free metal detecting search Tag | Page 3 of 3 | The Ring Finders

Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Lost, found & returned earring from a sandy beach

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

This Covid19 pandemic has caused more than physical pain. The pain that one feels as an item is ripped from an ear as a mask is removed is unbearable. I have been called to find two hearing aids and Madelan’s 3 piece diamond stud earring is the second diamond stud I have answer the request to help. I have been successful in each search. The problem of these items is the amount of metal that the detector must recognize a very small amount to say the least. In the case of the hearing aids only the battery is recognized. There is even less metal in most stud earrings.

Now that you know what a detectorist is up against on with the story.

Madelan is a frequent visitor to the beach and on one day she was involved in a ring search which I was later call in on. She was present when I found the ring and said she would never forget the event. Good thing she did not forget how to contact me. She now needed my help in finding one of her custom made 3 piece diamond stud earrings. The parts of the earring are: the back was a butterfly, the circle was an invisible jacket for the solitaire stud. Of course when called to help I was on my way. Again I called on Leighton another Ring Finder to help as I knew it would be difficult to find the 3 small pieces.

Frank, Madelan’s son had made and “X” in the sand and bet his mother a pizza that is where her earring is. The initial search did not reveal the earring. Tweaking my detector for maximum sensitivity at a specific frequency ensured the best response when the coil was directly over any one of the parts. And Yes, Frank was owed a pizza for dinner. With the finely tweaked detector the part could not hide anymore. The three pieces were found, cleaned and returned to Madelan.

Everyone on the beach enjoyed watching and later talking to Leighton and myself. Photos taken, stories exchanged and many Thank You passed before Frank and his mother were off to their favorite pizza house for an enjoyable dinner. Leighton and myself returned home for a good nights sleep as we had scheduled a 6 hour hunt for a lost wedding band the next day. How much more enjoyment can one person endure?

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Beachcomber, Cahoon Hollow, Wellfleet, Massachusetts – Armenian gold cross lost, found and returned

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

The day before Kyle’s graduation he was playing volleyball and sporting his graduation gift of a white gold necklace and an Armenian cross. A quick jump, a spiked ball and on the way down to the sand the net caught the cross which then was in a free-fall into the sand. Kyle found the necklace and he and several others were not so fortunate in finding the cross. He left the beach in the dark and did not sleep well as his wish was to wear the cross on the virtual graduation. That was not to happen.

Just before the ceremony Kyle’s found a link to TheRingFinders.com and called Luke. Luke was in heavy traffic leaving the Cape for the day and would not be able to search until the next day. As TheRingFinders often do, he called me to take on the search. I did.

I would wait until the pay to park was lifted and there were less people on the beach. My plan partially worked. I did not have to pay to park, but I did wait on the volleyball game reach a point were the players would take a 10 minute break. They knew of the loss and some had some were part of the previous day’s search. I thanked the players and started my search. It only took about 6 minutes before I had the cross and left to meet Kyle for the return. As I left everyone said how amazed they were and to pass congratulations on to Kyle.

A drive that should take 10 minutes took almost an hour due to the Cape Visitors trying to find a meal or to leave the Cape. Just bad timing. We made the meeting, passed the co-dos, took photos, told a few stories, and parted or ways with smiles on everyone’s face. Kyle’s smile was the biggest of all.

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Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Wedding Band lost, found and returned

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

Matt took one dive too many. On the second dive his grandfather’s wedding band which is now worn as Matt’s wedding band slipped from his finger into the depths of Nantucket Sound. It was about 3pm and I was getting ready for Leighton’s arrival for an afternoon of detecting fun. It was then when Matt called and relayed the information of his lost ring. What luck, Leighton was on his way, not need to call him. Two searchers are definitely better to have searching than one.

We met Matt on the beach, got the run down on how and were his ring was lost. Leighton asked Matt to go to the spot where he thought he lost the ring. I was following when I heard a signal that was from a pull tab. Continuing on, my second signal proved to be the object of search. I call all to come to the beach where the ring was verified as the missing ring.

