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Metal Detecting Recovery of A Lost 3-Generation Wedding Ring, Menuahant Beach, Falmouth, MA

  • from Falmouth (Massachusetts, United States)
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1 September 2025.  Yesterday, Labor Day Sunday, Nick lost his wedding ring at the beach.  It was a special ring because it had been his father’s as well as his grandfather’s.  While he felt somewhat resigned to the loss, his wife Hannah didn’t give up easily.  She searched the internet in the evening and fortunately found the RingFinders.  Nick called me this morning and we arranged to meet at the beach within about half an hour.

At the beach, Nick described where his family had been sitting the previous day and where he had been in the water for a relatively short time.  He had not noticed his ring was missing until they returned to their B&B.  This left a range of possibilities for where the ring was lost but the most likely was the beach.  Where to search first?  The tradeoff is between the dry sand (easy to search) and the water (more difficult but also more likely).  I started easy, but after 10 or 15 minutes it was apparent that the ring was not in the area where Nick and Hannah thought they had been sitting.

Next, the water.  Nick told how he had been wading and sitting in knee-deep water off to the west of where their beach chairs were.  The current tide level was lower than it had been the previous day so I started with a long swath at the wave’s edge – no result.  With further discussion, Nick felt that he’d been at a break in slope a bit farther out so I moved there for the next swath.  This location was somewhat concerning because it contained thick, loose sandy gravel that was being moved about by wave action, raising the possibility that the ring could already be deeply buried and possibly beyond detector range.  Fortunately within a few minutes I heard that sweet signal of success and had Nick’s ring in my scoop!

I dumped the gravel but left the ring in the scoop and walked up the beach to where Nick stood.  I didn’t mention the ring but told him about the bad bottom conditions as I approached.  Then the part I love the most – I held out the scoop so he could look inside, and suddenly all was well with the world!

We wrapped up with some very happy conversation and pictures.  As it turned out, Nick, Hannah and their daughter were packed and ready to drive home, ending their Cape Cod vacation.  I’m really pleased that I was able to change that ending from a sad to a joyful one as they hit the road!

 

Nick’s 3-generation wedding band.

 

A happy family ready to head home from their Cape Cod vacation.

Citadel Ring Lost, Found in the Dry Sand and Returned Pawley’s Island SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

On Saturday, August 30th, I received a call from Tabathia saying her husband Matt had lost his Citadel Ring in the surf and asked if I could help find it. She explained that Matt was rinsing his hands off at the ocean’s edge when he noticed his ring was gone. She also mentioned that they got caught in a rainstorm and had to quickly pack up and run for the car. I agreed to help and took a look at the tide tables. Neither that evening nor the next morning was going to work. We agreed to meet at 6 pm on Sunday and I could work the outgoing tide. Tabathia sent me a text with the address and confirming some of the other details.

Sunday evening, I sent Tabathia a text telling her I was on my way. She responded they were also on their way and would give me an update. I was about 15 minutes out and got a text from Tabathia saying, “The parking lot is a mess and full. If you want to text when you are close, I can try to get up there to get you a space.” As I was driving down the street to get onto the beach parking, the cars were lined up bumper to bumper. As I got closer to the lot, I noticed a parking area that was chained off with a man across the street from it barbequing. I took a shot and rolled down my window and explained to him that I was going to look for a man’s Citadel ring on the beach and pointed to my sign on the side of the car. Without hesitation, he walked across the street and moved the chain so I could pull it the spot. He wished me luck and I made my way to the beach to meet Matt who was waiting for me. As Matt and I made our way to meet Tabathia and their 3 children, he showed me the area his ring should be in. I met Tabathia and went to work searching from the top of the slope out to about thigh deep. After doing the slope with no luck, the 3 of us came up with plan B of searching the top of the slope. Matt and Tabathia, both showed me the approximate area they had been set up the day before. I did about 5 lines and hit a monster of a signal, a couple of scoops of sand and I saw Matt’s gold Citadel ring in the sand. I picked it up, walked back to where they were sitting and held it up for them to see. Their expressions were priceless, which is why I love finding people’s lost treasures and getting it back where it belongs.

