Uncategorized Category | Page 567 of 586 | The Ring Finders

Returning home to France from vacation, we stopped on the coast of Italy. I decided to take my metal detector with me in case I had a chance to do some detecting. We were in a town called Sanremo near the french border and the weather was great. While ‘tecting’ at a small beach, I came upon 5 young men were acting very excited and some of them were laughing. They motioned me to come over to their area indicating they had just lost something and asked if I could help (through some difficult problems with communication since I only speak english and french). They said that one of the 5 had just lost 2 gold wedding bands.  Unfortunately, they were not sure the exact location (the water was about 3 ½ ft deep). I did a grid pattern based upon their story. However, after 40 minutes of searching, I only found several coins. All but one of the men left to go ashore thinking the rings were not going to be found. However, one of the men urged me to a different location (he thought the others were not correct on their ‘site’). Well, he was right. Within 2 minutes or so, I found one of the rings and then it took only a couple of more minutes to find the other one.. Needless to say, the entire group (plus MANY onlookers on the shore) were very happy that I located the rings. I still don’t speak italian but I understood them perfectly.

While I was scuba / relic hunting an old swim site in Minnesota I came across a 1944 Class Ring with a “K” High School etched into the top. The initials D and E on either side of the ring. After a month or so of searching for this high school I fianlly got a hit with the help of the Kimball Historical Society. They researched the ring and found it was from the town of Kimball and then further research brought up the name of Don Elliot. Don is now 87 years old and remembers the day he lost the ring and his frantic search to find it in the lake. Don went into the Navy during World War II and was never able to graduate. He remembers his principle at the time, asking Don why he was buying a class ring when he was almost certain to get drafted before graduating. Don said he just want the ring for his own reasons. This was a great adventure for me as a ring finder. The research, the people I was able to meet and doing something that made one of my personal hero’s ( A U.S. Veteran) happy. Congrats Don and I am looking forward to a cup of coffee with you and some great stories from the past!

 

On July 4th Jon B. son-in-law of Steve V. was up visiting his wifes family at Wall Lake, North of Delton, MI. While playing in the swim area with his children he noticed his ring was missing. After searching the area he was unable to find it and mentioned it to Steve, soon the vacation was over and Jon and his family headed back to Houston, TX. To add insult to injury they totaled their car on the way back home.

A month later a metal detecting friend, Dave Moyer, was approached by a Steve while Dave was metal detecting on a school playground. He asked him if he could search the water for a lost ring. After giving the man his card he got a call about a month later and was asked to come out to the lake and look for the ring. Dave asked me to come along and help because he had not searched any deep water and knew I did a lot of water searches.

Dave and I went out to Wall Lake just North of Delton, MI. It was a nice Fall day about 68 degrees and the water was still warm from the summer months. After spending a few minutes preparing our gear and entering the water I found the ring after 3 sweeps with my CZ21 detector. We continued to search the swim area, as we would normally do, to remove any junk such as nails, pull tabs, dock bolts and anything else that could hurt someone swimming.

Steve’s mom was visiting his grandmother who owns the home on the lake and was watching us look for the ring and they had their doubts that it would be found. Finding the ring added a bright side to an awful finish to a summer vacation for Jon and his family.

 

 

I just joined The Ringfinders. I am located in the Provence area of southern France and can cover a large area. Italy is only 2 1/2 hrs from me and Côte d’Azur is less than 2 hrs. I really like reading about the successes you guys (and gals?) are having and hopefully, one day, I will be able to communicate additional successes. Your blogs are helpful so if you have any tips (not trade secrets), pass them along. Cordially, Larry (Griff) Griffith

I received a call from John asking if I could help him find his custom made wedding ring. He said he had lost it a few weeks ago in the water. I asked John to give me some more details.

He said he was washing his boat with a car wash mitt on his hand. The mitt came off and when he retrieved the mitt and picked it up he saw his ring fall out of it and sink into the bay.

I started asking a lot of questions, the main one being how deep is the water? John’s reply was 4 foot at low tide. I agreed to make the hour drive the following Sunday to meet him at low tide.

I got to the marina about a half an hour before low tide. Yes it was 4 feet deep to the muck, the muck was about another foot. I got into my wetsuit and got into the water. He pointed to the area the ring fell.

Within 2 minutes I had a solid signal. I thought wow this is great, a nice QUICK find I’ll be back home in time to watch the Opening Kickoff of the NFL Season. The muck was so thick in my scoop we need a hose to see what was in it. I had a “Stinkin Lincoln” a penny. I continued the hunt.

The area was quite, not much metal. I had to have John move his boat to broaden the search area. In the next hour and a half I had found 1 penny, 1 Miller Lite can and 4 little washers.

I was getting frustrated and so was John. The tide was coming in and was up to my neck while standing on my tippy toes. John then tells me that he might have moved the ring. He said for the 4 nights after he lost the ring he was in the water with a shrimp net trying to find the ring.

I said I am running out of time and need to get out because of the incoming tide, and I don’t scuba dive. But I want to check this one little area. 2 minutes later I had the ring. What a beautiful gold ring it is.

John was so happy, the look on his face was priceless! I was pumped, great adrenaline rush for an adrenaline junkie!! The people on the dock and the boat next to John’s were amazed that I had found it. They all thought that Davey Jones was now owner of the ring.

John said he will not wear it again until he gets it re-sized.

Below are some words from John:

On August 31st 2012 I was cleaning my boat after a day of reef fishing in OC N.J. I lost my custom made wedding ring when my hand hit the rub rail. After a week of searching myself a friend told me about Dave Milsted the ring finder. I called Dave and set a date for Sept 9 2012 at low tide. Dave showed up on time and worked very hard for two hours as the tide was rising quickly. Dave found my priceless ring. I cannot thank him enough.

Best Regards

John R

O.C. N.J