diamond engagement ring Tag | Page 28 of 39 | The Ring Finders

Amazing Lost Ring Story – Found Moments Before Big Snow Storm

  • from Madison (Wisconsin, United States)
Contact:

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My husband was helping me carry groceries from the car one evening when I noticed he seemed upset about something. I asked him what was wrong. He said that while I was shopping he was working on the computer and noticed that his wedding ring was missing from his hand.

I told him not to worry about it, after all hadn’t he recently scoffed when I had my own ring repaired that he couldn’t understand why we still bothered to wear wedding rings since we’d been married 25 years, everyone knew we were married, and it wasn’t like we would ever split up. A marriage is not a ring, I reminded him. A ring is just stuff. But John was clearly deeply upset. So I headed outside with a flashlight to search in the snow in the spot where he thought he’d been standing when the ring fell off his hand.

John is blind, and for many who are blind losing things is a regular part of life. One does not notice the gloves left behind in a friend’s car or the red-and-white cane left on the seat of a city bus. One is unable to see the phone that slips out of a pocket to fall silently into the snow or the keys that drop without a sound. Losing things is one of the recurring indignities of losing your vision and so it is for John. Misplacing things leaves him tense and frustrated, as if blindness has just scored another point leaving him scrambling once again to keep possession of the things in life that are most valuable to him, the intangible most of all.

John thought he may have lost the ring while playing with his guide dog in the snow but when I searched the spot with their footprints I didn’t see anything glinting in the flashlight beam. He was afraid the ring may have slipped off his finger while they were at work on campus, maybe while taking a mid-day break to play a game of tug-of-war outside the physics building. In fact he wasn’t sure when he lost the ring as he can’t see his hand. It may have been gone for weeks he feared.

That night he was sleepless over the loss of the ring. Even though I kept assuring him it was no big deal, it could be replaced, he was not consoled. Blindness was winning again.  First thing in the morning I started calling around to rent a metal detector, but soon realized this was not a feasible plan.  We’d be dragging the detector all over the city as there were several spots where John thought the ring might have fallen into the snow. And there was no guarantee we’d even figure out how to use it properly.

I kept putting on my coat and boots, going outside, searching the spot on the hill where John said he’d been standing when he thought the ring might have slipped off his hand. I’d get down on my hands and knees, search every inch of the frozen grass and snow, searching again and again. I had to find that ring! I had to see my husband happy again.

While searching for a local store that rented metal detectors, one of the hits that came up on Google was www.TheRingFinders.com. I exchanged a few messages with Dan Roekle and it was clear he was our best bet for finding the ring.

Dan and his kids came over to our house after work with their metal detector and other equipment in tow. We didn’t think there was much chance of finding the ring that evening as it was already dark, not to mention bitterly cold. But Dan wanted to get started and at least get a look at the first search site. Anyhow a Midwestern blizzard was bearing down, predicted to dump a half-foot of snow on the city, obliterating any tracks of where John and his dog had been.

I turned on the house lights, opened the garage door to flood the driveway with light and passed out flashlights. A group of us huddled in the cold to watch as Dan dropped a wedding ring made of the same metal as John’s onto the frozen trampled ground. The detector chirped, its screen lit up with a digital reading, and Dan began slowly making his way up and down the hillside, maneuvering the detector over snow and ice, listening for a tone similar to the one triggered by the test ring.  The detector softly chirped every few moments as Dan passed a tree and he theorized that landscape stakes or discarded nails from a roofing job were to blame. “There’s a lot of metal in this hill,” he said.

It was clear John and I would have never been able to locate his ring with a rented metal detector. He’d been guiding the detector over the ground for only about five minutes when it chirped loudly and Dan announced a reading in the range of the test ring. “We’ve found it,” he said with certainty and you could almost hear the gasping of all the frozen breaths. His son Carter knelt in the spot where his dad and the detector pointed, and with a water-proof pin pointer worked to zero-in on the precise location of the ring in the snow. Carter scraped and dug through the snow and ice and within moments held it up as a whoop arose.