Tabathia and Matt – Thank you for calling me to help find Matt’s hard-earned ring.

Jim

 

Lost on the Sand Bar

  • from Torch Lake (Michigan, United States)

Received a call for a ring lost close to home on a sand bar.  Took the boat and my 2 daughters out to meet the owner, and within 15 minutes she was reunited with her 3 lost rings that made 1 complete one.  Daughter actually found it with her mask while swimming and helping.  Very happy customer, and thank you for the call!

Wedding Ring Found on a Vermont Lake Shore

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
Contact:

8/31/25
Got a call for help from a friend of a fellow who had just lost his wedding ring. It was a beautiful day, so they had all gone to a beach on Lake Champlain. They were playing some smashball in the sand when he noticed his ring had fallen off. They all started searching while his friend found The Ring Finders online and gave me a call. Wondering what they could do while I was on the way, I said they should stake a claim to that section of the beach so no one could walk off with it!

I jumped in my truck and got there in about an hour. To my amazement, they had used their feet to grid an area about 30’x 30’ in the sand and even put a 6’ bullseye in the area they thought it might be! I got started, got a bunch of junk signals, and then called them over to watch when I got a nice sounding ring signal right on the edge of the bulleseye. I stirred the sand a little with the pinpointer and his ring appeared! They were happy, relieved and amazed with the speed of the find. I sure wish they were all this easy!!

Now they can enjoy the rest of their Labor Day vacation in our beautiful state!

Lost Wedding Band Dropped on the Beach Found and Returned by Crystal Coast Ring Finders

  • from Emerald Isle (North Carolina, United States)

David shared that he had placed his phone and wedding ring in a beach bag before heading for a swim at Topsail Beach. He suspected that someone might have pulled an item from the bag, causing the ring to fall out. I arranged to meet David early the next morning to begin the search. After uncovering a few deep targets and two dimes, my XP metal detector gave a loud, solid signal outside the coin range. As David walked towards the water, I called out, “This looks promising.” Moments later, I retrieved David’s platinum wedding band from the sandy beach.

Beautiful 2 Kt Diamond Engagement Ring Lost & Found, New Silver Beach, Falmouth, MA

  • from Falmouth (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact:

30 August 2025.  Sometimes you’re lucky.  I received a call from Philip, who’d been referred to me by my RingFinder friend Rick.  He told me that Jen had lost her 2 kt oval diamond engagement ring in the dry sand where they were sitting and asked if I could come with a metal detector to find it.  I of course said yes and arrived at the beach 15 minutes later.  As (good!) luck would have it, they had found the ring just as I arrived, so all was well.

Jen described how the ring went flying off her finger as she was putting on sunscreen.  The ring disappeared in the fine sand, which is not unusual, and it can be very difficult if not impossible to recover with just finger sifting if you’re not certain where it landed.  A dry-sand loss, however, is a lucky situation because a metal detector, when used by a trained eye/ear, can make recovery quick and easy if the location of the loss is reasonably constrained.   It becomes much more difficult with a loss in the water, where tides, wind & waves, rocks, shifting sand, and location uncertainty can greatly complicate a search.

I snapped some pictures of Jen and her ring and we expressed thanks all around, particularly that that beautiful diamond was back on her finger.  A lucky day!

 

Jen’s beautiful engagement ring.

 

Jen with her engagement ring back in place with her wedding rings.

