found Tag | Page 17 of 39 | The Ring Finders

Lost Ring in Temecula, CA.. Swimming Hole.. Recovered

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Friday, June 28..

I received a call from Brett asking me about The RingFinders and if I’d be able to search for a ring lost in a swimming hole out in the country.. He told me the water was no deeper than 5 ft., which is right at the limit before requiring diving gear. I told him that I’d be willing to give it a try hoping it would be in shallower water. His wife Natalie called me had with a few more details. Her daughter Amanda was wearing  her grandfather’s 55 year old wedding ring. While swingging from a rope swing over the water her friend threw a ball at her. Well, she tried to bat the ball away with her hand and the heavy ring went into the murky water.

We set up a meeting place for Sunday morning and took off for this secret swimming hole. It was about 12 miles out in the boondocks. A real pretty country swimming hole  including the rope swing. I was using my Excalibur Minelab waterproof detector and waded into the water. Amada and her friends were there and explained how it happened and the direction she hit the ball. Well, the water was up to my neck and retrieving the targets was next to impossible with my scoop. So, the guys offered to dive down to get the targets. I would put the handle of the scoop on the target and they would grab a hand full of sand.  After about 20 minutes we started finding fishing weights, coins and sunglasses. An hour or so later, the young guys took a break and Brett, Amanda’s dad took a few dives. It was looking like everybody was giving up hope.. Then I got a nice signal and told Brett we aren’t leaving until we recover this target..  He went down and came up with a big smile saying it’s a ring..  We had 20 or more onlookers and there were cheers and tears, also smiles. It was certainly a family affair with Mom setting it up, Dad making the great dive and all the friends helping. I could not of done it myself.. On my web page I say. “I’ll try anywhere” .. I’m starting to have second thoughts about that.. The search is a challenge, the real experience is meeting such nice people and being able to help them..

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Lost Gold Cross… Found in Davenport, Iowa

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Hi everyone,

I received a call yesterday from Tom about a lost gold cross his son had. Tom had bought two of these crosses in Greece one for each of his sons. His son Tony, who is a college student, was at a friends house over the fourth of July. They were playing on one of those yellow slippery slide things in the friends backyard plus throwing a Frisbee.

Tony felt his chain slip down his neck and was able to catch it but there was no gold cross on the broken chain. He said they searched the area but was unable to find the cross. They tried again last night with a flashlight hoping they would pick up a glimmer from the gold. With no luck.

Most people in my area are do-it-yourselfers, so Tom rented a detector and tried to find it. He was unsuccessful. He then gave me the go ahead to come search for the lost gold cross.

I arrived at 10:30 this morning and Tony showed me two different areas where he thought he lost his cross. It wasn’t in the first area.

It took about an hour and I finally got the signal I was hoping to hear! I could see a chunk of gold peaking through the grass. I like a happy ending and so did this family.

Happy Hunting Everyone

tonycross

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Wedding Set Lost on Day of Anniversary at Rehoboth Beach: Found

  • from Lewes (Delaware, United States)
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Michael OMalley Ring Recovery 001Michael OMalley Ring Recovery 002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received a phone call at 7:30 am on May 27th 2013 regarding a Platinum Wedding  set that had been lost the day before on May 26th 2013 in the sand at Rehoboth Beach, Del. The story was that the couple were celebrating their wedding anniversary on May 26th and that they were at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The owner had taken her rings off and placed them in her lap in order to put suntan lotion on the couples child. Forgetting that she had placed the rings in her lap she stood up and the rings fell into the sand. There were attempts made to recover the rings by sifting the sand, but the rings were not to be found. Upon getting the phone call I arrived at the beach about an hour later only to find that the beach had been raked by the city workers using a tractor and a sand rake. My fear was that the rings had either been gobbled up by the sand rake or that they had been carried in an unknown direction down the beach by the sand rake. I began my search in an area that was pointed out by the ring owners husband with negative results. I then adjusted the area of my search due to the husband believing that they had been closer to the water than he originally thought. The husband left the beach in order to help his wife pack as they were to leave to go back  home on this day, I told him that I would call him with the results of the search. The husband had’nt made it back to his parked car before I recovered the 1kt diamond Platinum ring right in the area where I began my second search. I called him and told him that he might want to come back down to the beach which he did and at that time I returned the recovered ring to him. I then conducted a spiral search from the area that the diamond ring was found and I failed to locate the wedding band. I then searched north of that same location without recovering the band. Then a search of the area to the south of the recovered diamond ring resulted in the recovery of the wedding band sixty feet south of where the diamond was recovered. It appeared that the sand rake had moved the wedding band from the area of where it had been dropped. I actually saw several of the small diamonds on the wedding band glistening in the sunshine before my metal detector passed over top of it. A small portion of the top of the wedding band was exposed just above its hiding place in the sand. The wedding band was recovered and returned to its rightful owner. Another anniversary saved by the Ringfinders!

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Lost Diamond Ring… Bolsa Chica State Beach, CA… Found

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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Last Saturday at 9 am I received a phone call from Amanda and Adam. They were at Bolsa Chica State Beach and had borrowed a metal detector to find a ring that she lost Friday afternoon. She was standing in about ankle deep water and went to brush some sand to off her leg. That is when her beautiful ring went flying into the water. Amada reached down just as a wave broke in front of her. They searched till 8pm that night and returned the next morning. Saturday morning about 9am she found ” The RingFinders” online and called me. I was able to get  her location about 10am and the tide was going out. I searched till the lowest tide with no success. Sunday morning was a minus tide, so I came again Sunday at 6am. This beach is soft sand and has a very steep slope. It was very difficult to be positive about finding this ring as the sand can build up more than a foot in one tide.  After 4 hours of searching as the tide came in, still no success. I watched Adam swinging his detector and Amanda walking back and forth on the beach the whole day. I told her that I had given it my best effort and it was hard to tell her that the ring may have worked itself too deep to detect.

I went home feeling I had done my best to find that ring and it was not the best experience watching Amanda and Adam trying so hard to find the ring.. That night I checked the tides and it was going to be a 6.8 ft high tide with a minus tide in the morning.  8:30am  SUCCESS !! I found it about 6 inches deep.

They were unaware that I decided to give it one more try, so when I sent Amanda a text message  with a picture of her ring asking her to call me, I bet the house was crazy.  We met at about 10 am and they were sooo happy.

I know a lot about metal detecting in the surf and this ring had been through 3 super high tides and 3 medium high tides on a steep sloping, soft sand beach and I don’t believe I was able to find it.  This was a awesome search and I’m still amazed ( 40% Skill and 60% Luck )

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Lost Gold Wedding Ring..Laguna Beach, CA… Recovered

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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The day before finishing their beach vacation, Taylor lost his gold wedding ring.

This morning about 9:00am, I received a call from Taylor asking me if I could help him find his wedding ring he lost yesterday on the beach. He was searching the internet for a metal detector when he found The RingFinders and my phone number. I was able to meet him about an hour later.

He and his family had been vacationing in South Laguna Beach and had spent the day on the beach. He had taken his ring off and put it into the cup holder of his folding beach chair. When they got ready to leave he picked up his chair and walked to the parking area.  (about 200 ft.)  That was when he realized that he had lost his ring.  Taylor was able to give me very good idea of where they were sitting and that made it very easy to find his ring. He and his wife were very happy and by now they are back home in Utah. I’ve found a lot of rings for people and I still get excited when I can help people like Taylor and his wife find their ring. Their little daughter is still trying to figure out what was the big deal.

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Ring Found.. Balboa Beach, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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At 6:30pm  I was detecting at Newport Beach, when I received a phone call from Monique. She spent the day at the beach near Balboa Pier. While putting on sunscreen she had lost a ring that belonged to her mother . She drove home, more than 30 miles from the beach, believing that the ring was lost forever. She found The RingFinders site on her computer and my cellphone number. Even though she was very distraught, she was able to give me a very good description of the area where she lost it. I was only two miles from Balboa and was able to drive to the area and found the ring within 25 minutes. I called Monique and we set up a meeting place and she had the ring by 8pm that same night.. I know she was very happy and for sure she slept well.                                      I also know that the area where she lost the ring is worked everyday with the beach sifting machine and many other people with metal detectors, so it was very important to be able to get there as soon as possible.

Monique sent me a thank you letter that she said I could share on my blog. Here is her story:

Dear Stan,

I can’t thank you enough for finding my mother’s ring.  This ring means so much to me as my mom passed away on December 17, 2012.  This ring was her favorite ring as she designed it her self from different rings she had and my dad who passed away on February 12, 2013 was the one who had it made for her.
My kids and I had spend the day at the beach.  My mom would always tell me to remove my rings when I put on cream, wash dishes or take a shower.  She said it would get dirty and my rings wouldn’t shine.  So, when she passed away I wanted to make sure I honored her wishes and I always take off her ring when I do any of these things.  I took off the ring to put on sun block and put it on my lap.  I must have got up for something and it must have fell.  We were at the beach for about 4 hours when I remembered it was in my lap. When I looked down it was gone.  My kids and I looked for over an hour.  We asked the life guard if he had a metal detector and he said no, but let us know people come with metal detectorsin the morning.  When I called my husband he said we had to go right away and wait for someone with a detector.  I gave up hope figured it was gone and I would never see it again.  I was so sad and mad.  I prayed at the beach it would be found and on the way home.
When I got home I was so sad crying and upset.  I looked up what to do when you lose your ring in sand and the Ring Finder website came up.  I wasn’t sure about it, but figured what do I have to lose the ring is already gone.  I called Stan and explained where I was at and he said he would get over there right away before anyone else worked the beach and before it was combed.
Not even an hour went by and Stan called me to let me know he had found the ring.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was shocked.  How was that even possible.  My husband and I met with Stan and he returned the ring.
Thank you Stan for your honesty.  I am so glad that there are people like you in this world. You are one of a kind.
Sincerely,
Monique

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Gold Tiffany & Co. ring found in Aurora, Colorado park

  • from Denver (Colorado, United States)
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Jena Manning was visiting a friend in Aurora, Colorado. While their children played on the playground equipment the girls chatted and then Jena did something that is normally not in her nature, she tossed her gum into a nearby patch of juniper bushes. When she did this her Tiffany & Co. ring slipped off finger and followed the gum into the junipers. The two girls searched the junipers for several minutes with no success.

Jena sent me an email and we exchanged phone numbers and played phone tag for a couple of days. Finally we connected via phone and decided to meet so she could show me the location of her loss and for me to search bright and early Sunday morning. The search area was a large patch of knee high juniper bushes. I placed my 12” coil on my White’s V3i and began my search hoping that the ring was hung up on the branches of the juniper bushes. Trying to perform a grid search while walking through those bushes was not easy and though I did hear a couple of signals the ring was not found. I then placed a 4”x6” coil on my MXT and began to poke around the bushes. This was the only effective way to search this tangled mess of shrubbery. After a couple of hours search the ring was still hidden amongst the bushes and I needed to get going due to prior commitments. We made arrangements for me to meet Jena again the following Tuesday to continue the search.

Tuesday evening I arrived back at the site and began my search again. When Jena arrived I had her toss a ring with high visibility string attached a few times. The ring always made its way through the bushes and to the ground so that would mean that I needed to use my small coil and poke through the bushes. After a little over an hour of searching and finding only garbage I had Jena toss the ring and string a few more times. I noticed that a couple of her tosses were shorter than the others so I started searching a bit closer to the edge of the patch than my previous searches. Within a couple of minutes my V3i sounded off and there was Jena’s ring. Due to the rings design, basically gold chain mail, the ring gave an exceptionally low VDI number. Jena couldn’t believe that I had found her ring as she was beginning to give up. Luckily I don’t give up too easily or this ring would have never made its way back to where it belongs, on Jena’s finger.

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Jena gets her ring back!

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Not an easy find, a VDI of 3 due to the ring being chain mail style.

Ring found 3/19/2013.

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Lost Platinum Wedding Ring – San Jaun Capistrano, Calif.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
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I got a call from Chris’ wife. Here is what happened. Chris describes it better than I can in this following email to me.

Stan,
I can’t thank you enough for your willingness to give of your time so freely with no expectation except to help a complete stranger in need. I think I had given up all hope but you pushed through and found something very near and dear to my heart.

Here is my story!

My wife and I had just gotten back from a photo shoot with one of our clients and I realized my wedding ring was gone. I had just washed some mud that I had stepped in while on our shoot from my shoes so I assumed it came off in our front yard while cleaning them. I looked all over the area twice with no success. My wife started looking online on how to find lost platinum rings and came across the ring finder. We had emailed someone from Santa Ana but he didn’t get back to us and the gardener was coming the next morning to mow so we emailed and called Stan too. He got back with us right away and agreed to come in the morning. Stan the amazing man he is looked in our tiny front yard for what seemed like hours with multiple metal detectors because platinum can be tricky to detect. Having completely exhausted all possibilities Stan had to call it a day. We had not found the ring and this guy is VERY thorough!

After he left we knew it must have been lost while on our shoot down in San Juan Capistrano. There was no way it could be in the front yard as hard as stan looked. My wife encouraged me to call Stan back and see if he would drive down to the open space reserve where we lost the ring and look with me. I thought there is no way he is going to want to do that after looking for two hours. I called anyways and to my surprise he agreed to go look!

We arrived at the open space reserve and Stan could see right away why this looked like such a daunting task. It was acres upon acres of tall weeds and we had been all over the place photographing. Unflinchingly Stan began to ask questions and problem solve where we had been and how we were moving to come up with a plan as to where to look. So one location at a time the search began as we retraced each step from the day before. We had looked in all but two locations and I was feeling very defeated but Stan hadn’t given up and kept a positive attitude. It was there in the middle of this massive field that Stan heard the chirp of his very fancy equipment and he had FOUND IT! I was so shocked and excited that I high-fived him and gave him a big hug! Stan I think was even surprised that we found it under such crazy circumstances. He asked all the right questions that led us to the spot. I can’t tell you how important it is to think back and recount your steps and movements. Without doing so we would have never found it. I highly recommend Stan if you’ve lost any ring even very difficult metals to find like platinum. This guy doesn’t give up easy and is incredibly friendly!

