I got a call from Alex about his lost ring at the Torch Lake sandbar. He was out on the boat with family enjoying the summer on the water.
Alex saw his ring fly off his finger and land in the water by the back of his boat. It took less than 5 minutes to find the ring.
Jill was spending the day with her daughter at Emerald Isle’s Western Regional Beach Access. Before leaving their beach location near the lifeguard stand, she noticed this special ring had gone missing. It wasn’t until the next day, after talking the the police department, that she was informed there are services in the area who specialize with finding lost items. Jill called me and I informed her that I would be there as soon as possible. It was my concern, another detectorist may have already found the gold ring. Upon arrival the search area was surprisingly empty of visitors and I started my search of the 15 x 15 yard area. Jill even placed an X in the sand where she suspected the ring may lay buried from the day before… On my 3rd pass, I received a strong signal on my Minelab CTX-3030. One scoop and the ring was visible. The location was less than 8″ from the center of Jill’s X mark. Jill declined my offer to include her into The Ring Finder’s Book of Smiles
I received a text from Ali she had lost her engagement ring in the woods when throwing leaves down a hill. Ali was going to be out of town for a couple days, she wanted me to communicate with her fiance Nick. I got a picture of the location she was throwing the leaves down the hill. The area was about 50 feet wide and the hill is very steep at about a 45 degree angle. They had rented a metal detector and tried for 10 hours to find the ring but had no luck.
Nick had to work Saturday but let me get started before he got home from work. I wanted to get started early just to have more day light to work the steep hill.
I started the search and realized I needed a rope to stop me from going down the hill. I brought my anchor from my boat the wedged it between two trees. Wrapped the roped around my free arm then started a grid pattern as best I could. I searched about two hour with no luck. I started another grid search at a 90 degree angle to the previous search. A good grid search was impossible due to all the small trees and brush. After searching the new grid pattern for an hour, I got the signal I was looking for and saw a small portion of the ring sticking out of the leaves. I moved the leaves away and found the ring.
I thank Nick and Ali for trusting me to find her lost ring and the generous reward.
This adventure started with a text from fellow ring finder Chuck Raison. He asked if I could go to Roscommon to look for a ring. He had commitments the next two days and Karyn would like some sooner. That turned out to be a good idea on Karyn’s part.
I met Karyn at 6:00 pm at a cross country ski shop and got the details. She had lunch outside on Friday with a friend then they went skiing. She did not realize the ring was missing till after she woke up Saturday morning. She had searched her house and car and could not locate the ring. That’s when her thoughts took her back to Friday and spending time outside in the cold. Her Fiancee did an internet search and came up with The Ring Finders and here we are on Monday night.
I started the search in the parking lot in the area her car was parked. I search the intimidate area where the car was and the area where they plow the snow. I searched the snow piles and had no luck. Then the search moved to the front of the building and the sides of the road. The trails are across the road from the business. No luck in those areas also. Then we moved the the deck where she had lunch outside. I searched the outside areas where they shovel the snow off the deck and had no luck. Then, I moved up on the deck and the area was shoveled clean and I thought there is no chance the ring is up here somebody would have picked it up. I walked around the deck area and once I rounded a black plastic spool they were using as a table, I spotted a round shining ring on the ground. I called Karyn over and said is that your ring? She picked up the ring and we were both in disbelief on how the ring sat in plain view since Friday and nobody picked it up.
This adventure started with a Facebook message from Jasmine asking if I was available the next day. We exchanged messages for about a 1/2 hour. I got an address and details on the lost ring. I agreed to meet her the next day after work.
I got to her house and got the details and the search area. She was outside the back of the house playing with her dog in the snow. She was in an area about 25 feet by 40 feet. After going back into the house she immediately noticed the ring missing. Jasmine and her fiancee went and bought a metal detector from a local big box store and had no luck. They also used a blow torch to melt the snow without any luck. Then she searched “metal detector specialist” and my Facebook page came up.
I got the area down and started the search. Within the first 2 minutes into the search, I knew this was going to be a hard search. I was hitting 5 signals per swing of the detector. I ended up telling her this was going to be a hard find because all the signals. I asked whats with all the pocket change in the grass. She said her fiancee likes to throw his pocket change out the truck window into the grass. I ended up telling her not to wait outside with me this is going to take awhile. The temperature was below zero with a light wind. I initially tried to clear every signal and finally realized it would take a month to do that. I ended up putting on the 6″coil and just look for a gold signal. I knew by the size of the ring it should ring up between an 12:02 and 12:10 on the ctx. So after 2 hours and 10 minutes, I finally get a nice sounding 12:05 on the ctx. Slightly moved the snow with my foot and saw the ring sit up straight. I left the ring as it was and went to get Jasmine from the house. I almost had to drag her out of the house she was moving very slowly. She later explained to me, that just before I went to get her, she came to terms with herself that the ring was gone. We got out to the ring and I shined the flashlight on the ring and said I think your going to be very happy. She looked down at the ground and once she realized it was her ring she started screaming and jumped straight up into the air. She thanked me about 10 times and I just kept playing it down like normal. Then she said “No! you don’t realize what this means to me, You’re my hero you saved my wedding! I’m going to name a child after you!”. I was left speechless and didn’t know what to say after that. It turns out the ring was made from both grandmothers wedding rings being melted down to make this ring. They put the wedding on hold till this ring could be found. I’m not going to hold her to naming a child after me. If it happens, I would be happy to bring my family up to Petoskey to meet the child.