 

Lost Wedding Ring Recovered Scuba Diving Iowa

  • from Twin Cities Metro (Minnesota, United States)

Samson was at a bed & breakfast with family enjoying the private swim pond. He was out on a floating platform tossing a football, when his white gold wedding ring popped off his hand. He tried diving down, though it was too deep and the water was really cold. He went online and searched for help, coming upon theringfinders.com website. Being in rural northeast Iowa, there isn’t a lot of options for scuba divers that search for lost valuables. He called me “From the Minneapolis area” and we discussed the situation and set up a a day & time for the search. A couple days prior to the search, Samson gave me a call and said he had a couple divers in the area that wanted to give it a shot. They dove that next weekend and didn’t have any luck. Samson did get some important information from the divers, such as the temp, visibility, depth at the bottom and bottom contents. It’s freezing cold at 42 degrees, pitch dark, 20 feet deep and thick muck. I wasn’t looking forward to this dive, though I had to give it a shot for Samson & his wife. I brought a thick “farmer John” suit that we wear over our regular wetsuit, a hood and thick gloves for the dive. I had Samson paddle out to the spot in a kayak and drop a 35 pound anchor. I dove down and hooked a 25 foot rope on to the anchor so I could do 360 degree circles. This gives me the best chance at covering the area thoroughly. After a 2 hour search, moving the anchor a couple times and nearly losing feeling in my face from the cold :O) – I got that beautiful “gold” hit on my Excalibur metal detector.

Glad I could help you out Samson. Congrats to you & your wife on your first child!!!

Darrin

Sentimental Gold Ring Lost At Range Pond State Park, Poland, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

At approximately 9:00am, Thursday morning, August 21st, I received the following message, from Renata

“Hello, last week a friend of mine and I went to Range Pond, in Poland, Maine and she lost her very sentimental gold ring. We have tried searching for it, someone came along with a metal detector and also searched but no luck!
I was wondering if this is anything that you could possibly help with?”

My reply
“Hi Renata, So sorry to hear this. I may be able to help. Does she know the location where the ring was lost, and the depth? “

Renata replied
“She does know the about location. I can’t imagine it would be very far down in the sand. She said it was lost while on the beach itself. When you are at range pond it would be all the way to the left side of the area where boats can come in and out. The exact location is about in the middle of that and the edge of the beach.
This is the ring.”

Renata then sent me some photos, of the area and of the ring
I replied
“ok, So it’s not in the water. If up on the beach, I would be concerned someone has found it already or even another Metal Detectorist. Let me look at an aerial view of the area and see if I can figure out the location. I will get back to you in a few minutes.”

I then sent Renata a photo and asked her if she could tell me if the ring would be in one of the 4 sections, that I had marked up and she then circled the area, of where she thinks the ring was lost. I then replied to Renata and reiterated my concern that they had already had another metal detectorist search that area, and hadn’t found it. I also told her that I could go and search the area once again. I really didn’t know if the other metal detectorist has any experience or what kind of detector they were using. After all, it was just someone that they saw and asked for help. I Also asked Renata if her friend, Hope, saw or felt the ring come coming off and if the ring could have been lost somewhere else.
Renata replied
She said that it was in the pocket of her bag and then was not when she was home. I suppose it’s obviously possible someone snatched it.”
I replied
“Yeah, It just seems strange the other detectorist didn’t find it. Since it was in a bag, could it have fallen out, in her vehicle, parking area, as she walked out of the park, etc? If she hasn’t, she should report it lost to the State Park. If you would like me to search, I could go up today, around 4:pm, when people are leaving.”
Renata told me that Hope had reported the ring lost, to the Park Ranger, at Range Pond State Park. I then told her that I would definitely go later, in the day, as people left the park and the beach would not be crowded. When a beach is crowded, you just can’t perform a proper grid search, with everyone on the beach. Renata told me she would not be able to meet me there because they were on Peaks Island. That was ok, because I had a very detailed area, to search.