I may have been the most astonished as the ring had been pressed into the frozen earth in the exact location where I had searched on my hands and knees many times that day without spotting it. It was the spot where John had been standing when he pulled off his gloves after playing with his dog and leaned over to pick up the harness.

Thank you, Dan, Carter and Kylie!

Judy and John

 

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Diamond Engagement Ring .. Found .. San Clemente, CA. Beach

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)

Alexis and Andrew had gone to San Clemente State Beach on Saturday 1/17/15. They walked about three hundred yards south of the main entrance to set up for the day. Before going out in the water Alexis still had her engagement ring on her finger. She put it into the pocket of her blouse and carefully laid it with the rest of their belongings. When they began to leave she picked up her blouse and decided to hang it on her backpack, forgetting that the ring was in the pocket. After walking several blocks through the sand to get to their car she went to get her ring from the pocket and it was not there. Andrew, Alexis and their friends looked through the immediate area with their hands, but it could have fallen out during the long walk to the car. They gave up the search. After returning home Alexis went on line locating TheRingFinders.com .

imageimage I received the call at about 3:30pm while detecting at Huntington Beach. It took me awhile to walk a half mile to my car, but I was able to me Alexis and Andrew at 5pm. We talked about the circumstances leading to the loss of the ring. I explained to them how my equipment works. Some people think metal detectors can find things several feet from the coil. Other people do not believe the work for such small items as rings. I knew it was possible to search the long walk back to the parking lot, but the best place to start would be where she picked up her blouse. Sometimes other persons move an item containing the ring or keys not knowing something was hidden inside. I set up an area to grid search about 40’x30′.. Making six passes parallel to the beach with out success, I setup my CTX 3030 to beach mode – all metal and began a cross grid. The next move would have been the long walk back to the parking area. (time consuming and the sun was setting). Three 30 foot passes to and from the water I got a nice 12-02 signal. Calling Alexis over to see the signal and hear the sound, I told her this is your ring and I scooped it. It was a beautiful ring. She dropped to her knees in tears of joy. Andrew also came over to thank me telling me that he had all but given up on ever seeing their ring again. It was a great day and I got another lesson of humility. It is a game of inches and it pays to cross check.

Wedding Ring Found in Johnston, RI

  • from Woonsocket (Rhode Island, United States)
Contact:

On Saturday, Jason lost his diamond wedding band while doing yard work.  Family and friends helped to search the yard.  Someone even tried to find it with a metal detector, but they had no luck.  Not knowing where to turn, his wife, Toni, decided to search the internet for help.  She found my information and gave me a call on Monday.  That evening, I searched the property for a few hours, mostly in the dark, but was unable to locate the ring.  I assured Toni and Jason that I would be back early Wednesday to continue the search, expecting that it would take quite some time given the size of the property.  Five minutes into the search, I located the ring in their lawn.  Jason and Toni were delighted!

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Lost Engagement Ring Recovered at Fort Meade, Maryland!

  • from Baltimore (Maryland, United States)
Contact:

It’s been quite a while (Jan. 2014) since my last last blog, service request and recovery, but that is a good thing as no one wants to lose something precious or important to them.  That changed when Anni contacted me last Wednesday after she lost her engagement ring the Saturday before. She was referred to me by someone who I’ve helped out in the past. That goes to show that people who you help out are truly appreciative and remember such things.  As I usually like to do, I’ll let Anni tell you the story…..

