Uncategorized Category | Page 445 of 479 | The Ring Finders

Joel H. emailed me Thursday Aug 29 to find out if I could look for a ring that he lost while playing in the water with his 7 year old daughter. Millennium Park is usually off limits for metal detecting so I told him we would have to get permission from the park ranger. Joel made a few calls and Friday morning 8am we were at the park ready to search for his ring. He had pretty much narrowed the search area after loosing his ring he counted the swim buoys and looked back at the beach so he knew where it should be.

I set up some grid markers and began the  search after going from shore to about chest deep a couple of times I got a good signal and took a big scoop of sand and as it was coming to the top I could see a glint of gold as the sand was sifting through my scoop. I picked out the size 13 gold wedding band and asked Joel if that was it. The smile on his face explained it all.

I want to thank Roger and his rangers for allowing us to search the water. As I detect I also pick out any trash from the water and recovered a few pull tabs, bobby pins, a battery and a couple pairs of sunglasses.

I got a text this morning from Tina O. on my way to find a ring in Coloma, MI. The text read “Mother passed on Monday, fathers birthday is tomorrow, he lost his wedding ring last winter”. I texted her back and asked where, in water or land? she told me the ring was lost while changing a truck transmission after a breakdown in a church parking lot. The church location was near my home so when I got back from a successful search in Coloma I called her and met her at the church.

A year had gone by since the loss, snow was plowed and grass was cut. I used my Fisher F75 and searched the grass alongside the parking lot for about 5 parking spaces then I turned and moved over and went back and now on my third three feet wide swing I got a faint signal so I used my Garrett Pin Pointer and got a good signal. This was a well manicured lawn so I didn’t want to dig too much so I dug a small hole and 2 inches down there it was. Tina and I gave each other a big hug and she looked at me in amazement and tears in her eyes said, thank you.

I took a picture of the ring and the shaded location by the church. After taking Tina’s picture I asked her to go home and take a picture of Troy holding the ring. This is a great birthday gift to a good man who has recently lost the woman of his life. I hope this will be a small returned token to remember a loving relationship that started so long ago.

I received an email from Meghan Q. that her husband lost his wedding ring while visiting her mothers cottage at Paw Paw Lake in Southwest Michigan last Sunday. He was swimming and playing some catch football  with his brother-in-law when he noticed his ring was gone. “Sadly it was his grandfather’s ring and my husband was beside himself for having lost it” says Meghan. “It’s just a simple gold band – not worth too much money but the sentimental value is priceless to him”. I got back to Meghan right away and told her I could go down Wednesday and search for the ring. She said there wouldn’t be anyone there but go ahead and if you find it give her a call. Meghan and Tim live and work in Illinois so I kept in telephone contact that Wed. morning. I searched in the area by the dock where they were swimming for about 4 hours with no luck. I gave Meghan a call and told her I would be back on Thursday to try again and bring my search partner Dave B. for help.

Tim was there this morning when we arrived and we started searching about 10AM in an expanded grid pattern from the previous day. He showed us how he threw the ball and we preceded to search. After 3 hours of searching to no avail I went back around the dock area and got a strong signal and put down my scoop in the area and when I brought it up I saw a glint of gold and knew I had “Juice”. (I can’t believe I’m using a term from that crazy DIGGERS show). I looked at the ring and saw that it was more than a “simple gold band”, it was a wide gold and heavy band that would have upset me too if I had lost it.

Changing into dry clothes, putting our gear away, taking some pictures and shaking Tim’s hand we smiled a bit and texted Meghan, who is a school teacher, to tell her the good news. In the words of Chris Turner “I love my job”. Two rings in two days, 450 miles and off to find another tomorrow.

 

Pat S. sent  me an email last Saturday Aug 24 saying that he was in Traverse City, MI visiting his mom and went swimming in Long Lake. While playing football his 14K wedding band with 8 diamonds came off his finger and sank into the sandy bottom. After looking for it with no luck he decided to go on line and found “theringfinders” website and found my name. I contacted Pat and told him I could go up Tuesday Aug 27. Pat was visiting from Tennessee and was going back on Sunday that week so he gave me his address and phone number and his moms address and phone number.

