#how do I find a lost gold ring in sand Maine Tag | The Ring Finders

Gold And Sapphire Wedding Ring Lost In The Beach Sand, At Crescent Beach State Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

“LOST WEDDING RING: Shot in the dark here but I believe I lost my wedding ring at a local beach this evening. I know I’ve seen posts about folks who look for lost jewelry with a metal detector. If anyone has leads, they’d be appreciated. Many thanks!”

This was a Facebook Post, on a local community page, by Chrissy, on Tuesday evening, August 26th. There were 16 different comments, on her post, to contact me, The Ring Finders of Maine. The referrals are greatly appreciated, thank you all, for your support.

Wednesday morning, Chrissy in fact, did contact me and told me she was really unsure where the ring was lost but thought that Crescent Beach State Park , in the Town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine was the most likely place her wedding ring was lost. Other locations included the path between Crescent Beach State Park and Kettle Cove and Kettle Cove Ice Cream. It was now 8:20am and I was tied up until around 10:30am but told Crissy that I would get to Crescent Beach State Park, as soon as my morning commitment was completed, around 10:30am. I then called Gary Hill and asked if he was interested in searching, such a large area. Gary signed up for the search and met me at my house, at 10:30am.
We arrived at CBSP at just after 11:00am and my heart just sank, when I saw the beach. Because of Hurricane Erin’s large waves, over the past 4-5 days, the beach was full of seaweed and I could see where the Beach Rake had gone through the area, that morning, removing seaweed, from the previous high tide. I took a few photos and sent them to Chrissy, to verify we were in the correct area and to let her know the beach had been raked. Her reply was
“Yes, Exactly. Ah, ok. Such a bummer – I wish I could have gotten in earlier this morning. What Timing”
Gary and I were not feeling good about this but we had to search the area anyways. This may have been just been seaweed removal and not an actual rake, in the sand, removing all trash and valuables.
Gary started grid searching, at the entrance path to the beach and I went down to the very thick and heavy seaweed, that had yet to be removed. We decided to extend the grid search area, by about 50’ to the north and south. This is a common practice we use just in case the client was off just a little, in their location. As I was grid searching, I wasn’t getting many targets, at all. A few very deep dimes, in the 7-8 inch deep area, but nothing near the surface and this really concerned me. Did the beach rake get the ring or drag it down the beach? Just had to keep searching. Gary came over and reported the same observation, about no targets. Nothing but a few deep targets and no shallow targets. As Gary and I continued searching the area, we were closing in on each other and the ring still hadn’t been found and I started thinking on how we would search the path to Kettle Cove. Gary and I had only a couple more passes and the area would have been completely searched. All of a sudden, I received that low tone, I had been looking for. Nice and loud, VDI reading of 27 to 29 and only about an inch deep. This was too good to be true and I called Gary over. I told Gary, I was so sure this was the ring that I wanted him to take a video of me recovering the ring. Once I relocated the target, I took my pinpointer out and was brushing the sand, off the top of the target. All of a sudden, I saw a small glimpse of gold. I picked the ring up and looked at Gary, filming, and said “We have a ring. Congratulations Chrissy, we found your ring.”

I then sent the video to Chrissy, saying “Congratulations, We got it” Chrissy replied “Really!!!!!” Before I finished reading her text, my phone was ringing and it was Chrissy. She was extremely excited and was truly in disbelief, as were Gary and I. Chrissy told me she would be there in just 15-20 minutes. As Gary and I were waiting, Chrissy came bouncing across the parking lot, with might be the biggest smile, we’ve ever seen and we’ve seen a lot of smiles. Chrissy was so happy to have her wedding ring back and we were happy she had it. You could just tell how much this ring meant to her. Later in the day, Chrissy sent me the following text messages (Condensed into one message).

“Still buzzing from your ring recovery, Dennis! If you and Gary hadn’t helped so willingly and immediately, my wedding ring might have been found, but it wouldn’t have come back to me. Jon and I got married during the pandemic. We had a beautiful ceremony in New Hampshire, with the backdrop of the mountains, with just our immediate family. It was beautiful but the circumstances were hard. My band is called the “Land and Sea” band by the jewelry maker who made all my rings. The colors of the sapphires represent the colors in nature, on “land and sea”. Hiking in the Catskills, Adirondacks, and then the Whites after we moved to Maine is what brought us joy and reprieve during the pandemic and my wedding band symbolizes that. I’ve worn it summit of Mt. Washington, Katahdin, and countless high peaks across New England and New York. It means so much that you and Gary took the time and care to find it. I am so grateful and so admire you for what you do! “

Chrissy also posted the following, on her original post, looking for help

“The Ring Finders of Maine I cannot stop smiling. I am floored by your generosity of spirit and grateful beyond words! You are truly remarkable humans to do this, Dennis and Gary. 🩵✨”

Well Chrissy , Thank you so much, for your very kind words, Gary and I truly appreciate it. We love being able to help people like Chrissy smile, once again. What she thought was gone forever, is now back on her finger, where it belongs. We have the best job, in the world.😃❤️🙏

Gold Wedding Ring Lost In The Water, Saco River, Brownfield, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

