Sunday evening, July 27th, Cheryl and I were driving home, from a Boston Red Sox, game, at Fenway Park. While just outside the Boston city limits, I received a phone call from Lisa. Lisa told me the story of her husband, Ed, losing his Tungsten wedding ring, the previous afternoon, around 2:00pm. They are from Connecticut but were vacationing in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. They had placed a Facebook post on a few local Facebook Pages, asking for people to be on the lookout for the lost ring. If found, please contact her (more on this later).
Ed had been in the ocean, with his sons, tossing a football around. When Ed got out of the water and back up on the beach, where Lisa was, he noticed he was no longer wearing his wedding ring. What had been an incredible vacation, suddenly became a nightmare. Ed had lost the ring approximately an hour after high tide and now the tide was going out. Lisa, Ed and the sons went out to search for the ring but couldn’t find it. As you all know, by now, it is extremely unlikely you will visually find a ring, that was lost in the surf. Once a ring lands on the ocean floor, the surf and waves will bury it in the sand. Lisa said that Ed was really upset that his wedding ring he had been wearing, for 19 years was gone. Lisa then asked me if there was anything I could do to help. I told her that I could help but by the time I got home, it would be dark out and I would need to consult the tide chart, to see when the tide would be low enough, for me to search. Once I arrived home, I determined that I could get down to the beach, around 5:00am and search. I let Lisa and Ed know I would be going down 1st thing in the morning, to search but had a few concerns.
First concern: the ring has now been lost almost 2 full days and the area the ring was lost in is the most heavily metal detected area, in Old Orchard. Ed had lost his ring directly in front of the Ferris Wheel, at Palace Playland Amusement Park and very close to the OOB Pier. This area is the most densely populated area of the beach, on a hot summer day and Metal Detectorists know that. On any given summer day, you could see 5 to 10 different detectorists searching the area, throughout the day. Today, Sunday was a rainy day so hopefully there wasn’t anyone metal detecting there.
My second concern was that the location of where the ring was lost, was made public, when the Facebook Posts were made. As I have told all my followers previously, never, ever disclose the exact location of a ring or other valuable that has been lost. This is not only my suggestion, it is also the recommendation of the Police Departments. Broadcasting the exact location can increase the Risk of Theft: Publicly announcing the location of a lost valuable item, especially online or on social media, can attract thieves or those who would attempt to steal it before you have a chance to recover it yourself. Unfortunately, there are people that watch lost and found posts, just for this type of situation. They are not unlike looters, looking to take advantage of someone’s misfortune. So please, never, ever disclose the exact location of something lost. You can still make a social media post but be general about the area. For instance, instead of saying a ring was lost next to the pier or Ferris Wheel, just say you lost a ring in OOB but unsure of the area. If someone contacts you to help, you can then meet them at a predetermined location and watch them search. You just don’t want to have a bunch of people searching for your ring, that you don’t know. Again, even the Police recommend not to disclose the exact location. I mentioned this to Lisa and she agreed that it made sense and took the post down, now that I would be searching for Ed’s wedding ring. One good thing to come of her post is that Lisa told me that she had 7 or 8 comments about contacting me, The Ring Finders of Maine. This is how Lisa found me and ultimately contacting me, after researching my history of recovering lost items.
Ok, back to the story. I arrived at the beach, pre dawn , at 5:00am and the beach was extremely fogged in. You could only make out the outline or silhouette of buildings, amusement park rides and the pier. The fog was that thick. I had many photos provided to me by Lisa and they were excellent tools in putting me in the exact area. The tide had been going out for a few hours and where the ring was lost, should now be out from under the water and only under the wet sand. I started my grid search horizontally to the beach and water and up near the beach bank, leading to the dry sand. The area was very eerie in the darkness and fog with no one in sight. Starting approximately 50’ south of the Ferris Wheel, I headed towards the pier, to approximately the middle of the Carousel. This was overshooting the area I needed to search but you just don’t know if the ring had moved or how far the ring had flown off of Ed’s finger, while throwing and catching the football. So even though Ed was in front of the Ferris Wheel, who’s to say the ring didn’t end up 20 feet in front or behind him. After my first few grid lines I finally received my first non ferrous target. I believed it was too high of a conductor to be his tungsten ring and was most probably a quarter, with a VDI reading of 89. Once the target was located, it was a quarter, as I suspected. Resuming the grid search horizontally, I just wasn’t receiving any more non ferrous targets. I started to worry because it seems that someone has recently metal detected the area. There were very few targets, in a very busy area. After 30-40 minutes I received another non ferrous target and the VDI was bouncing between 63 and 75. Hmmm, interesting target. My Minelab Manticore gave it a depth of approximately 1” to 2”. I scoop the sand from where the signal originated and threw it up onto the hard wet sand. I started wiping the sand away, with my pinpointer and located the target. I then saw what look like a dark gray or black edge of a ring. I reached in and pulled out a very large black ring. I had found Ed’s ring. WOW!!! Lost for 2 days, in a heavily detected area shows that no area is truly hunted out. You just need to do your due diligence and sear the area well. Once I washed the ring off, I placed it on top of my sand scoops handle and made a video, to send to Lisa and Ed. Once they received the video, I got a reply
Oh my goodness!!!!!! This is the most amazing news!!! You are an angel!!!! We cannot believe this!!! THANK YOU!!!! ♥️💕♥️💕🥰🥰🥰My husband and I want to hug you!!! you are really an angel!!! I cannot believe how fortunate we are for people like you! I also thanked god for connecting me to you and your ability to find it.”
I replied
“😂🤣So happy for you both. I get lots of hugs and feel absolutely great knowing that the ring will soon be back on his finger. Thank you for your very kind words. I truly appreciate them. ❤️🙏”
Always a truly great feeling to help others get their very loved and sentimental rings back. It also feels fantastic to see and be told all the nice things that Lisa texted to me. This only motivates me to help more people. Who doesn’t like praise heaped upon themselves.
Since Lisa and Ed were already back home in Connecticut, I told them that I would mail the ring back to them. No need to make the drive back up to Maine when they could get in two days, via the mail. Even though I won’t be able to meet Lisa and Ed, they told me they would take a photo, once the ring arrives and send it to me. I love being able to help others out in their time of need and putting a smile on their faces.
So today, a full 10 days, since Ed lost his wedding ring, he received it, via USPS Certified Mail. I mailed it 8 days ago but for some reason, it took the USPS scenic route, with 3 or 4 days visiting Boston, Massachusetts. Then to NYC, for another 2-3 days of sightseeing and finally heading north, up to Connecticut. Once the ring arrived at their home in Connecticut, Ed and Lisa took a photo and sent it to me, sharing their smiles and the cherished wedding ring of 19 years. I truly have the best job in the world 😀❤️🙏