We drove the 150 miles one way from Grand Rapids, MI to Traverse City at 7am this morning. When we left Grand Rapids it was raining quite hard and when we arrived it was just sprinkling. We got our equipment on and grabbed our scoops and headed out to the area that Pat had said he lost his ring. I walked along the narrow dock that made up a boundary for the swimming area and about 10 feet from the deepest corner and about 4 feet down a good signal was heard and the first scoop was the ring.

We continued to search the swimming area and found a few coins and then the sky opened up with a torrent of rain and thunder so our successful hunt came to an end. I called Pat and told him I found the ring and would take it over to his mom’s house. He was very happy as was his mother and the picture shows it. Mom had a picture taken with the ring then promptly mailed it to her son pictured after receiving it with a big smile.

Holidaymakers Mr & Mrs Craig Petty from Shrewesbury spent a great day on Swanage Beach. The weather was fine, warm and idyllic  for your typical British ‘getaway’.   Unfortunately though brushing off the sand lead Craig to also brushing off his ring. His desperate search, sifting through the sands caught the attention of a particular lady near by. She had successfully used me and the Ring Finders only weeks before for her daughter in law Hollie Lawrence.

I assured Craig not to worry, put a towel over the location and id be there a few hours later. Sure enough the ring was there, HAD sunk deeper due to the previous sifting and back on his finger within minutes. A very grateful Mr Petty made a kind donation to the Air Ambulance.

I was driving over to pick up my sister, niece, and grand niece to take them to the airport when I get a call from Alex asking for help finding her husband Luke’s wedding ring. Seems it slipped off his finger at the beach while he was shaking out a towel. They noticed it missing right away and hadn’t left the spot so I figured this would be a quick and easy recovery. Being a bit short on time, I hot footed it back home, grabbed the detector, and headed over to their location. I was only able to search for 1/2 hour before I had to leave and make my airport run. I figured that would still be plenty of time….ha….it never works out that way! That ring wasn’t about to give up that easily. I left and promised to be back in about an hour and a half or so. When I came back, they were still waiting there patiently and I resumed my search. I crossed my previous pattern and expanded it a bit but still no ring. I then started searching across the other side of the sidewalk and even up into the ice plant. Did I mention that all the concrete was steel reinforced? It became pin pointer time along the edge of the concrete where it met the sand. Still no ring but I found an Ike dollar coin! My first in years. I then got back on the big detector again and expanded the search area in the dry sand. Made just one more pass to the west and “bingo” a nice big shallow hit. Sure enough, it was his ring. A happier couple you will never see….even though it was getting dark! Nice to meet you two and thank you for the reward.

 

This is a combined effort of mine and Stan Ross’s. Stan got the initial call from Matthew about a ring he lost at Coronado beach in San Diego. It was supposedly lost within 5 ft of a certain fire ring within a group of 8 fire rings in a big square pattern. Due to a miscommunication of some sort, Stan search 4 of the rings without success only to find later that it was lost at a different ring. Since Stan lives almost 100 miles from that beach, he called me and asked if I would be interested in heading over and giving it a shot since I was fairly close by. I said sure, but in the back of my mind I’m thinking “oh boy, a fire ring!” (not). Sure enough, when I get there and start hunting (the proper ring this time), it is just carpet bombed with nails and other debris all around the pit and out several yards. To make it worse, the fire ring itself has steel reinforcement in the concrete so hunting up next to it would need to be relegated to the pin pointer and scoop. After several hours, coil and setting changes, and hand scooping around the fire ring, I almost gave up but I continued a grid pattern out farther and farther from the ring. At about a radius of 20-25 feet away I get another multitarget tone with readings all over the place. Every now and then a good “gold ring” reading would poke through so I figured, what the heck, scoop and see what it is. My detector said it was only 2″ down so I just took a shallow scoop of sand but didn’t find anything. I next took a full scoop and started to shake out the sand. First thing visible was a screw top, then a melted piece of aluminum can, then a new condom still in the foil wrapper, and then at the bottom was a gold ring! That baby was hiding real well but the E-trac managed to sniff it out even with all that extra junk trying to mask it. The inscription matched so I knew I had Matthew’s ring. I contacted Stan and Matthew and since Matthew lived out of town, I got his shipping info so I could mail the ring to him. That is always a great phone call to make! I was only able to photograph the ring so you’ll just have to use your imagination to see Matthew’s smile! Thank you Matthew for the nice reward and thank you Stan for the referal. I owe you at least a good meal so think of a place! Here’s Matthew’s ring…