exact location. When he walked on the beach I was gridding about 50 feet away from where they had set up yesterday. He directed me over to the location and told me that he had given his wedding band to his wife to put in her coin purse. On the way back to their car he asked her for the ring. It was not in the purse. They went back spending 2 hours searching the sand. Possibly they moved enough sand that the ring sunk deep enough that it was missed by the sifter. I made about three or four 25 ft. passes and got the beautiful solid sound of precious metal. Scooped up Chris’s beautiful ring that he has worn for 16 years of marriage. Smiles and high fives from the other people on the beach. Then a big man hug from Chris. It was hard to keep a positive attitude in this search because I know this beach well. Just as we were taking a few photos for this blog, here comes one of the regular Detectorist that work this beach. I was surprised we didn’t see more. Chris got on the phone to give his wife the good news. Then on his way back to work.

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White Gold and Diamond Engagement Ring Found .. Malibu, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)

Pt. Dume State Beach, Malibu, CA. #2      ….  Saturday   April 4, 2015

I was at Pt. Dume State Beach on a ring search for Rachel. While waiting for people to leave the towel line search area. A lady walked up to me asking if she could use my services. This is what I call ” A Walk Up.” Her friend Joselyn had dropped her wedding ring set in the sand while putting on sunscreen. She was standing up when she dropped the two rings. ( less than 4 ft. ) The two ladies and their husbands searched for over two hours with their fingers finding only the smaller wedding band. They were amazed that the ring evaded their attempts to find it with their fingers in such a small area of sand.
Joselyn’s husband took off with the car to go into town trying to purchase a metal detector.
I walked over to the location in the sand near the parking lot. There was so much electrical noise interference I started to panic. I just thought I would listen to all those false signals hoping that my Minelab CTX 3030 could give me a solid signal. I got a good different sound and put my scoop into the sand. Up popped the beautiful engagement ring. Smiles and hugs made it a special occasion for all. Joselyn allowed me to set the ring back in the sand to take a photo, but she said she was afraid that it might get lost in the sand again. Her friend was glad they found the ring because she had to get to the airport for her flight back to England.
I went back to wait for people to leave so I could finish searching for the other lady’s engagement ring.

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Platinum Diamond Wedding Band Recovered … Malibu, Calif.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)

Pt. Dume State Beach, Malibu, CA. #1    ……  Saturday April 4, 2015

Rachel’s husband Joel contacted me Saturday morning asking for help to find a wedding ring set that was lost by his wife in the sand Friday at Pt. Dume State Beach, Malibu, CA. I asked them to get to the location to secure the area that the rings were lost. It is spring break and with the great weather the beaches have been crowded. I was on the road soon after the phone call but it would be about 11am before we could meet up.
After arriving I met Rachel and she explained that she had taken off her wedding ring set off, setting them on her towel while applying sunscreen. Later in the day she picked up her towel shaking the sand off. It wasn’t until after they got back home that she realized that her rings had to be in the sand at the beach.
I started to grid search the immediate location where they had spread their beach gear. I was racing to search the part of the beach not claimed by other beach goers. Twenty feet away from them I found the platinum wedding band. Normally the larger engagement ring would be very close by, but it did not show up. We were right at the most used part of the beach the towel line, next to the lifeguard tower and close to the restrooms. I still could not get to all the sand area it could have been thrown when she shook the towel. After waiting 3 hours for people to leave the un searched sand, I could not find the larger diamond ring. It was hard to tell Rachel it was not there, but I know that I covered the area thoroughly and it was not there. It is very likely that somebody had found it, there are many people that work these beaches with detectors everyday this time of year. Especially the towel line. Rachel did tell me that the ring I found was very sentimental to her because it had diamonds from both her mother and grandmothers rings. She had worn these rings over sixteen years.
Normally I could search that type location in about one hour. I stayed more than 4-1/2 hours till I felt I had gridded the whole area in more than three directions in all metal mode with the highest sensitivity I could set my detector. Later I called a local detectorist to asked if he knows of any recent find from this beach. We also posted a lost ring add on Craiglist in hopes that someone has found the other ring.
This was a disappointing search for me, because I’m used to finding both rings when a set has been lost. I guess this is what they call a bitter – sweet type feeling. Rachel’s 11 year old daughter was so happy after finding the wedding band, she said that she made two wishes that morning. One wish was that we could find the wedding ring .. She said she couldn’t tell us the other wish, because it would ruin the wish.

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25 Year Work Anniversary Ring Lost and Found – Another Reason Not to Rent a Metal Detector in Madison

  • from Madison (Wisconsin, United States)
Contact:

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I received an email from Al on Easter Sunday. I was up at my sister’s house in La Crosse, so I wasn’t able to call Al back right away. I did exchange some emails back and forth to ensure that this wasn’t a recent loss, as timing is so important when attempting to find a lost ring. The quicker you can get our on site, the higher likelihood you have of finding your lost ring.

The next day Al and I finally connected via phone. Al explained that the ring was a men’s gold ring, with a black onyx center stone with diamonds along the side. He had received the ring as recognition for 25 years of service from a local insurance company. Al explained that he was out mowing his lawn on his riding mower. Behind Al’s lot is a common greenway, which he frequently mows and maintains – almost like part of his own yard. He approached a set of trees which hadn’t been trimmed recently – so the branches hung down low. In order to mow around the tree, Al had to raise up the branches with his hand as he passed under the tree on his mower. While doing this, one of the small braches hooked around his ring and when he let go of the branch, the ring was ripped from his finger and flung off into the grass. He stopped his mower, got off and got a leaf rake. He raked the entire area, hoping to stir up the ring. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find anything.