Cheryl and I arrived at Range Pond State Park, at just prior to 4:00pm and found the Park Ranger to tell him I was there to search for Hope’s lost ring. The Park Ranger, Walter, then told me someone else had searched for the ring last night. Walter also told us the guy “looked like a professional” metal detectorist WOW! A second metal detectorist has now searched for the lost gold ring. Walter was told that the ring was not found. Now I’m doubting if the ring is actually there. Has it been found, lost somewhere else. It happens all the time. Walter also told me that he wasn’t very pleased the “professional” metal detectorist, from the night before . That metal detectorist has dug holes, in the beach and didn’t fill them in, but just leaving the holes, for anyone to step in. Definitely not good. Once Cheryl and I got on the beach, there were a few groups of people in the center of the beach, where the ring was thought to have been lost. So, I decided to start on the far left side of the beach, as you face the pond. I would grid search the area, from the water, up to the trees and back to the waters edge, working my way towards the middle of the beach. As I was grid searching, I was finding many small fishing sinkers and a few coins. I thought to myself that with two different metal detectorists searching the area, in the past four days, those should have been found. More importantly, more people had left the beach and now there were only a few people, on the beach. I was now approaching the center of the beach, after approximately 45 minutes of searching and I started to see the many dug holes, left by the ‘professional’ metal detectorist. To me this wasn’t a good feeling, concerning the lost ring. I decided to continue, until the entire beach had been searched. About 15 minutes later and just a few feet from some of the dug holes, I received a nice low tone, reading 27-28 on my VDI screen. I didn’t get too excited because that is also the exact VDI reading, of a nickel. The target was reading 0 (Surface) to 2 inches down, in the sand. I took my hand and started wiping the sand away. All of a sudden, there it was, a gold ring with some stones. I was stunned!!! Dug holes less than 10 feet away, two metal detectorists searched this exact area and yet, it was still here. Amazing. I looked at Cheryl , up under the trees, in the shade (yes, she’s the brains, of the family and I’m the sweaty brawn) and yells “I FOUND IT” as I gave her a thumbs up. Cheryl came right over and she couldn’t believe it either. Four days on a public beach and two other metal detectorists searched for the ring, in this exact area. Crazy.

I then took a photo and sent it to Renata, saying, “Does this look familiar?”
Renata’s reply was,

“Stop!!!! We both just screamed!!!
Literal tears of joy!!
How can we pick it up from you??”

We then made plans for Hope to meet me in Windham, as that is where she lives and it is on our way home.
Approximately 45 minutes later, Hope arrived and you could see just how much this ring meant to her. She was just so excited and happy, to see her ring again, after thinking it was gone forever. Hope was smiling ear to ear as she told us that the ring was actually a gift that she had fought for herself, after giving birth to her son, a few years earlier. She called it her “Birthing Gift, to myself, after her son was born. To Hope, this ring represented the birth of the most important person, in her life, her son. Thankfully the ring has had a rebirth and is now back on Hope’s finger, where it belongs. I am just so happy to have a small part in the rebirth. I have the best job, in the world.😀❤️🙏

Lost Drum Key in Skaha Lake…Found

  • from Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)

If you’ve lost your ring or any jewelry, car keys, cell phones, Call ASAP 24/7  Service- Chris 778-838-3463

Taking a break up in the Okanogan and Detecting some beautiful lakes, I happen to be at Skaha Lake when a young man came up to me and asked me if my metal detector could find a stainless steel key. I replied yes and got him to tell me the story about this particular key that was lost in waste deep water two weeks ago.

He told me it was a drum key and that he owned it for 40 years and used it to tune up his drums at his events/gigs.

I thought maybe somebody had already found it because these beaches get detected a lot, I told him to show me the exact area where he believed it was lost and I’d take a look…within five minutes he had his drum key back. Not your typical diamond engagement ring or wedding band, but for him this was very sentimental. He was a professional drummer, and this was like losing a ring for him.

I could tell how happy he was to get it back. I love my job. Sometimes it’s just serendipity how we come in contact with people, he lived across the street and he’d been looking for the last couple weeks every day in hope that he might find it. I happened to be at that beach at the same he was there… Timing is everything!

 

I love my Job!

 

  .

Dropped cell phone in the lake…Found

  • from Johnson City (Tennessee, United States)

Had a call from a client that dropped her cell phone while stepping off the boat onto the dock. The depth ranged between 20′ with a 40′ drop off on a slopping bank. I set my line and went down. Searched for about two minutes and located it.