Andrea left her name with the owners of the Festival as her husband lost his Platinum Wedding Band while playing with his children in the “Pit” – I contacted Andrea and she said her husband was very upset about the loss. We got the ring back to her without her husband knowing and she and the kids went to surprise him with the recovery – If you read this blog Andrea – Let me know how it went. Conrgrats!!
I receive a call every year from the fall festival near my town. Many people lose their valuables while exploring all the activities they have. The next few posts are all recoveries from the festival.
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!
It happens a lot…You’re out gardening in your back yard and after a long day working on your garden you come to realize that your wedding band or engagement ring is missing! It’s truly a horrible feeling! Where do you start looking? It could be buried in the garden or in a bag of leafs or it went over the fence when you threw away the weeds.
I have found many wedding bands and engagement rings over the years for people and the most important thing to do is… Don’t Throw Away the Bags of Yard Trimmings! That is the big mistake because that’s where I find lots of the ring!
The next thing to do is go to… www.TheRingFinders.com and find a metal detecting specialist in your area that can help you find what you thought was lost forever…
This year alone, he has helped reunite nine couples with their rings.
Kevin Niefer uses several metal detectors to find lost wedding rings. (CBC)
Just last week, Niefer got a call from a Calgary couple that would lead him to his toughest assignment to date.
Will Hoff had lost his wedding ring in the Waiparous River near Cochrane. After about an hour of searching in the fast-moving rocky river, Niefer was able to find the ring.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Hoff exclaimed moments after Niefer plucked his ring out of the water.
Niefer says he isn’t in it for the money. Although couples often compensate him for his efforts, he doesn’t charged them a set amount.
“When you find it and people go ‘Oh no! I can’t believe you found it!,’ That’s pretty exciting, right? And to be able to return something that sentimental — that’s the biggest reward,” Niefer said.
On 9/24/2012 I received a call from a gentleman in Fuquay Varina N.C. about a lost wedding band that he had lost at a ball park while playing ball. After speaking to the gentleman I agreed to meet with him at the ball park where he lost his wedding band of 17 years. The next morning on 9/25/2012 I drove to the park to meet with the gentleman to help him locate his missing ring. The gentleman also advised me he had attempted to locate the ring himself but was unsuccessful . I then had him fill me in on the details of what happened when he lost the ring. He had explained all the details to me and to the best of his knowledge , when he took off his ball glove the ring came off with it. He showed me the general area of where the ring came off and I attempted to do a grid search of the area. When this was unsuccessful I then went for my long range detector and widened my search area. With the long range detector I was able to lock on two more possible targets just outside my previous search area. While digging the first target I found the ring about 3 inches down and about 10 feet outside the original search area. As you can see from the pictures he was very relieved and grateful to have his ring back . The whole search took just under an hour.
Lost Wedding Band found in River near Calgary/Cochrane by Metal Detecting. In the Wiaparous area.The ring was found in the rapids.The water was very cold but ring was found. It was found on the guys birthday. What a great Birthday gift. He lost it while rafting down the river.
Mel Damski is a Exec. Producer/Director for the hit TV Series ”Psych” and with the little spare time that Mel has he likes to write for the La Conner Weekly News in his home town. Mel also has his own blog site called ”If Mel Ran The Zoo” http://www.ifmelranthezoo.com
My wife and I have been very blessed to be able to work behind the scenes as stand ins on Psych for the past 7 years and to have known Mel Damski and the rest of the Amazing Cast & Crew…
Most people know that I’m very passionate about treasure hunting and helping people find what they thought was lost forever and Mel felt it was a worthy story to share with his readers…Thank you Mel for doing such a great story about ”The Ring Finders”
Best, Chris & Beverley Turner
You can click on the link below to read the full story…