Thanks Stan!

Chris

IMG_1813Somewhere in this Two Acre Field.

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Fireman Looses Grandfathers Wedding Band while Fighting Brush Fire, Fort Worth,Texas – Found!

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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Fort Worth,Texas Fire Fighter Looses Grandfathers Wedding Ring in while Fighting Brush Fire!

On Friday afternoon we received a call from a Fort Worth fire fighter.  He said that he and his crew had been fighting a brush/fence fire behind a home where a woman had thrown out some 2-day old fireplace coals.  The coals had set the compost pile and fence and part of the yards of 2 homes on fire.  He said his buddy had lost his Grandfathers ring which he now wears as a Wedding Ring.  It was 3pm on Friday afternoon, they were 52 miles away across Dallas & Fort Worth and 5pm Friday afternoon traffic was a major contention.  I knew it would take a minimum of 2 hours to drive there so I asked if we could come on Saturday due to traffic, but the young firefighter had panic in voice and ask us to please come.

How can you say ‘no’ to a Fire Fighter?  It took us nearly 3 hours to get there due to the heavy traffic.

He was waiting for us when we arrived and explained that he had been inside the backyard of the home and was knocking out the burning fence slats with the palm of his hand while fighting the fire.   He knew exactly where he was standing (in the wet, smelly compost pile) when it came off, and it was lightly raining… Get the picture?, pretty much a yuck site.

With a desperate customer, our Garrett equipment and rubber boots we went to work.  Thinking the ring flew off some distance into the field behind the home, we searched everywhere.  Eliminating nails, iron, junk, etc. doing everything we could to find the ring.   After an hour it was starting to get dark and everyone was loosing hope my wife went back into the backyard and began slowly going through the compost pile with her detector and pinpointer.  Understand this compost pile was about 18-inches thick and 5-ft by 5-ft  in size.  It was soaking wet from the fire being put out, burnt from catching on fire and wet burned trash just really stinks. But this is what the fireman was standing on when he was knocking out the burning fence slats.  I was coming into the backyard to help her when I heard her yell out “I Found It”, the fireman was standing right there when she found his ring, he was so excited.  He kept saying “you guys are awesome, you guys are awesome, unbelievable!, wait till I tell the guys back at the station!”.

This was by far our dirtiest  hunt, but one of our most rewarding.

Our Firefighters across this country will run into a burning home or building for us without thinking twice about it, the least we can do is work through muck to find a wedding ring for them.

This was a very emotional find for us and we are so glad to be part of “The Ring Finders”.

Till next time, detectors ON!

Don & Ellen

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Palladium Wedding Found in Double Oak, Texas

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call from a wonderful lady that said her husband (a pilot) had lost his ring while working in their front yard.  He was standing in a culvert ditch tossing some large rocks from one side of the driveway to the other and felt his ring slid off; he said he heard it “tink” twice but never saw it land.  He and his family searched for months looking for the ring without luck. He bought a cheap metal detector himself  but without success, his father-in-law came over with another detector but had no luck either.  Months past and his wife was playing around on the internet and found “The Ring Finders” website and called us.

We arrived and met with the couple, I truly think the husband felt is was a lost cause.  The ring had be lost for over 6 months. With the snowy/wet weather we have had this year he felt it was lost forever.

My wife & I got our Garrett Detectors and went to searching; we checked everywhere the husband said he thought is might be but had no luck.  So we went back over to where he stated he had been standing originally when he lost the ring.   The ditch was knee deep in leaves, trash, mud and an 18-inch metal pipe that went under their driveway.   After scanning over that area many times we decided everything had to come out of the ditch due to way too many hits on trash.  So on our hands and knees we began to pull out all the leaves and junk using our Garrett pinpointers to check every handful of trash for the ring.  After a short time I saw something shiny and I told my wife “I Got It”.  There stuck in the mud, 5-8 inches down in the muck, right where the husband had been standing throwing the rocks was his ring.  The “Tinking Sound” he heard must have been the ring hitting the metal culvert not the driveway as he thought.  The ring was in great shape.

And for the fun part, we went up to the door and rang the bell, the wife came to the door and she said “No Luck Huh” and we just smiled and I open my hand revealing her husbands “Palladium Wedding Ring”, she said “Oh my gosh, let me go get him”  he was thrilled and we had “Another Successful Hunt for the the Dallas Ring Finders”.

God I love this hobby!

Till next time, detectors ON!

Don & Ellen

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