During a family photo shoot in the park, my engagement ring slipped off my finger. I noticed it almost immediately but the park was large, the grass was thick and many leaves had fallen from the trees making it very difficult to locate where the ring may have fallen off.
After looking for the ring and being unable to find it, we borrowed a metal detector and spent the next few days using the metal detector for several hours each day trying to find the engagement ring. After two long days, our metal detector found two pennies, a gum wrapper and the tab to a soda can.
Using a community social media site, I reached out to see if anyone was aware of a “lost and found” office I could contact. Although there was no “lost and found” office, one person had referred me to a “professional ring finder” that had been able to successfully find her wedding ring that had been lost outside and covered in snow.
In desperation, I contacted Jim Wagner, “the professional ring finder,” to see if he would be able to help find my engagement ring. Although the ring had suffered through two days of heavy rain and been lost almost an entire week, Jim was confident he would be able to find the ring.
Jim was professional and responsive and met with us the very next day after contacting him. We had a general idea as to where the ring may have fallen, so he used that knowledge coupled with his experience as well as his high-end metal detecting equipment and was able to locate the lost ring within approximately 30 seconds. He found the ring in the same area we had already searched early in the week using our own metal detector.
I am eternally thankful. It is such a terrible feeling when you know you have lost something so dear to you and not sure if you will ever see it again. Jim was extremely professional, personable, prompt and helpful. He works with the top of the line equipment and has a real passion for finding things. Best of all, he genuinely wants to reunite people with their precious, lost valuables and he gets great satisfaction from helping people.

…..Thank you Anni for such a kind endorsement. It was a pleasure helping you and your husband locate the missing ring. Most of all, a big thank you to you and your family for your service and sacrifice for our Country!

Anni's husband John with the ring in hand!

Anni’s husband John with the ring in hand!

There it is after removing a few leaves above it!

There it is after removing a few leaves above it!

Lost Ring in Garden, Don’t Waste your Time Renting a Metal Dectector – Call a Ring Finder! – Madison, WI

  • from Madison (Wisconsin, United States)
Contact:

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I took a day off from work to take care of several errands around town that had piled up, so I was driving a lot, stopping in several businesses, and crossing many parking lots.  Later in the day, I worked in my yard, weeding and cutting back branches with my pruners.  I usually wear gloves when I’m gardening, but I didn’t think I’d be out for very long that afternoon, so I skipped the gloves.  (Never again!)

Among other things, I inherited crooked little fingers and big knuckles from my father.  I’m also left-handed, and my sister had given me some left-handed pruners.  The big knuckles mean that my wedding ring has had several modifications to make it fit my finger right, with the last being hinges on the sides and a clasp on the palm side of the ring.

After I had done more gardening than I planned, I had another errand to run, and when I looked at my left hand on the steering wheel, my stomach dropped about a foot when I realized my wedding ring was gone and I had no idea when – or where – I had lost it.  Because I’m usually pretty aware of it, I thought I must have lost it in the garden – but where?  I was all over the yard and it could be anywhere – in the mulch, in the dirt, in the grass, in the overcrowded hostas, in the birdfeed bin – anywhere.

When I got home, my husband and I started to search, but it was getting dark, so we decided to try again later.  On my next day off, I checked with the places that I had visited on the Thursday that I lost the ring, but no one had seen it.  I still suspected it was in the yard, but I still didn’t know specifically where.

My husband kept up the search over the next several days, and I borrowed a metal detector from someone who answered my plea on our neighborhood message board.  But I quickly realized that I did not have the skill (or the time to learn the skill) to use it effectively.  Dan later told me that this is common when people rent a metal detector.  Feeling more and more discouraged, I checked the Lost and Found listing on Craigslist, where a title jumped out at me: “Lost Ring?”

That listing led me to the www.TheRingFinders.com website and to Dan Roekle, who I contacted. After coordinating our busy schedules, he and his son Carter came over on a Saturday afternoon.  I showed them the two specific places in the yard that I thought were the most likely places where my ring was likely to be.  Dan commented on the large number of pieces of metal that he was getting hits on, mostly from the roof replacement that we had a few years back.  He showed me one of the pieces and then he continued his search.  A few minutes later, he came back to where I was and with a totally straight face, said “Sometimes we find other things, too” and opened his hand.  There was my ring!  He had found it in the middle of the leaves of a hosta plant – the perfect place to hide.  The grin on my face still hasn’t gone away!

And there’s one more thing my father gave me – he was a clergyman who married my husband and me, so part of the service was blessing our rings.  He died seven years ago, and knowing that I have back the ring that he blessed, means more to me than I had ever thought it would.  Thank you so much, Dan and Carter!

