Priscilla Beach Plymouth MA Engagement/Wedding Band Ring Found & Returned
June 13, 2024
An enjoyable day on the soft sand, in bright sunlight shining down turned into a day of despair and anguish over a missing ring. Victoria’s sister bought a detector to help locate the missing ring. A day of searching yielded nothing but a bit of trash. Victoria (Vicky) had a great bit more luck – she found a link to TheRingFinders.com which led to a call for help that I received. An enlightening and enjoyable conversation and a meeting for the next day was set-up.
I arrived about 5 minutes early and was greeted by the property owner. All was all set and I now had the area to search. From the rear porch steps, across some lawn, down a short set of steps and more lawn nothing alerted my detector. Next was a long set of stairs which had thickly covered land on either side. The blooming vegetation would be impossible to detect in, I said a quick prayer that the ring was not lost while Vicky was ascending the stairs, but rather it was indeed on the sandy beach.
At the bottom of the stairs and now on soft white sand I began to search again. At the end of my first pass next to the vegetation I turned to start a second pass. Two swings later and there it was, the sound from my headphones, that said “Here it is, dig!” One shallow scoop into the sand a quick shake and three small rock obscured my view of the ring. I pull the rocks out and was amazed at the beautiful ring that I had just found. OH NO…Vicky and Ginna were about half way down the stairs. The ring went into my pocket, we greeted each other and then I reached out to shake Vicky’s hand again. This time I had her ring in my hand, a surprised look and then the swelling of eyes and emotional disbelief over came the calmness that she had just a few seconds before.
As usual, pictures and stories about the ring and previous day’s search with Ginna’s new metal detector.
This lead to a few minute of instructions on how to use the detector and how to understand what the display could tell the operator. A couple of rings, a coin and a piece of iron were “detected”. Now I assured them had they waved the coil over the ring and understood the tone and display, she would have found the ring. And in the future she will be able to locate more desirable objects with less or no time “wasted” digging parts of lobster traps 10 inches down in the sand.
This return was another wonderful experience for me, not only because of the find and return, but that I think I have peaked the interest in metal detecting and what it has to offer for two wonderful sisters. I also learned just how much the ring meant to Vicky and her husband as he had designed the ring as an engagement ring and then had two more rings added to the engagement ring to transform it into the one beautiful wedding ring.
I just love my hobby, especially with times like I had today. Thanks for letting me help.
Jennifer called to inquire about the possibility of recovering her wedding and engagement ring, that accidently flew off her finger into the water, at the boat dock. As usual I questioned her about exactly what had happened, as well as any information she might know about the water depth, clarity, current, etc. She explained that she had opened the state room door, stepped out onto the finger dock, and was brushing some crumbs off one of the boat cushions, when both rings flew right off her finger, into the dark water below. Jennifer was adamant this was exactly what happened, and confirmed both rings must be pretty much straight down, or possibly under the other boat, or under the finger pier. The water was a workable depth of around 5′ or so, depending on what end of the finger pier I was. Knowing how deep and dark the water was, I had to gather many items to ensure I had what was needed, to make this a successful recovery. Once on location at low tide, the water did average 5′, so that was a good thing. What wasn’t so good was how black and muddy the bottom was, as you can see the nasty black mud in the one picture. after clearing MANY targets, which is common in marina locations, I got a promising signal, that turned out to be Jennifer’s wedding ring. She was quite surprised I was able to find it with all the trash on the bottom. One would figure the other ring would be right near by, but after another 45 minutes, I had no luck. I really didn’t want to throw in the towel, but I was leaving for vacation early the following morning, and had to call it a day. Jennifer was extremely grateful, as I promised her I would return the first chance I had after I got home.
