Uncategorized Category | Page 498 of 587 | The Ring Finders

Nicholus Hockers felt the heavy platinum ring leave his finger as he swam to his family’s boat dock on a warm summer evening on Silver Lake, Wisconsin. His heart sank to the muddy depths along with the cherished token. He had only received it from his bride a few weeks before. Now it was gone. How could he face her with such news!

I received phone call from Nicholus a few days later on August 26, 2016. He discovered The Ring Finders website and saw my name listed as a metal-detecting specialist in the area. Could I perform a search for his ring?

Most Wisconsin lakes are shallow but have a pudding like bottom into which objects disappear, never to see the light of day again. But Nicholus’s description gave me confidence that he knew quite precisely where the ring had left his finger. It was a long-shot but worth a try.

My wife, Kathleen, and I arrived at Silver Lake late in the afternoon. I use a Minelab Excalibur, an underwater detector used by SCUBA divers around the world. It has served me well for a number of years and was my machine of choice for this search. I needed every advantage.

The bottom of the lake fell off sharply at the point where Nicholus felt the ring leave his finger. This meant working in chin deep water. The remains of what seemed to be an old cast-iron pipe in the same vicinity interfered with other signals. But after about a half hour of searching, the ring appeared in my sieve amidst a cluster of shells, mud and roots. Mission accomplished!

Thanks, Nicholus, for the opportunity to recover your ring. May its story continue for many, many happy years together!

A family photo session at the historical Covered Bridge Park near Cedarburg, Wisconsin ended on a frantic note when Shannon Lennox discovered that his wedding ring was missing. The park is a big place! The ring could have fallen off anywhere, including the river over which they had walked on a bridge with their busy children in tow.

I met up with Shannon late in the afternoon of October 18th. A preliminary search in the areas where he and his family had posed for the photographer failed to locate the lost ring. By this time it was dark and Shannon drove home to put his children to bed. I continued for a few more hours searching perimeter areas not previously covered. One location was particularly inundated with metal trash, making the cacophony of signals almost impossible to decipher. This and the taller grass combined to militate against technology and my best efforts.

Finally, I tried one more adjustment, that of reducing my XP Deus detector’s sensitivity by nearly half and by sweeping the detectors coil higher than usual over the grass. This eliminated most of the buried trash signals and allowed only those objects on the surface to register. It wasn’t long before a clear gold-ring number shone through the darkness. Carefully dividing the grass beneath revealed the gold wedding band, complete with its ‘ROMANS 12’ biblical inscription, a life chapter that serves to guide Shannon’s Christian life as a husband, father and friend.

The twins were not yet settled when I rang Shannon’s doorbell a short while later. Wide-eyed disbelief was written all over his face when I presented him with his cherished ring. Such moments have always been my favorite!

Vicky* heard the earing as it landed on the family’s boat dock. Then there was silence. The sickening realization that her earing was now at the bottom of Big Cedar Lake prompted a frantic search for her prized gold and silver jewelry piece. She knew it couldn’t have gone far but all efforts to retrieve it from the lake bottom proved fruitless.

I received a call from Vicky who subsequently discovered The Ring Finders directory on the Internet. Soon, my wife, Kathleen and I were on our way to Big Cedar Lake and to Vicky’s lovely home. She accompanied us to the dock and described the moments when she felt the earing drop.

Before entering the Lake, I carefully scanned the bottom with an underwater detector made by an Australian company, Minelab. The Excalibur, as it is called, is the tool of choice for many SCUBA divers worldwide. Detecting from the dock helped not to disturb the bottom unnecessarily. Almost immediately, a promising signal came from a location barely a meter out from the dock. Within minutes, the signal proved to be that of Vicky’s earing!

* Vicky, not her real name, preferred not to be identified or to have her photo published.

It was a rainy day and I got a call to search for a lost ring in a garden in Lynn Valley, North Vancouver. I love these calls and rain or snow wouldn’t stop me from searching!

The young lady was certain the ring was some where in the garden because she took it off and put it in her jacket pocket along with her glasses.

She found the glasses in the garden but no ring, I started by searching the bags of garden trimmings but no luck. I then began to search the garden area and still no luck, I asked more question and she told me that she spent an hour in the garden shed.

Bing! That was the one place we hadn’t checked and after searching the whole shed the very last plastic planter I got a great signal with my pin pointer.

There it was in the bottom of the plastic planter…it was a nice relief to see it there as we were running out of options! Its funny where rings can show up and if it didn’t it may have been there a very long time.

I sure love my job! Meeting such lovely people and seeing their smiles!

You can watch the video of the search below

Ann T. called me, while I was assembling the Christmas Lite Show in Comstock Park, MI, about her ring that she lost last Friday. Ann is a photographer and while taking family pictures in Prairie Wolf Park, Ann picked up a handful of leaves to use as a prop for her picture and noticed her ring was missing. Her ring was designed by her husband and was a one of a kind very heavy Platinum ring with a diamond center, she was very upset about the loss and posted the loss on Facebook. She received a reply to look up The Ring Finders. This is where I was referred to her by Tom Townsend another Ring Finder.

I set up an appointment for today to meet her at the park and search for her ring. Ann laid out the process as to where leaves were picked up and the walk down the hill where the pictures were taken. I searched the area to begin with at the starting point while my brother Doug searched the bottom of the hill. I joined Doug at the bottom of the hill shortly after coming up with nothing at the starting point. A thorough search was made at the bottom of the hill so we made our way up the hill to the starting point being joined by Ring Finder, Dave Boyer, a strong signal was received just to the right of my original search. The ring was found and a phone call was made to Ann.

Amazed that we found her ring we joined her at her home for the presentation.  Ann is a very happy and relieved woman and thanked The Ring Finders.