Eight years ago, Oshkosh, Wisconsin residents Dick and Judy Berger, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They marked the occasion by acquiring matching, white-gold wedding rings, paved with 5 diamonds, one for each decade together. But on July 16th, 2025, Dick’s ring slipped off his hand while swimming in Lake Butte des Morts, behind their picturesque lakefront home. He didn’t realize it was missing until he climbed out of the water. 
Despite the search efforts of friends and family, the ring could not be found. That’s when the Berger’s daughter located me on The Ring Finder’s directory of metal-detecting specialists.
I received a call from Dick the following Monday and made arrangements to meet him on location that same afternoon. It was an hour and half drive from my home in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Dick was keen to accompany me in the waist-deep water. He assisted by repositioning my specially-designed marker buoys as I searched. These served as vital reference points for an accurate grid search of the lake bottom.
The search was made even more challenging by the presence of aquatic plants. These wrapped themselves around the detector’s search coil, impeding my ability to sweep consistently. I had to stop often to remove the plants from my coil.
Almost immediately a non-ferrous (other than iron) signal invited further investigation. To my surprise, the target was another gentleman’s wedding ring, one made of rose gold. Clearly, it was not the ring we were searching for. Dick’s ring was white-gold. Someone else had recently lost their wedding ring just off the Berger’s boat dock. The ring’s owner remains a mystery. I left it with the Berger family in hopes they might locate the person who lost it.
About 45 minutes later, not far from a swimming raft anchored off shore, I heard another promising signal. The conductivity numbers on my XP Deus ll controller, along with the audible tone, made me believe the target had to be Dick’s ring. Indeed, Dick’s ring soon lay gleaming in my scoop! And the contented smiles on Dick and Judy’s faces tell the rest of the story.
Dick and Judy, may you enjoy many, many more years together there in your beautiful Oshkosh home!
If you or someone you know has lost a jewelry item in water or on land, even long ago, chances are it can still be found. Give me a call. I would love to add your smile to our book of smiles.