I received a Voicemail on Saturday Evening, August 23,

“ Hi, My name is Brendan. I am currently staying on the Saco River, in Brownfield, ME. We lost a wedding ring, in the river today, on or off the beach somewhere. We have done a lot of looking for it, but we weren’t able to find it. I was just inquiring about your availability, rates, all that jazz. We do have to be out of the Airbnb tomorrow, by 11. So it is somewhat of a time thing and I don’t know if you would come and metal detect, at a different time and mail it. Regardless, Please give me a call back. You can reach me at 617-***-****. Again, this is Brendan. Thank you, Take care.”
As soon as I saw his voicemail, I called him back, ,approximately a half hour, after his voicemail was left.. Brendan told me that he and a group of 8 or nine friends had rented a house, on the Saco River, in Brownfield Me. One of the guys, in the group was getting married soon and this was the bachelor weekend. Earlier in the day, a member of the group had lost his wedding ring, while they were all swimming, in the river. They had a very good idea of where it was.and though it would only be in knee to waist deep. But, the sandy area they were swimming, quickly drops off, to much deeper water. I told Brendan that I could certainly search,, up to 5 feet deep but anything deeper than that, I would’t be able to get to. I also told him that I could search, the next day but I was already booked, in Greenwood, Maine and couldn’t guarantee I could get to Brownfield, by 11:00am. If I did arrive, in Brownfield and the group had already checked out, I would need permission, from the owner, of the Maine Airbnb property. I do not go on other peoples property, without permission. We left it at that someone in the group would try contacting the owner, securing permission, for me to access their property and search for the lost wedding ring.
The next morning, Gary and I left at 6:00am, for the nearly 2 hour drive, to Greenwood Maine.and search for a lost gold signet ring. As we were arriving at the camp, in Greenwood, I received a text message, from Brendan

“We are still waiting to hear back from the air bnb host. So unlikely that today will work. If anything changes or they allow access later in the week I’ll be sure to check with your availability.” I replied “Ok, Thanks”

As luck would have it, Gary was able to locate the gold signet ring, in just about 10 minutes. We left Greenwood around 9:00am. As we were driving back home, I received another text, from Brendan, at approximately 9:45am.

“Heads up Dennis. I gave your number to the guy whose ring was lost. Turns out our checkout is 2:00pm he wants to give you a call to check availability”

Before I could reply, I received a call from Jonathon. Jonathon was the one, that had lost his wedding ring, in the river. Jonathon told me if I could make it to Brownfield, by 2:00pm, he would stay behind, and guide me to the location, where the ring was lost. It wasn’t an easy place to find, as it involved driving to a spot, up the road, then walk down a path, in the woods, for approximately a 1/3 to a 1/2 mile, to the sandy beach area, along the river. It was now approaching 10:00am and I needed to see exactly how to get to Brownfield, from where Gary and I were, in the Gray, Maine area. I told Jonathon I would get right back to him and pulled over, on the side road, to look at the map. Once I got the information I was looking for, I called Jonathon back. I told him I could be there in 45 minutes to an hour. Gary and I then took a hard right and we were heading to Brownfield.

Once we arrived, we were met by Jonathon and his friend, Cory. They again mentioned the walk, on the path, through the woods and he and his friend offered to carry anything we needed. I told him we would be fine and then we drove back up the road and stopped at the trailhead. The walk through the woods was much easier than I thought. The path was actually quite large, from all the ATV traffic. After a 10-15 minute walk, down the wooded path, we arrived at the sandy beach area, on the Saco River. Jonathan then showed Gary and I the area that he thought the ring was lost in. The area was very sandy and should not be a problem. I told Gary that I would start out in the water, as far out as I could safely go. I would the grid search, parallel to the shore and work my way, towards shore. Gary would start, at the shore and work his way, towards me and the deeper water. I went out to where the sand ended and the drop off to deeper water started. Hopefully the ring didn’t get thrown out in the deep water. With Gary near the shore, I worked my way west, on my first grid pass. Absolutely no targets at all, just really soft sand. Gary also had no targets, as this area was extremely clean of trash. As I turned and headed east, still no targets. Then, approximately halfway into this grid pass, I received a very loud low tone. I immediately knew this was Jonathan’s wedding ring. Having used an Minelab Excalibur II, since 2006, you just know when you hear gold. I looked up onto the shore, where Jonathon and Cory were talking and Gary was still searching. I hesitated for a moment and wanted to have someone take a video of the recovery but decided not to. I just told everyone that I was pretty sure I had located the ring and that got their attention. I took one scoop of sand and shook it in the water, until the sand was gone. As I was shaking the scoop, we could all hear something clanging around, in the scoop. I was hoping it wasn’t a rock. I brought the scoop up and looked inside. There it was a gold wedding ring. I made a face of disappointment, as I reached into the scoop, so when I pulled the ring out, everyone would be surprised. I grabbed the ring and quickly pulled it out, held it high, for all to see and said, “Congratulations, I got it”. Jonathan and his friend just couldn’t believe it, giving each other high fives and saying something to the effect of this was epic and unbelievable. As I came to shore, I asked Jonathan how long he has been married and he replied, 2 years. I then told him, “Now you can stay married” and handed him his ring back. We were all laughing, smiling, making jokes and it just felt great to see the weight of a lost wedding ring, be lifted, from the shoulders of Jonathan. He kept thanking Gary and I for making the long trip out to Brownfield and recover his wedding ring. Gary and I thanked him for placing his trust, in us, to recover his ring. It’s not something we take lightly and we love helping others, get their sentimental rings back.
As Gary and I were driving back home, we were rehashing the day’s events. By the time we got home, we would have driven 216 miles, been gone for 7 hours, recovered 2 sentimental rings (in just 15-20 minutes of actual search time) and loved every moment of it. The smiles on Joe and Angela’s faces, in Greenwood and the smiles on Jonathan and Cory’s faces, in Brownfield were all we needed, for fuel. We were both riding high, on cloud nine. We love our
jobs.😃❤️🙏

