Chatham Tag | The Ring Finders

Hardings Beach, Chatham, MA Held a Lost Ring Overnight. Ring Found and Returned.

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact:

On July 21, 2023 a wide wedding band was lost at Hardings Beach. Ethan, a town lifeguard knew of TheRingFinders and had fellow lifeguard Jamieson call me and relay information about Ethan’s great-grandmother’s wedding band being lost the previous evening by great-granddaughter Katie. I was later told by Katie that “My great-grandmother, Margarita, wore the ring since the 1970s until her passing when it was passed down to my mother who was gracious enough to let me wear it. Of course I was careless one time and the one time it slipped right off my finger into the ocean. Thankfully Jamieson got in touch with you.”

Forty-five minutes after receiving the call I was at the beach getting ready for a quick search. First the slope to the water’s edge was covered until a signal was heard, dug and a ring was retrieved. Unfortunately it was a gold plated ring with a fake diamond. Ethan called Katie’s mother and it was confirmed the ring was not the one I was searching for. Back to the search…

I finished detecting over the slope with no other targets and proceeded into the water. Again no results. I increased the search areas both along the face of the slope, down into the water a bit further from the shore. Again no results. Another conversation with Ethan revealed that he and Katie had swam to the buoy and back. That was a bit of bad news as the tide was coming in and I could not wade too much further away from the beach. But I did manage to get out to shoulder depth and worked the tide back in. On the third pass I had a good signal, dang, a screw off bottle cap. About another five feet and another great signal. This one gave me a bit of challenge getting it into my scoop. I had to prevail over the cloudy water and increasing wave action which I did before seeing what had to be the object of my search. This time it was the ring of my search!

Back on the beach it was decided that I would follow Ethan to Katie’s home. What a beautiful facade awaited us. At the entrance way I met Katie. her mother and father. What a story going back 3 generations. Not sure if I would get all the facts correct I turned on a new cell phone app to record the story. I gave it a go and I think it all went well. The smiles, pictures and thanks made for a perfect ending to this return.

 

Tags:
Category:

150th Ring Return on Cape Cod – Found on Chatham Lighthouse Beach

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact:

June 2, 2023

Emmie was enjoying her second day vacationing on beautiful Cape Cod. The sun was bright, the wind was light, and the temperature just right for a perfect day on the beach. Wanting to keep her wedding band clean and safe while she applied sunscreen protection she removed the ring and placed it in her pant’s pocket. She removed the pants and placed them into the safety of a beach wagon while she sun bathed. When it came time to put the pants back on…the ring was not in the secure pocket or wagon.

A call to J&E Enterprise to rent a detector was placed. Eleanor of J&E advised Emmie it would be better to have an experienced detectorist do the search and gave Emmie my phone number. Within the hour I was on the beach and in a search mode. I detected the area parallel to the water and then perpendicular with not a signal from the ring. I then searched in a diagonal pattern. Again, no signal. Another diagonal perpendicular to the first was about 50% complete when I heard an iffy signal. A signal, the result caused by a beach chair in close proximity to another signal. I reduced my detector’s sensitivity and interpreted its visual display as a target of interest and decided to take a scoop. From under a piece of seaweed a brilliant glimmer could be seen as a ring of diamonds slipped into the scoop.

That was the end to my searching and the beginning of the ring return. I kept the ring in the scoop as I love to see the emotions of the owner as they remove it and place it back on the finger where it belongs. Emmie had gone to the car and was on her way back. That gave her “friends” and husband time to conjure up a plan for the return. I would be handing out cards to those around, all except one for Emmie. I had a special Thank You card for her. This return was a special moment for both of us. For Emmie as she was to be reunited with her wedding band of two years and for me because it was my 150th return since joining TheRingFinders in 2011. Emmie’s card had a Thank You note on the reverse side and a Carpe Diem (Seize the Day) token made by another metal detectorist, Jim Wirth. A more perfect return I could not have hoped for on my 150th return.

Many photos were taken, thanks were given and received. Of course a few stories of past returns kept everyone’s concepts of metal detecting intriguing. Everyone could now leave the beach in a joyful spirit. The beach goers headed off to a lobster feast and I to a peaceful ride home. I took the time to reminisce over the past 12 years of putting smiles on the face of so many and how fortunate I am to have done so. What a perfect way to live in vacation land and enjoy retirement. Thanks to all those who have trusted in me. Yes, it really has been my pleasure to help when one needed my expertise the most. Again; Thank You all.

Tags:
Category:

Wedding Band Lost 16 Years Ago Found and Returned. Chatham, MA

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)
Contact:

16 years ago a young sea-goer’s wedding band was pulled off his finger while trying to secure a friend’s boat to a buoy. Searching the surrounding seaweed covered area was unsuccessful in locating the ring. It was to remain hidden for the next 16 years.

While detecting, enjoying my hobby, and avoiding the Corvid-19 virus I found a wedding band with the initials of T.L.F. and a date of 1989 inscribed on the inside of the band. As usual, as I have never been able to find the owner of a wedding band with that information, I was about to put the ring into my pouch for safe keeping when I noticed a name on a large mooring buoy about four feet from me. The name began with an “F”. Could there be a connection between the “F” in the ring and the “F” on the buoy? I had to do some web searching when I got home.

I searched Zillow for street names in the area, the town assessor’s online data base, and other personal information locators for a family name beginning with an “F” and contact information. The search first lead me to a disconnected phone number, several distant possibilities, and a Trust Fund name and finally to a Financial Group, its name was Odyssey. The name was exciting enough, I had to contact them. Of course the financial specialist, Kim, could not give me any information, other than she knew the family. Do to the privacy laws Kim could only promise me she would inquire of someone in the family that may be able to help and have them contact me. A call came back from Kim with bad news…no one with the initials of T.L.F. was know to the contacted family members. Well I tried. But…wait…

About an hour later I received another call, this time it was from Trish. Yes…Trish had some information, but the owner’s initials were not T.L.F. as they were not the owner’s initials, they were an abbreviation for True Love Forever. The owner, Brian, was and still is a close friend of Trish. An arrangement was made for the return of a long missing wedding band. The return sequence of leading to a wedding band’s return was a first for me, all thanks to a coincidence, hunch and the internet.

Tags:
Category: