gulf shores lost jewelry Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost ring – Dauphin Island, Alabama

Have I mentioned lately that jewelry recoveries are my favorite part of my metal detecting obsession ??

I saw a Facebook post yesterday evening by someone saying his buddy had lost a wedding band “somewhere between the pool and down by the beach”. It sounded like a long shot but I’m always up for a challenge ! I went down this morning and spoke with Ryan, who had lost the ring, and he wasn’t exactly sure where it had slipped off his finger. He walked me down to the water at one of my favorite detecting spots where, coincidentally,  I had just spent about 2 hours detecting yesterday. Ryan explained that he had waded out about waste deep and the sat in the water to watch the sunset Friday night. He was VERY sure about where he had put his bag down and waded out, but that was about it.

I waded in with not a whole lot of confidence…… more like a wing and a prayer. Ok, LOTS of prayer. I then quickly realized I had not brought my waterproof headphones, I didn’t have my long pants on and there was jellyfish and mucky water, and I had even forgotten to ask if the ring was silver, gold, tungsten or stainless. 😳 Ryan was busy at work at a nearby breakfast buffet so I didn’t want to go bother him again.

Much to my suprise, and probably even more to Ryan’s, it wasn’t 30 min later when I came walking back in to the restaurant holding his beautiful ring.  I had to scoop 4 fishing weights, 14 pull tabs, 2 bottle caps and a penny first, but there was no mistaking the sweet sound of that shallow gold signal when I hit it about 10 or so yards to the right of where he thought he had been, and just at the edge of how deep I could go in without my waterproof headphones.

As always, the generous reward offered was declined. Doing what I love and seeing the look on Ryan’s face was reward enough !

#karmaismyreward

Lost Wedding Ring – Pensacola, FL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

So apparently Pine straw is out there trying to steal some rings so be careful. 😃. A few days ago I received a call from Bill. Actually backing up, Shelly, Bill’s wife had heard about me from a friend and messaged me through Facebook. After a quick reply, she had Bill call me. Bill described that he had been working in the yard putting out some pine straw when he looked down and saw that his ring was missing. Bill had been wearing that ring for the last 38 years so I was willing to bet that he noticed it was gone quicker than most people would have. When I told him how I could help he decided he wanted me to come try even though he wasn’t 100% sure that it was in the yard. I was pretty sure that I could find it and I was determined to try. What Bill didn’t realize is that when I saw the address I noticed that he lived in the neighborhood next to mine. If there is one thing I like even more than helping people find a ring, it’s helping a neighbor find their ring. When I got there, I switched to the pinpointer coil so that I could get down between the bushes and Bill went back inside to let me concentrate. He didn’t have to wait long and was beside himself when I knocked on his door and told him his ring was perched on my detector by the tree (Covid safe 😷👍). He was even more surprised when he went to talk about a reward and I explained that I literally could have cut through the neighborhood and walked there. I wouldn’t take anything from my neighbor and new friend. I’m so happy that I could help!  Merry Christmas to you both Bill and Shelly!  God bless!

Lost Alabama Class Ring – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

One night last week I got a call from a very nice gentleman that needed some help. He had been out putting in pine straw and when he got done he noticed that his class ring wasn’t on his hand. This was really bad because he’d had this ring on his finger since 1968 when he graduated from the University of Alabama. He immediately told his wife and she put out the call for help. Someone eventually told her about what I do and gave her my phone number. When Mr. Spivey called he asked if I was the Ringmaster, I was tempted to say yes but I didn’t want to jinx myself. 😃 He was very nice and explained what happened and I told him how I thought I could help. We agreed that I would come early the next morning and I asked him to text me the address. He explained that he didn’t have all of that techy stuff and offered to give me the address and directions. I told him the address would be great but he very thoroughly proceeded to give me the directions. I was thrilled to hear someone describe exactly how to get to their home and go over each part of the route that they felt was important to describe the way to their home. I thought about how technology had changed a lot of that but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him describe that route he had been so many times. 👍 When I got to the house in the morning I was met in the driveway by a pretty Lab. I was pretty sure that she was friendly but I gave a quick call to the number I had. Mrs. Spivey assured me that “Penny” was a sweetheart and I opened my door to lots of tail wagging and some curious sniffs. By that time, Mrs Spivey had come out and walked me out to the back so I could see all of the fresh pine straw. They weren’t 100% sure that it was in the yard but it seemed like the most logical place so I started my search. Mrs Spivey went back inside and instructed me to knock if I needed anything. I was using a small sharpshooter coil so I was able to go through everything and stick it down between all of the shrubs as well. As Murphy’s law would state, I was at the very last bush when I got a beautiful, very obvious gold tone. I pulled back the leaves and parted the fresh pine straw to see a gorgeous, well loved, solid gold ring with a Crimson stone on top. I thought for just a second about how much it had been a part of Mr. and Mrs Spivey’s lives and then I went to knock on the door. She came out and asked if I needed anything and finally noticed the ring when I pointed to it on my detector. As you can imagine, she was thrilled and even got a bit choked up when she talked about getting it back to her husband. I am so glad I got to make sure that it wasn’t the end of the journey for your family heirloom. Merry Christmas to you both.   