Jasmine, I was glad to help you and save the wedding.
I received a call from Christine that her sister had lost her Wedding ring at her parents house while getting the flower beds ready for winter. We agreed to meet the next day at noon.
We met at noon and I got the story. She was cleaning leaves out of some beds in front of the house. She had bagged up about 10 bags of leaves. She also dumped other plants/grass in the back of the property in 3 different piles. She had me check 2 of the bags of leaves and the area in front of the house. We had no luck so off we went to the piles at the back of the property. I searched the area twice with no luck. Her father had walked out to talk to me and watch the process. He stated she was in all 10 bags of leaves they had in the garage. So, off we went back to the bags in the garage. We had to bring them out into the driveway because the detector way picking up the tracks on the garage doors and the car. I searched through about 5 of the bags and finally got a signal in one of the bags. We took the bag out in the side yard and dumped it out to search further. Just as I was zeroing in on the ring they spotted it in the leaves I has moving around.
I received a call about a lost wedding ring in a small brushy area on Crystal Lake in Frankfort Michigan. I knew this would be a short hunt just because the search area was about 10 feet by 10 feet. I started searching in the brush and overgrowth and found the ring under a low hanging branch from a pine tree. This was a short fun little search after work.
I received a call from Anthony’s wife that he had lost his Wedding ring at work. I met Anthony about an hour later and found out what had happened. He had children outside on a nature walk at the school he works at. He felt his ring slip off his finder but could not concentrate on looking for it due to the children he had to keep an eye on. He came back after work and walked the area but could not locate the ring. The snow was about 5 inches deep in the area Anthony took me to. I started a grid pattern and walked about 8 feet and found the ring. It was stuck in the side of one of the footprints from them walking in the area earlier. I always like the easy short hunts.
I received a call on Wednesday night about 6:00 pm from Allison about her husband Domenicks lost wedding band. The ring is 18 kt Gold that Domenicks Grandmother bought in Italy. They made a day trip to Traverse City, Mi to visit the Grand Traverse Commons. The Grand Traverse Commons are the old Traverse City State Hospital that opened in November of 1885. Due to modern medicine the Hospital closed in 1989. The ability to treat mental patients with pills was the demise of the hospital. Now renovated and occupied with a mix of residential, retail, restaurants, an event venue, Cordia, a senior residential community, and an ever increasing number of businesses and entrepreneurs.
So, back to the ring find. I went Wednesday night from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm and did not find the ring. On the picture below, I searched the green shaded area. Allison had told me the only thing she did was go from the car to the tree to pick up leaves. The ring was in an upper pocket of her shirt because Domineck was throwing a ball further out in the field. She though the ring fell out of her pocket when she bent over to pick up the leaves. She was not sure of exactly where the ring was lost, because they were at other places in town also. She did not realize the ring was missing till almost back home. A 3 hour drive from Traverse City. I could not go back till Sunday, they had a outside wedding in the area Saturday. Sunday morning I put the 17 inch coil on the Ctx3030 and was going to grid search a very large area. Her statement about Domenick throwing ball out in the field stuck with me. So, after about 50 foil signals, I was checking another and moved my coil to the side and saw the ring. I was in disbelief and just stared at it for about 10 seconds. For people who do not detect foil sounds just like a gold ring. The ring was in the field about 40 feet past the tree on the opposite side of the parking lot. I texted Allison right away with the good news. She said I made her summer. On Monday morning, I shipped the ring overnight back to them.
Received a call from a young man who was helping an elderly women. The gentleman was sitting on a bench at Loyola Beach with his girlfriend when he observed an elderly women frantically searching on her hands and knees for her sentimental engagement ring in the sand. It was yellow gold with two Diamonds and a Ruby. He helped her by marking the spot with some small stones and a buried t shirt. He went online with his phone and found the Ringfinders website and my name. The woman does not own a cell phone. He called me and explained the situation. This call was received in the late afternoon today. I knew that if I didn’t come out right away, the stones and marker would probably be gone in the morning because of the raking machines they use every morning on the beaches. He gave me the woman’s landline number and we met at the beach. The marker was still intact. In less than 30 seconds, with just 1 swipe of the coil, I found the ring less than a foot from the marker. It came up as 12/05 on my CTX 3030. The woman was in shock that I was able to find it. She had already given up any hope of finding it. People nearby saw that I had found it and came running over in disbelief. Another GREAT DAY to be a RINGFINDER!! I couldn’t have been happier for her so I had my picture taken with her.