Faith

 

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Lost Family Heirloom Recovered by High Plains Prospectors’ Recovery Team

  • from Olathe (Kansas, United States)

Just before Labor Day 2014 we received a call from a man named Brent who wanted to rent a metal detector.  Brent was a local businessman and volunteer football coach for a middle school football team.  Ritually he removes his wrist watch and ring and puts them in his pocket during practice.  He had remembered taking his watch from his pocket to check the time multiple times during the practice.  He suspected he had lost a ring while coaching a local middle school football team.  His plan was to rent a metal detector and detect the practice field.  I told him no problem.  We rent metal detectors to people looking for all sorts of things such as lost keys, cell phones, boundary markers, pipes, lawn sprinklers, and of course rings.  This ring, however, was not just an ordinary ring.  The ring had belonged to Brent’s father it was 14 karat gold and was sat with a large diamond.  The father had a tremendous value both sentimentally and financially.  We’re not typically open on Sundays.  My experience, however, in the recovery of rings is this:  There is a direct reflection in successful recoveries and the speed in which you get on the recovery job.  Since this was a special item to Brent, we made special arrangements for him to pick up the metal detector that Sunday.

Two days later Brent’s wife returned the metal detector.  Her demeanor was enough to tell us they had not recovered the ring.  Needless to say, both her and Brent were seriously bummed.  Brent had spent several hours scouring the entire practice field trying to find the ring with no luck.  Having metal detected the places he spends most of the time during practice multiple times, he was seriously questioning whether he lost his ring on the field or somewhere else completely.
The day after they returned the metal detector I called Brent up to discuss his loss.  At this point, I believe he had accepted the loss and decided he would just have to turn it into insurance.  Although it wouldn’t be the ring his father had given him, at least he would not take a financial hit too boot.  That is when I told him about our recovery services.  Having spent the better part of two very hot days looking for the lost ring, I could sense his skepticism when I discussed our services.  I let him know that it was not uncommon for people to rent a detector and have no luck finding their ring.  Then, subsequently hire us to search only to end in a successful recovery.  The reason is experience.  There are so many competing signals scattered across nearly every square foot of any public place.  Anyone who is inexperienced at metal detecting will investigate every signal because they do not know what to listen and look for in the metal detector.  Pull tabs, pieces of “can slaw” (aluminum cans that are hit by a mower), bottle caps, and even targets that most metal detectorists normally want to hear, can create an “analysis paralysis” for an inexperienced metal detectorist.  After a few hours (yes, I said hours) the person will either begin losing hope and dismiss signals or spend the whole time chasing signals an experienced detectorist would not give a second’s thought. If the person doesn’t almost kill themselves doing lunges as they investigate each target, they will likely fatigue mentally and abandon the search altogether.

I informed Brent that we had a lot of luck finding rings that other people miss with a metal detector.  He  was intrigued and decided  it was worth it to him to have Scrap Iron and I come out and see if we can find the ring.  We arrived and he showed us where practice took place.  He explained where most of his time was concentrated. We had  arrived after school was out and be finished before practice started.  So, with only a couple hours at hand, we were pressed on time.  Before we got started Brent asked how we bill for our services.  I told him about the Ring Finder’s policy where we work on a “rewards basis”.  This means that the person who lost the ring sets the price.  After some quick mental calculation on his end, we determined a fair rate and shook hands.  The beauty for the ring owner is that if we don’t find it, there is quite often no charge.  “I told him our success rate is over 95% and we don’t like to lose…and I suspect the other 5% situations, the ring was not lost where the person may have thought it was.” Brent left to go prepare for practice and we got to work searching for the ring.

I told him, “Our success rate is over 95% and we don’t like to lose…and I suspect in a large portion of the unsuccessful 5% of the situations, the ring was not lost where the person may have thought it was.”