Lost engagement ring, Pensacola – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

What better way to transition into fall than one last ring return on a Volleyball court. I had just returned home when I got a call from my buddy Charlie who is out in CA. He had received a call from a friend of his named Joey who had in turn gotten a call from his wife Nicole and she was in a panic. Nicole had been playing Volleyball with her daughter at a local park and looked down to notice that her wedding ring and her engagement ring were no longer on her hand. This is about the time the panic had ensued and I think everyone will agree that it was totally justified. Luckily Charlie is a great guy and rather than telling Joey that he was out of town, he tracked me down and put us in touch. We were running out of daylight so I loaded up as fast as possible and called Joey to tell him that I could help and get an idea where to go. I pulled in the park and although there were lots of people there enjoying the playground equipment I had no doubt who I was looking for. As soon as I pulled my gear out, a big group of ladies and young people started waving me down. I noticed that they all had makeshift seines and colanders and I wondered which one was Nicole. Then I noticed the lady who was crying and I knew I had found her. I immediately introduced myself and told her not to worry that I was totally going to help her. She told me that I didn’t understand, they had searched everywhere that it could be with the strainers and they had even found the wedding band but she feared the engagement ring might be anywhere in the park and she was distraught. I asked her if they had been there the entire time and they said yes. I tried again to reassure her as I explained what I was doing and started my grid pattern. I made about one pass but as I was talking to her I could see she was in agony so I decided to take a different approach. I told her to tell me where she had found the gold band, she told me that they had already looked there and I told her to humor me. She did and I asked her if they changed sides at all and she said no. Lastly, I asked her if she wore her band closest to her heart and she said yes. I took a step towards the way I thought the ring first off her hand would fly and I said, “watch this” with a big smile. I went about two steps and got a good tone. I don’t think she realized I had something until I kneeled down with my pinpointer and then stood up saying, “Does it look like this?”  She broke down in tears and I was reminded why I love doing this so much. Congratulations Nicole and Joey. Thank you very much for trusting me to help you. God Bless!  💍

Lost Ring, Perdido Beach – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)


Sometimes everything comes together and no matter how lost something is, it’s just bound to be found. That was the case for this young lady on the beach yesterday afternoon who had lost a very important ring. It was already very late after work but I decided to hit the beach anyway. I had already gone to one parking area but after I walked all the way to the water I realized that I left my battery in the car. I walked all the way out and decided that I should head down the beach a bit because of a storm that was on the way. When I got there I decided to turn towards the rain cloud so that if I got caught in the storm, I would have the wind at my back running to the car. All of these things seemed to innocently transpire all to have BrieOcea come running up to me after only about five minutes on the beach. She asked if I was holding a metal detector and she looked hopeful when I told her I was. I asked her if she had lost something and she replied that she had dropped a ring that had been in her family for generations. I told her that I would be glad to take a look and asked her what the ring was made out of and when she lost it. She said it had almost been a week and that she thought it was silver. I think she saw me start to lose some confidence because she quickly assured me that it was a very small area. I asked her a little more about the ring and she said that there was a large black stone with a diamond in it. I made a note to dig everything because while possible, especially on older rings, diamonds are usually not on silver. I started gridding back and forth and it wasn’t long before she came over and said that her boyfriend had called from the condo and told her that we were slightly in the wrong spot. I made the adjustment and went back to the search. I found a coin or two and got my hopes up. Then I got a signal that could be trash but I knew it could also be gold. I went ahead and dug it because of my earlier thoughts about the diamond. I am very glad that I did because I pulled out a beautiful gold ring with a black stone and a diamond in it. When I called her over, she placed it back on her finger and she was just thrilled. She mentioned that she had made up her mind to not worry and let things work themselves out. When I told her the events that led me to her she said God must have sent me her way. Indeed!  I am so very glad that I could help reunite you with such a special ring. 😃

