Uncategorized Category | Page 361 of 589 | The Ring Finders

Michael, his wife & friends took a stroll one summers day to Old Harry. Finding some stones, Michael showed a young lad how they used to do ‘flint knapping’ taking off his ring & carefully placing it on a jacket. Later, he threw his jacket on & returned to the car only to realize “wheres my ring”?!

They returned to he long narrow stretch of almost featureless field & searched for over an hour with no success. When Michael called me I was sure it could be found but prepared for a lengthy search. However after just half an hour the CTX3030 suddenly roared gold & there it was- lying in about three inches of grass.

Michael & wife were thrilled to be reunited with it & made a donation to Margaret Green Animal Sanctuary when they returned from holiday.

I received a call this late afternoon from my hunting friend Gregg Larabel.  He had just received a lost ring call and they wanted to look for it tonight.  But since Gregg was busy I would have to go on this one by myself.  Phil and some family members rented a cottage for a few days at the beach.  Phil is originally from Lansing but now lives in Baton Rogue and now spending some time with his family on vacation.  They were playing catch in about chest-deep water when he caught the football with his left hand, and somehow his wedding ring went flying off his finger.  He(very cleverly) left his brother to mark the spot while he went to call for help.  I arrived about 7 PM and met his father and mother on the beach.  They pointed out Phil, who was in the water guarding the spot where the ring was lost.  After wading out and meeting Phil, he said his ring shouldn’t be more than 10 to 15ft from him, so he stayed in that spot and I hunted the area around him.  After about 20 minutes I got a good(GOLD)signal and called Phil over, telling him this should be it.  After a couple of scoops we had his beautiful 14K gold ring.  In checking it, I see their wedding date engraved inside the ring and guess what: their 1st wedding anniversary is coming up in a few weeks.  His smart moves in calling right away and carefully marking the spot made all the difference.  We not only saved good vacation memories but added a good note to their upcoming wedding anniversary.                                                                          

Martin was snorkeling in the water right off La Jolla Cove and when came ashore, he pulled off his wet suit. In doing so, his bracelet broke and pieces sprung off into the sand and shallow water. He managed to find most of it, but, the end couple of links were still missing and he couldn’t find them. In talking with a few people on the beach, he met Bill, who is a regular there. Bill told Martin to contact the local metal detecting club, The San Diego Coinshooters, for help. He emailed Mike,  who’s in charge of our club website. Mike then contacted me to see if I’d be interested in helping him. I contacted Martin right away to get the story and location. Since Martin lived out of town and had already returned home, we had to do this all by photos and descriptions. The site isn’t an easy area to search. Lots of rocks and mushy sand on a tidally active steep beach. Since it had already been a week since the loss, I told Martin that it was going to be a long shot, but, I was game if he was. With the go ahead, I hit the beach at 3:30 am to take full advantage of the low tide at 5:30am. He’d made a map for me to go by, and it proved accurate. I started at one end of his circled search area and about 3/4 of the way though it, I got a weak, bouncy signal mostly down in the mid teens on my Equinox showing a target at 8-10 inches deep. Everything heavy sinks deep very quickly at this beach, so, not unusual, and probably just another pull tab or bottle cap. This time, we were in luck. I found his bracelet links in the bottom of my scoop. Initially, Martin thought it was just a gold link that was missing, but, it turns out that both a gold and silver link had been lost, hence the strange signal. This is a very sentimental bracelet for Martin, so, he plans to have a jeweler fix it. A happy Martin made the 2 1/2 hour trip here to San Diego to pick it up. A pleasure to me you Martin and thank you for the reward and gifts.

No skill here, just plain luck!!  Received an email from Rachel late on Friday night saying her husband, Mike, lost his wedding ring in Lake Michigan.  They were smart to contact me so quickly.  The Big Lake was really churning yesterday and today was expected to be the same, so Gregg Larabel and I arrived this morning to meet Mike at the beach.  He showed us the area where he lost his ring–somewhere between the white and red buoys(see picture).   I have to admit our hearts sank after looking at the wave conditions and the area to cover.  Just standing in the waves was going to be a challenge.  We are well aware of the dangers in Lake Michigan.  Anything over waist deep in these conditions is a no-no for us because of the dangerous rip currents.  But we’re here; we’ll give it a try up to our limit.  Mike did say that midway between the buoys was probably the most likely spot to search.  In the picture you can see that’s where I headed–and that is about where I found his ring.  I received only one good target and assumed it would be a pull tab, but then, a pull tab way out here is unlikely.  After several waves pushed me off target I finally had the target in my scoop and to my surprise it was his ring.  We were out there less than ten minutes.  I still cannot believe it!  Mike is a music director for his church and his prayers were answered today.

Samantha emailed me, asking if I could help find her father’s ring he lost 2 summers ago. They are getting ready to move soon. I asked her where they were located, and she said Connecticut. Hmmm, that’s kind of far, but after hearing the story, I told myself this one is for me.