Matt removed the ring from my scoop, smiled and was very thankful as you can see from the picture below. All this in less than 2 hours from the time the ring slipped from Matt’s finger. This return was made only 75 feet from a ring return the previous week. Just loving this hobby.

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Craigville, Hyannis, Massachusetts – Lost necklace, cross and ring found and returned

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

Three times was the number of detecting hunts it took to retrieve Oleg’s three pieces of jewelry. During the first try I thought my skill was lacking because I had a ring in my pouch but could not locate either of the other two pieces of jewelry. It was time to call it quits for the evening and give Oleg the ring and apologize that I had not found the other to pieces. I was feeling bad, but not as bad when Oleg told me the ring I found was not his. And to make things worse, it was his 12th anniversary.

I requested that he not replace the items for at least two weeks. I wanted more time to locate the jewelry. The second try was not much better except I found an Apple watch series 5 – see the related story. Then it happened, I got stung by a jelly fish. OUCH!!!!!!!!! But still no ring.

Two days later Leighton Harington (also a Ring Finder) and I were meeting for a get-together hunt. As so, this was the perfect chance to end the madness of looking for Oleg’s lost articles. About 30 minutes into the hunt I found Oleg’s ring and a minute later the cross. Leighton came to the area and because the detector he was using was more sensitive to small link chains he had a better chance at locating the chain and he did. The bad part of the hunt was yet to come. And it did with a painful outcome for both Leighton and myself. We both were stung by jelly fish.

So much for the found items. It is time to return them, but how? A friend could pick them up, I could hold onto the item until Oleg could return to the Cape, or the dreaded USPS. I convinced Oleg to trust the USPS service. And the pieces were posted with tracking number and expected delivery day as Friday. The package was delivered a day early, but to the neighbors mail box. The mix up was rectified and Oleg face was smiling once again and his heart filled with happiness.

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Craigville, Barnstable, Massachusetts Apple Watch found and returned

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

While I was in chest deep water searching for a lost wedding band I found an Apple Series 5 watch. Unbelievable but there were barnacles attached to it and it had been in the water for only 5 days. I cleaned off the sea creatures, took the watch home and charged it. It powered up without a password. Boy was I in luck. I could search for contacts and information that would lead me to the owner. I would not be the only lucky person, but Maluka would also be very lucky to have her watch with all of her information back.

The information I pulled up gave me the owner’s name, the last person she talked to, a sister (actually a cousin), a local address she met people at and were they met to eat. More than enough to get her to call me. Contact was made then if loosing the watch was not bad enough, Maluaka cold not get back to the Cape to pick up the watch as fast as I could get it to her via the USPS. So its return trip was made by the USPS.

This was just one of the more beneficial and rewarding aspects of being a Ring Finder. It is all part of my hobby of the hunt for the unknown, the searching, finding, researching to find the owner and the return to put a smile on a once frowning face.

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Lost Ring Found and Returned at Earl Beach Harwich, Massachusetts

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

Chris was just enjoying the sun and sand in knee deep water right in front of his wife when his ring slipped off his finger into the Nantucket sound. The usual search by several people did not bring the ring out of the sandy bottom. A more drastic recovery would begin by a phone call for help. Unfortunately the call came five days later and after the loss and the Cape’s first tropical storm of this year covered the ring with more sand than my detectors could “see” through. I tried my two best detectors on the first two days of of searching without a positive result. My detectors just could not penetrate deep enough to locate the target.

Chris and Maggie had to return home, leaving vacation land and Chris’ ring on the shore. I told them I had not given up after 6 hours of searching and I would keep them apprised of my further attempts to find the missing ring. Another 5 days passed, tides would rise and lower taking some sand away from the beach cover as I waited for my next search.

Thanks to the parking attendant for giving me permission to park without paying the $30/day parking fee for the last half hour a parking sticker was required. I parked, dawned my gear, and headed to the area. I covered the area Chris had shown me that should be holding the ring with no luck. I moved a bit further down the loose sand area. Within 5 minute I heard the tone I wanted to hear. Yes, after two deep scoops into the sand the ring was glittering as it lay on the bottom of my scoop the sun shown on it. A beautiful sight!