Lost Ring Gulf Shores, AL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

My wife Jeannie and I had another great afternoon today helping someone find their lost ring. As soon as I saw the message from Kristen this morning I could tell by the detail with which she described everything that this ring was really special to her. In actuality it was two rings because like a lot of people do, she had the wedding band and the engagement ring soldered together. This ring really meant a lot because of the family history attached to it. It had different diamonds that had once been worn by her Grandmother, her Mother and even some that had been in her Father’s wedding band. She definitely wanted this ring back. She lost it last Wednesday but finally a friend of hers had seen my website and referred her to Ringfinders. I was more than willing to help but we had a huge problem. The ring was on a stretch of beach that is usually off limits to metal detectorists. I provided some Google help and Kristen and I both started calling different numbers trying to find someone to plead Kristen’s story to in hopes of getting permission. After a lot of hold time and busy signals, Kristen finally got someone on the line who gave us written permission to head out. When we got to the beach, Kristen’s husband had done a great job of dropping a GPS pin where they had been swimming. I quizzed Kristen about how deep she had been wading and did some quick calculations based on the tide charts and I headed out to where I hoped it would be. Sometimes everything works out for the best and even after a few days in the Gulf I very quickly heard the sound of gold in my headphones. I walked over to Kristin who was in the water and I asked her if she wanted to leave her ring on the beach this time or did she just want me to give it back to her now?  As I started to smile she realized what I was saying and got excited. She followed me to the beach and got choked up as the gravity of getting her ring back with so much family history sunk in. I am so glad I could help you Kristen. I wish y’all the very best.

Lost Texas A&M Ring – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

Sunday closed out what was an epic weekend of recoveries. I didn’t think it could get any better until I got home around noon and saw an email from Jesse. He left his phone number so I immediately called him. Now before I go any further, some of you may not know about my relationship with Texas A&M. Last spring I got a call from an Aggie saying she had  lost her class ring at night and I was lucky enough to find it. Then I was on the beach in the summer and a man approached me saying he lost his, you guessed it, Texas A&M class ring. I found it. Later in the summer, I got another call and after I found his too, I joked that I would need an honorary t-shirt or something if I kept finding them. It happened to get on the Aggie website and people were sharing left and right and messaging me to say thanks and I even got a 12th man towel sent to me. Awesome people. 😃. The calls kept coming but I ran into some bad luck. I had the first Aggie ring that I just couldn’t find and then I had another that was lost on the National Seashore and the Ranger would not give me permission to even look. I thought maybe the magic with the Aggies was over. That was until Jessie said the ring he lost was a class ring. I said, wait a minute, are you an Aggie?  When he said yes, I laughed a little to myself and said, I’m coming to find your ring. I talked my secret good luck charm (my wife) into going for some added help and we set off for another hour drive to Alabama. Jesse was still there with his parents standing watch and we talked for a bit before I started my search in the water. There were tons of people and it took all of my social skills to keep a good line while at the same time not risking the Coronavirus. Two hours later I was seriously wishing for the last 2 days where I had quick recoveries. I was determined though and I came back to talk to Jessie and check on my wife. My wife told me later that she had overheard Jesse’s dad consoling him and comforting him saying it would all be ok. She got a bit choked up and decided then to make me keep going no matter what. She is a trooper.   I took a different approach in my questioning with Jesse and felt some renewed hope when I realized Jesse was trying to tell me where he thought the ring would be and not where he was. You can credit his Mom for having him stand in the water where he thought he had lost it. I got a whole new perspective when he said he had walked out in front of one of the volleyball courts but he couldn’t remember which one. I started my second pass and I got a loud signal that sounded like a penny. I had already dug over 50 pennies in the previous hours but I never leave a good signal when I’m helping someone just in case. Sure enough, in the scoop was this young Aggie’s solid gold ring that means an incredible amount to him. I looked up and realized that no one was paying attention and they didn’t see me scoop it. So I took my headphones off and walked over to the family as if I had another question. I said Jesse, one more thing. Looking dejected he said, yes sir?  I said, it was the second volleyball court. As I smiled and held out my scoop they all realized what I was saying and literally jumped up and down hugging each other!  It was awesome!  What other hobby let’s you help so many people. Keep them coming Texas A&M, I don’t ever want you to lose one but if you do, I’ll be here to help. Congrats Jesse, your Mom and Dad and your Collegiate family are awesome!  GIG EM! 😃

Lost Necklace Pensacola Beach – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

Saturday night was day two of what turned out to be an epic weekend. I had been looking forward to this day for a long time because we got to take my 16yr old daughter Haley car shopping for the first time. I knew how important the day would be to us all so I planned on no recoveries at all. I still had to give Blair a call though when I saw her message to me bright and early. I talked to her for awhile and told her how I could help and she explained about how she had lost her necklace on the beach the night before. She explained that it had a lot of sentimental value to her and I gave her two options. I told her that I would be glad to put her in touch with a friend of mine who could be there that morning or I could come out myself the next day. She said that she was sure my friend was great but there was just something about me that made her trust me. Well that made me feel like a million bucks and I told my wife about the awesome compliment. Once again Jeannie came to the rescue and reminded me that we were supposed to take back the kids after dinner and if I was up for an evening hunt, she would go with me. I called Blair back and she was thrilled and we made arrangements to meet on the beach right before sunset. When we got there, we all said hello from a Covid safe distance 😄 and they pointed out the area they had marked where they thought the necklace had fallen. I went over and was setting up my machine. I have learned over the years to open up the metals I can hear when the person doesn’t sound completely sure what it is made out of. I’m glad I did because less than two minutes later I had a tone that was almost like gold but it sounded clean in my ears. I reached down after moving a little sand and pulled out the necklace. Two recoveries in two days in less than five minutes of searching. Awesome!  As you can see, Blair was also thrilled. Thank you for putting your trust in me. I’m glad I was able to help. 👍