Scrap Iron and I took a quick lay of the land and decided our hunting method.  The practice field was laid out in an L-shaped pattern.  I would hunt the vertical part of the L and Scrap Iron would hit the lower/horizontal end, criss-crossing where the two met.  After about 40 minutes of metal detecting I had found only a handful of pull tabs, some aluminum pieces, a couple quarters and a dime (okay so the money was not anywhere near the type of signal of the ring, but I wasn’t about to let that money just lay there :).  Then, in the background I hear a quick little crow whistle, a “kaw kaw” whistle very familiar in my group of friends.  It had been used for years to get the attention of one another at ball games, bars, or hunting grounds.  When I heard it, I knew what had happened.  I glanced at Scrap Iron who was probably 30-yards from me in an area that I had come very close to covering in my portion of the grid but had apparently missed by only inches.  He was holding up a large shiny ring and wearing a huge smile.  Had he not been there criss crossing the areas where my grid overlayed his, we may very well have missed this ring.

I went over and looked at the ring.  It certainly looked like the one he described.  I picked up my phone and asked Brent how far out he was.  He said he was only a few minutes out.  In a humorous tone I asked, “How would you like to come and try to positively identify this ring we found.”

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He chuckled, “You guys…”.  He was in total disbelief we had found the ring.  “I will be right there and I will bring my checkbook!”

He showed up a few minutes later, said it was the right ring and put it on his finger.  He was grinning ear to ear.  We chatted for a while and told him where we found it.  He had thought he metal detected that area.  I told him that I thought I did too, but it was Scrap Iron who found it.  He thanked us for our work and said he was glad to pay the finders fee for people who were willing to put everything on the line and start a business like ours.  Both parties left feeling pretty good about the transaction.

Newspaper Article – All’s Well that Ends Well – Webb Lake Lost Ring Search

  • from Madison (Wisconsin, United States)
Contact:

Another publication in a local paper, the Burnett County Sentinel.  They wrote up a nice article about our Webb Lake lost ring find.  Click on the link below for the complete article.

http://www.presspubs.com/burnett/news/article_4346a47e-338a-11e4-8715-0019bb2963f4.html

 

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Lost Woman’s Wedding Ring at beach in Ohio. “FOUND”

  • from Newark (Ohio, United States)
Contact:

I received a call about a lost white gold wedding band set in about 3 foot of water at the beach. After getting more details and getting permission to search. Started the search with no good hits, then found some junk and pull tabs. After expanding the search area and scooping up sand. There was the ring in my sand scoop. With him beside me and her back on the beach. He very happy that the ring was found and she was even happier to have the ring back.

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Lost Woman’s Wedding Ring at beach in Ohio. “FOUND”

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Lost Woman’s Wedding Ring at beach in Ohio. “FOUND”

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Lost Woman’s Wedding Ring at beach in Ohio. “FOUND”

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Lost Woman’s Wedding Ring at beach in Ohio. “FOUND”

 

 

Lost Diamond wedding Ring lost in Victoria and returned

  • from Victoria (British Columbia, Canada)
Contact:

Lori webStill010

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August 8th 2014 I received a call from Lori asking do you still offer this service, Yes I do was my reply. She asked how does this work and I explained the reward system and she gave me details re the Gold and Diamond wedding/engagement rings she lost last week at the ball diamond.

I arranged to hunt right away because time is important when it comes to recovering lost rings.

After a couple of hours, I did not find it but promised to return after dinner.

Well expand the search and high tone, yes the ring. Wow what a beautiful ring.

Lori was so excited to have this awesome ring back where it belongs.

I love my Job. Making people Happy is so much fun!

Lost Ring in Victoria Found and Returned

  • from Victoria (British Columbia, Canada)
Contact:

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Victoria, B.C. Wednesday July 30th 2014

Adele was visiting Victoria with her daughter (Errin) and grandchildren from Lethbridge Alberta.

July 27th the grandchildren and some neighbourhood children decided to play Princess, using Adele’s jewellery. Mom Erin discovered the kids were playing with her mothers jewellery in the back yard and several items became scattered all over the yard and in the flower gardens.

Everyone searched and most items were recovered, except one very important ring that Adele’s past husband gave her. As you can imagine this ring being the last ring that he gave her before passing was very special and important.

Errin searched the internet and found me on the www.theringfinders.com web site

After getting a message on my Cell Phone to called Adele re a lost ring I arranged a time to search.

About 20 minutes into the search I found this awesome 3 diamond ring.

I love my job, nothing better then a Happy Ending.