A year passed, and Al always wondered if his ring was still out there. One day, he was reading the Sunday paper and came across a story by Doug Moe, a local reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal. The story was about our Ring Finding activities (http://host.madison.com/news/local/columnists/doug-moe/doug-moe-the-man-who-finds-lost-rings/article_3ef64cca-adf5-5735-8399-4f6e440631e0.html). Al read the story and wondered if I would be able to find his ring he lost the previous year. Al had always thought about renting a metal detector, but was worried he wouldn’t know how to work it. Al did the right thing by calling us. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard of people renting a metal detector – only to become completely frustrated after only a couple of mins.

I told Al I would need to check with my wife to see what our plans were, and we tentatively planned to get together over the weekend. After hearing Al’s story, I knew that I would be able to find his ring. If you know the exact area and moment you lost your ring – someone with a metal detector will find it, almost 100% of the time (unless someone else finds it first J).

After hanging up the phone with Al, I talked with my wife and the weekend was free. Only problem was it looked like rain for the next 7 days. If you read my other stories, you’ll know that I metal detector with my two kids. I told them the story about Al’s ring, and they started to get excited. You see, we had been on 3 previous hunts where we did not find the ring we were looking for. We are scheduled to go back on all three, as they were all lost between 1 and 8 years ago, and we haven’t given up yet. Al’s ring sounded to me like a slam dunk. Unfortunately, it was Monday night and the UW Badgers were playing for the National Championship against Duke – first time since 1941. We have season tickets and love Badger Basketball. Tipoff was a little after 8:00 … it was 5:45. I looked at the kids and said, “Maybe we just go out and take a look at the site and see what we find?” They were totally on board, and we were all excited to break our dry streak. We jumped in the van.

Al only lived about 15 mins away, however, as we pulled into his driveway it started to rain. Argh. We decided to give it a shot anyways, and headed to the backyard. Al explained how he lost again, and we started to search the area. We got some hits right away, but all turned out to be junk. You’d be surprised how much junk is buried in your backyard. I always tell people not to get discouraged when we don’t find their ring right away, and we assured Al that we’d keep looking until we found it. I widened the search area around the tree, not knowing how far that branch might have flung the ring. After about 20 mins, my daughter says to me, “That tree over there looks a lot like this tree.”  I’m not sure if Al heard her or not, but a min later he said, “Maybe it was closer to that tree.” Sure enough, after moving over … the very first hit we got was Al’s ring – about an inch below the grass.

Al was relieved to have the ring back on his finger, his wife also was surprised we were able to find it … and even in the rain! We quickly returned home to watch Bucky play a heck of a game, but came up short in the end.

Thanks for the reward Al and so glad we were able to get that ring back on your finger.

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Lost Platinum & 18k Gold Wedding Ring Recovered in Morrisville N.C. on 3/31/15

  • from Hillsborough (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

On 3/29/15 , I was contacted by a Mr. Michael C. about his wedding ring he had lost while playing with his Dogs in his back yard.. We discussed the lost ring and all the details of where he had lost it and how.. After speaking to him I agreed to meet him the next day on 3/30/15 to do the search and find his ring.. I assured him it would be a easy search and I would be able to find his ring pretty quick since he was sure of the area he lost it in.. We had agreed to meet between 6:00pm & 6:30pm , 0n 3/30/15..

But the next day before I was to go out to do the search, I had decided since I had time before meeting him that I would go metal detecting in the woods first to pass some time before I had to meet him.. Thats when I had a problem of my own , I was about a mile back in the woods detecting and when it came time to head back to my truck so I could meet Mr. Michael C. to do his search I had relized I lost my truck keys in the woods somewhere.. This was a problem since I could not go anywhere with out my keys and I could not call him to let him know what happened since I locked my phone in my truck and could not get in to call anyone.. I search the woods again for my keys and decided to walk home when I could not find them.. When I finally got home , I emailed Mr. Michael C. late that night to let him know what had happened and to apologize for not being able to make it to do the search.. The next morning on 3/31/15, I had a friend give me a ride back to my truck with a spare set of keys so i could pick my truck up.. That same day I had spoke to Mr. Michael C. again since I had my phone again and truck back.. He was very understanding as to what happened and we agreeded to meet that day between 4pm & 4:30pm.. When I got there it was around 4pm and I met with Mr. Michael C. about ten minutes later when he had got there.. He walked me through what he was doing when he lost his ring and I even got to meet his 2 dogs he was playing with when he lost the ring.. I showed him the equipment I was going to use and explained this search would not take long as i was going to be able to find it fast using my long range electroscope called the Regulator..  I began my search using the Regulator long range electroscope and instantly got a hit on a line of bearing to search.. I grabbed my metal detector and in less then 3 minutes I had found his ring.. I was happy to have helped him out and he was very happy to have it back.. I also want to thank him for the generous reward he offered.. That much of a reward was not neccesary because I was not used to getting that much for a reward.. Its not about the amount of the reward I am offered that gives me pleasure in helping others out.. My reward is the pleasure I get when I see the smiles on a persons face when I return their lost item back to them..

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Sons silver ring lost and found in West Kelowna backyard.

  • from Kelowna (British Columbia, Canada)
Contact:

Kelly phoned me to say that her son Carson was devastated because he had lost his silver ring in their backyard while playing with the dog. It was lost the evening prior to her call, the family searched the side of the house where it came off during a toy throw. I arrived and expected to find it in the junipers by the side of the house, after one hour I knew it was not there. I asked if I could check out the next door suspecting it may have flown over the fence. No one was home so we went around and sure enough it was lying on the gravel pathway.

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