 

Lost Ring Dauphin Island – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

Friday was the start to an awesome weekend. I had taken the day off from work so I had already spent the first part of the day metal Detecting on my own. I was cleaning all of my gear and I came inside to relax for a minute when I got a phone call from an Alabama number. Taylor explained to me that he and his wife Sawyer were vacationing with their whole family in Dauphin Island when Sawyer accidentally lost her ring. They were pretty sure that it was out in the Gulf but they weren’t positive. I was explaining that I probably wouldn’t be able to come until Sunday because it was already after 5:30 pm when my wife walked by and heard “engagement ring”. Luckily for them, my wife is a sucker for any wedding ring recovery so she immediately said, “let’s go, I’ll come with you.”  I said ok and began moving fast and realized that Jeannie didn’t hear the first part that it was an hour and a half away and we were racing sunset. It was a great trip and Dauphin Island is really pretty but when we parked I only had about 30 mins till Sunset and the Gulf was upside down. We spoke for a few minutes and I ran out in the Gulf towards the Oilrig in the distance that was the only marker Taylor had. He said it was chest deep on him so I started walking and it was way out there. Meanwhile my wife, Jeannie had to go move our car because we were in the wrong spot so when I started the hunt she wasn’t back yet. I turned around and Taylor gave me the thumbs up that it looked like the right area so I made the first pass in my grid search. The waves were lifting me up and moving me so I knew it was going to be a tough search. I thought about it and I said to myself that I should probably move a step in because of the tide and the fact that Sawyer is really petite and would probably need shallower water to throw the ball they were playing with. Sure enough, I took 2 steps and I got that beautiful Gold sound and I had her diamond engagement ring in my scoop in a record 3 minutes. 😃. They were so excited and their whole family had been watching from the beach and the condo. One family member told Jeannie as she was running back from the car that I must have been showing off because I was already done. Haha. So glad I could help y’all out. 💍

Lost Ring and Shark Visit – Gulf Shores, AL – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

I was so tired yesterday that I didn’t even write up the story but the day was totally worth it. The night before I received a call from Angel who was down from Tennessee with her fiancé celebrating their engagement in Gulf Shores. She explained that she had been out in about thigh deep water throwing a football when her ring came off. At least she assumed it was in the Gulf, like most people, she wasn’t aware that it was gone until later that day. I agreed that I would come the next day but it would have to be at Sunrise because I was working that day and would have to find it before then. I pulled into the condo at 5:45am after an hour drive and Angel was already eagerly waiting for me in the parking lot. As we walked down to the beach and she explained where she thought it was, I quickly learned that she is just a lovely person and I said a quick prayer for help finding the ring. I got out in the Gulf and it was just awesome. The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon and the water was clear and calm. I was really enjoying myself and before long Angel’s fiancé joined her on the beach. I was explaining about the need to dig the occasional coin when I saw movement from my right. It was a small shark maybe a bit over 4ft long and he came right up to me about arms length. He just kind of eyeballed me and said hello and I thought that it was a great sign. I proceeded to do my first search pattern left to right with no luck. I then went into super detective mode and scoured the entire area again the other way going North and South. As I was wrapping up about an hour later I started to get worried. That ring was not where they thought it was. I walked up and suggested that we move some of the chairs around and let me grid off the beach. I could see Angel getting really worried so I tried to stay upbeat. When I was done with the beach, I told her that I wasn’t giving up yet so she couldn’t either. I told her to think about other areas it could be while I went back into the water and expanded my search west. I was on only my second pass when I got the unmistakable sound of gold. It was such a good signal that I got their attention and they watched eagerly as sure enough I had it in my scoop. There were so many shells it was hard to see until finally I saw a flash of diamond. I gave them a big smile and a thumbs up. It’s the first time I have had to fend off a couple with my metal detector and back away saying “Don’t hug me, don’t hug me”. 😃 Luckily, social distancing won out and as they hugged each other and cried a bit, I promised that one of these days I might make it up to Nashville post Covid and I would gladly take those hugs. Until then, Angel, I am so glad I was able to help you two out and I wish you all the very best! 💍