Just wanted to let everyone out there know that the Ring Finders are fully functional during the winter. I know a lot of people lose there valuables shoveling snow, having snow ball fights, cleaning the snow off your car etc. We are always happy to help. We have a great success rate and truely enjoy helping people. Take care and Good Luck!!!! Darrin E-Mail – dwgray@mchsi.com
Wedding band lost in the snow
It snowed pretty hard today and I was running around with my wife getting some stuff read for work next week, I got a call from a young man that had lost his platinum wedding band in the snow at B.C.I.T (British Columbia Institute of Technology)
He told me that he had a good area were he believed his ring came off, also that 5 people had stopped to help him search for his lost ring for close to one hour, with no luck.
We made plans to meet and search for the ring and we met an hour later. I started the grid search and 10 minutes into the search I asked him if he could get a ring out of my truck so we could do a test with it.
Just as he was going to the truck I received a good signal and kicked the snow to see his wedding band looking back up at me!
Thick Platinum Ring Lost in Snow
Needles to say he was very happy to see his ring, it only took 10 minutes to find it and he was in a bit of a rush to pick up his daughter from school, so it worked out well.
He was a very nice young man and I was very happy to help him find his wedding band of 6 years…
I love my Job!
Lost something in the snow?
Call me ASAP
Video of the search below…
Another great smile
When you are a Ring Finder, you never know when your next search will be. I had a feeling that I might get a search this week because here in Yakima we had a very cold and snowy spell.This can often mean valuables such as keys and rings can get lost.
When the call came asking if I was willing to help find a lost gold wedding band I was not surprised. After speaking with the wife of the man who lost his ring I was ready to start the hunt.
The ring had fallen off while the husband was cleaning the snow off the car, and then brushed his arms and hands off. He told me that he heard a metal “clank” but did not put it together that it was his ring that made the noise. When he arrived at home, he realized that his ring was gone and was sure that it was his ring that must have come off back in the parking lot. Well he returned to the site, but there was two inches of fresh snow in the lot and he could not find the ring. I was called the next day after they found my listing on The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service on the internet.
I agreed to meet them after work to look for the ring. Now I said earlier that it was cold and snowy, and it was. Although the snow had mostly stopped it was still only around 18 F outside and by the time the search was called off for the night it was well on the way to -5 F.
Unfortunately when we arrived at the search location the parking lot had already been plowed. There was only a 1/4 of packed snow on the parking lot, with two large piles of snow off in the corners. The man was able to put me exactly where the ring came off so I searched that area first. I then expanded the search grid to include the most likely route the scraper would have taken to move the snow into the piles. Still no ring. So after looking at the two piles of snow we decided to search the most likely one, which of course was the larger of the two.
I began to shovel layers of snow off the pile and search the remaining snow. After about two hours I had searched about half of the pile, and called it quits for the night.
The next day was even colder, but the sun was out and I was again eager to continue the hunt. My oldest son was home from school, so I asked if he would like to help me search for the ring, and fortunately he did. So off we went. It took about another hour of digging each layer of snow, and then searching it to come up with the ring. It was sitting just hidden in a clump of snow. About the time I swung the metal detector over the ring, I heard the beep and there was the ring. I could not believe we found it. I thought for sure that I would have to just wait for the pile to melt before the ring would be found.
Now I wanted to surprise the husband with the ring and capture that on video, so I called his wife and told her that I had found the ring but wanted to surprise him. So I asked her if she could get him down to the search area to give me some more details about losing the ring, and she agreed.
When they arrived I asked him if he could tell me about what significance the ring was to him and to go over how he lost it again. Then I asked him to describe the ring and after he was done I pulled out the ring and asked if it looked like this one! He was very surprised and happy to get the ring back.
I was pretty happy to have found it for him with the help of my son. It was a great moment I will not soon forget.
They were very kind in giving me a nice reward, which was much appreciated. I do accept rewards as it helps me cover costs and keep my equipment up to date, but for me the true reward is the great smile and joy that I get to witness and be a part of.
Thanks guys for giving me a call and letting me be a part of your wedding ring story.
I received a call from the Concierge at the Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, Vancouver Island. He asked if I could help search for 3 platinum rings that were tossed into the ocean at Chesterman Beach, beside their inn.