At home a call was made to inform Chris and Maggie of my success. Arrangements were made for a meeting and return on Sunday. We met for a bit of story telling, smiles and photos as the wedding band was returned. Of course there were many “Thank Yous”.

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Yarmouth, Massachusetts: Lost wedding band found and returned by a Ring Finder

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

After a day of 6 hours of searching for a wedding band I was hoping for a day of relaxation before the tides would come around to the point I could get back into the water for another search. Then the phone rang while I was out mowing my yard’s grass. Rachel at a local resort called and left a message that a vacationer had just lost his wedding band on the beach. When I returned the call I spoke with Katie. Yes, she and her father needed my help. However, my pork chop would not wait, I had to eat. There is no telling how long a search may take and I needed the energy packed food, the ring was not going anywhere. It was being well looked after. Well in 45 minutes I was on the beach and searching.

Dave had been watching over a covey of fun filled relatives. One niece, Erin, tossed him a football, that did it. Dave’s wedding band was flying over the beach, dropping onto and then vanished into the soft sand. An hour of crawling on and moving the sand around did not uncover the ring. I arrived to a very warm welcome and cheers not only from the one group but others that had been watching Dave doing his thing on the beach while looking for his ring. I was told watching Dave was quite amusing. Sorry I had missed his antics, I was there to find the ring.

The ring was either gold, white gold, silver, platinum. OK, it was agreed on to called the ring silver in color. That meant my detector could display a wider range of ID numbers on my detector, but that would not keep me from finding it. After three signals from aluminum bottle cap pieces a solid 58 rang up on the detector. The ID number was within the white gold range. I had only been searching for about two minutes before I had a wedding band in my scoop. One of the lovely relatives verified the ring was Dave’s. I would not let her take the ring from the scoop, that was to be Dave’s pleasure.

After a few stories, congratulations, Thank Yous, many other coo dos, and photos, I was on my way home to my waiting desert. Not quite a day without detecting, but it is my hobby and I just love seeing a traumatic time turn into a terrific story to tell along with the others of a great vacation on Cape Cod.

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Scussett Beach, Borne, Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Bracelet Lost, Found & Returned

  • from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States)

The last day of vacation was not to be the last day on Sunny Cape Cod for Dargel. While tossing a football, running sprints, back flopping into the bay’s cool water somewhere along the stretch of beach Dargel’s very sentimental bracelet came loose, fell, and buried itself in the sand. Hours of searching until darkness set in was not enough time to find the bracelet. After flight changes and with a wing and a prayer the bracelet would be found the following day.

When I received the call, and after getting information about a lost bracelet, I knew I had to go. With such a large area to search I would need all the help I could get. I called Leighton, another Ring Finder, and we set up a meet time at the beach with Dargel. His world wide travel companion said that they would be in an army green Jeep Wrangler. OK, who would have known there would be two such Jeeps in the parking lot? It took a call before we found each other. Then it was off to the beach.

Unknown if the loss was in the water or on the sand, we started searching in the water then up the beach front to the dunes. Only a few targets were heard as we detected and gridding the best we could among some late day sun bather. It was my turn to leap-frog past Leighton, make my way further down the beach, stop, turn toward the water, and start detecting again. I heard a good signal which turned out to be a Matchbox car, and then a second car. I gave both cars to a young beach goer who took them to rinse them off in the water. My next signal came from a rather deep target, maybe another car, as I did not think the depth would be correct for bracelet to be at. I had to dig it anyway. WOW the rope bracelet now in my scoop had cubes on it with initials made of diamonds. NICE! Even better than nice, it was Dargel’s missing bracelet. A verification by a photo really was not needed as Dargel’s description would only match the bracelet I had in my scoop.

After some great conversation and taking of photos there was a quick good bye before Dargel was off to Boston and back to Cuba on the next day’s flight – with his bracelet. A terrific ending to two beautiful days. Look out in the next day as tropical storm Isaias will be over the Cape Cod Beaches. Dargel sure knows how to time his trip and is thinking about another trip back to Cape Cod, after having a jeweler repair the bracelet’s clasp.