He tells me that 3 days past from the time the young lady from London England tossed her rings into the ocean. He helped the couple by getting them a metal detector so they could search the next morning for the rings.
The coupled searched most of the day but had no luck in finding the rings. They were leaving the next day to New York, they would leave Tofino broken hearted!
After the couple left to New York, the Concierge (Damien) began to search the internet to see if he could locate someone to help find those 3 lost rings.
This is where I come into play, he finds TheRingFinders.com online, he tells me the story of the lady and her lost rings. I know I have to act fast as the waves on that beach can get very big in the winter time and that could pound the rings deep into the sand, beyond the reach of a detector.
My wife who hasn’t picked up a detector since we were hunting in the UK (Spoiled) many years ago, wanted to come and help. This was great because she could help grid search and we could knock it out fast, we needed to because of the tides.
Close to 4 hours and only a couple of trash targets I got a good signal. I dug down with my sand scoop and placed the lump of sand on the beach and with my headlight I could see the sparkle of diamonds!
I found the platinum diamond engagement ring! I yelled out to Beverley and she came running, we were so happy and we called Trish in New York to tell them the good news.
We regained our composure and Beverley started to do a corkscrew grid search where I found the ring and within minutes she got a signal 5 yards away and scooped up the platinum wedding band…
This was the tough one because it was so small and thin and it was already 4-5 inches down, good find by Beverley!
Well we were excited and hopeful that we would find the 3rd ring and within 5 minutes and about 15 yards away I found the Aquamarine platinum ring…
We were so happy to find all 3 rings and excited to email the pictures of our discovery to Trish & James. We got a call early the next morning and Trish & James were happy, happy!
Things happen in our lives that make us do funny things that we regret… That being said the rings have more memories now and the last memory was how good it felt to get them back!
We started back to Vancouver and as luck would have it we got stuck in traffic for hours due to snow storms and white outs. We did make it to the ferry and dropped the rings off to Trish’s friends in West Vancouver who will be going to London in a weeks time…
Beverley and I had a great time on this search and the Hero in all of this , in our opinion, is the Concierge at the Wickaninnish Inn (Damien) Because if he hadn’t found The Ring Finders Directory, the rings would be lost forever!
I love my job! I Love my Wife!
Lost something?
Call me ASAP!
Video of the search below…
This video is a search for 3 lost rings at Chesterman Beach, Tofino, Vancouver Island
Got a call this week from a women named Lori who lost a gold pendant. It was a beautiful custom ring and pendant matching set made by a local jeweler in Fairhaven, see article below. About a week ago she realized she had a loose chain hanging on her neck. The pendant was nowhere to be found. She was sure she lost it around her house but was all over the place that day on about a 1/2 acre of land. They have a beautiful garden and pathways, lots of grass etc.
We retraced her steps that morning and discussed all the possibilities. The grass had been freshly mowed the day before her loss and she had already retraced her steps searching the grass by eye. It was a fresh drop, about a week, so it couldn’t be deep although some of the garden beds were soft mounded dirt.
She had also borrowed a radio shack detector from a friend only to add frustration to the mix.
The first thing I did was take a reading off the ring since it was the same kind of gold and a similar design. I decided to start in a small wood chip area and then head into the garden mounds.
Immediately I got a dime signal. She has two preschool aged boys who were very interested in all this so I popped a quick plug and they retrieved the dime. Oh were they excited!
But I had to focus on the job at hand so I headed for the garden beds and in about 20 minutes I had made the find. It was about 2 inches down in one of the soft dirt mounds. Boy did she do the happy dance. She was very excited!
Coenraad Zielstra, see article below, the goldsmith who had made the pieces recently died of cancer and Lori was one of the nurses who had cared for him during his last days. The pendant and ring were hand made about 6 years previously so there was a lot of sentimental value to this lost pendant.
I turned off and set down my equipment and we were all enjoying the glory when her oldest son approached in tears and grabbed her leg.
He was so excited about finding treasures then it was all over, the hunt was complete and he was not a happy camper. So I grabbed my MXT and off we went around the yard to find a few more goodies. Spent another 20 minutes fulfilling this little boys treasure hunting dreams.
I sure love this hobby!
William Rink
Coenraad Zielstra graduated from Vakschool for Goud en Zilversmeden with his gold and silversmithing diplomas in 1963. But Coenraad was much more than a metalsmith, he was an exceptional artist with his own gallery of rings pendants and jewelry items. His creativity and originality were exemplified by his use of antique metalsmithing tools he brought with him when he immigrated from Holland.
Entering his studio in Fairhaven Washington, one stepped into another time with his collection of 18th and 19th century mahogany tables, display cases and cabinets.
A row of rolling mills marked the beginning of his studio workspace.
Anvils, crucibles, molds, hammers, files, a large rolling mill are all antiques that function as well today as they did centuries ago.
His historic collection of metalsmithing tools would be remarkable for a museum, but they weren’t for show, they were used to create beautiful, wearable sculptures for the 45 years Coenraad has worked with them.
Dutch Master Goldsmith Coenraad Zielstra (1943 – 2010)
My First gig as a member of The Ring Finders started with a call from a man named Gama, who lost his wedding ring in some straw.
He was setting up a stage inside a large tent where a school play was to take place when his ring came off while spreading the straw around. Though he and his co-workers looked for it, it was the proverbial needle (ring) in a haystack.
I arrived at the school before Gama but was able to talk to one of his co-workers who knew the general area in which the ring was lost. After a few minutes and only one junk target I received a solid “gold ring” sound and found it just under the surface.
I headed back to my truck and waited for Gama to arrive, after a few minutes the co-worker saw me sitting in my truck and came over to see why. I showed him that I found the ring and he couldn’t believe I found it so quickly.
Phone calls were made which kinda ruined the surprised but a happy Gama was the result none the less.
Here’s the wayward circle…
No worse for wear
Hello, my name is Mark Rubey and I’m an enthusiastic new member of The Ring Finders. I think recovering people’s lost treasures is a great way to make use of my 40 years of metal detecting experience.
I’ve already recovered untold numbers of items before joining this forum but The Ring Finders makes it more likely to reunite owners with what they’ve lost. If you have lost something in a public place, such as the beach, park, school ground, etc, call me as soon as you can to help assure we find the item before someone else does.
If you lost something on private property, there is usually much less urgency in it’s recovery (other than helping you sleep at night!) One important thing to remember is that the less that is done to change the terrain, the better.
If your item was just dropped, it will be within a couple of inches of the top of the ground. If you start digging or moving soil or sand around, you might accidentally bury the item deeper than most metal detectors can reach.
Also, if you lost something in grass or similar, DON’T MOW! Lawn mower blades can destroy your jewelry. The only exception to this is deep weeds or brush where a detector can’t be easily used. In this case, a string type “weed whacker” might be needed to make detecting easier. Call first to be sure however.Most items are not permanently lost but merely haven’t been found yet. To illustrate this is my first blog entry.
While visiting friends and new relatives in Minnesota (with my detector of course!) my wife’s uncle Bob related a story about a lost ring he had given his daughter Diane. He had personally made the ring out of a dime so it had special meaning to Diane. When Diane lost the ring in the front yard, she was heart broken but even though she searched and searched, she couldn’t find it.
After hearing my detector stories and successes, Bob asked if I thought I could find it and Oh, and by the way, it was lost 35 years ago! I told him I’d sure give it a good try and that as long as the ground hadn’t been rototilled or replaced, that it should still be there….just a little further down than if it had just been dropped.
He assured me that it hadn’t so I was off on the hunt and hoped to live up to my billing. Well, I searched that yard for hours and was just about to admit defeat (and have to eat all my words about how great a treasure finder I was) when I got a weak signal only 3 feet from the front door.
Sure enough after removing a plug of grass and some dirt, at about 4-5 inches down, out popped the ring! Smiles and hugs all around and my wife’s choice for a husband started looking better all the time! Here’s Diane and her ring…..
Ring lost for 35 years found with metal detector!Another happy reunion!
Another happy reunion!
While searching for another persons lost Wedding Ring in 10 feet of water under a diving platform, I found an Eden Prairie High School Class Ring. I called the school and gave the all the information on the ring and a couple weeks later I received a call from the young ladies Mother…….just a lucky find, she never heard of the Ring Finders…Let’s get the word out and get those lost rings back on the rightful owners fingers! Pictured is the young ladies Dad!