Large Gold Signet Ring, With Family Crest, Lost In The Gravel Of Greenwood, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

I received a phone call from Joe. Joe explained that 4-5 days earlier, he and his wife, Andrea, had returned from a 10 day trip, to Scotland. Upon arriving at Logan Airport, in Boston, Joe and Andrea then drove to their home, in Saco, Maine. Once in Saco, they got in Joe’s truck and drove to Greenwood, Maine. Joe and Andrea own a camp, in Greenwood Maine and while they were in Scotland, their dogs were being watched at the camp. Once they arrived, at their camp, the dogs were extremely excited to see Joe and Andrea. The dogs were jumping up and down on them and running all around them, in the driveway area, of their camp. Once the dogs were in the truck, Joe and Andrea started the long drive back to Saco, Maine. As they were driving home, Joe noticed that his Gold Signet Ring, with the family crest on it, was missing. This wasn’t just any Signet ring, this was a 25th Anniversary Gift, to Joe, from Andrea. Joe and Andrea have now been married for 45 years and Joe has been wearing the ring, for the last 20 years. Joe immediately turned around and drove back to their Greenwood camp. The entire front of the camp, where Joe was greeted by the dogs and was playing with them was searched. The area consisted of a mixture of gravel driveway, some grass, pine needles, etc.. Joe and Andrea could not find the ring. Over the next few days, the search continued but the ring still wasn’t found, in the vehicles, luggage, house, etc.. Joe was 90% sure he had it on, when he arrived at the Greenwood Camp, but not 100%. He contacted Delta Air Lines to report it lost and to see if anyone had turned it in. Delta had not found the ring either. At this point, Andrea suggested to Joe, that he should call TRFOM. Joe had never heard of us and told Andrea the he was doubtful that we would be able to find the ring. Then someone else recommended us told Joe and told Joe to just call us. This is when Joe reached out to me, as a last resort. Joe and I planned to meet Sunday morning, August 24th, at 8:00am, to search his camp property, with our metal detectors. Since I really didn’t have any idea, of how large an area would need to be searched, I asked Gary Hill to accompany me, if available. Gary agreed to ride up to Greenwood, with me and search, for Joe’s extremely sentimental ring.

Gary and I arrived approximately 15 minutes early and Joe and Andrea, a few moments later. As we were making small talk, Andrea asked if I had graduated from Thornton Academy, in 1974. Why yes I did! Andrea then told me she graduated, from Thornton Academy, in 1976, the same year as my sister. Well, what a small world.
Joe showed us the area that he had been in, a week ago now, when he thinks he lost the ring. It was basically the entire front of the property and as I looked it over, I thought Gary and I could cover the entire area,in approximately an hour. Gary would start grid searching the right side of the property, as you faced the building and I would start on the left side, working our way, towards each other. Joe was walking the area, with his eyes peeled, to the ground. I could see, on Joe’s face, just how badly, he wanted his Family Crest Signet Ring back. My first grid pass, from the road area, to the corner of the house, resulted in just a few pieces of trash. Gary was finding a few pieces of trash also. As I turned around and started searching, back up to the road, I realized I had forgotten my pinpointer, in the car. When I reached the end of my grid line and went up to my car, to get my pinpointer. As I was at the car, I hear Gary say, “Dennis, I got it. I found it”. I looked over and Gary was bent over, look at something. Joe was in the house, at this point but Angela immediately let him know and when Joe came out of the camp, he was stunned but was smiling like he just won Powerball. As I made my way to Gary, Gary was still looking at the ring and when I arrived, I could see just a small area of the ring. Gary told all of us that he heard the detector go off and when he looked down, he could see just a small piece of the band. Joe arrived and he couldn’t believe that much of the ring was buried, in the hard gravel driveway. Gary and I believe that the ring most likely was knocked off, by the dogs, after jumping, on Joe. The dogs, or Joe then moved some of the loose gravel, up and over the ring, partially obscuring it, just enough so that no one could see it. For the last week, the ring just sat there, blending in with the gravel, sand and dirt. Joe was just overjoyed to get his very sentimental ring back, a ring that his wife Andrea had custom made for him, 25 years ago. After a round of handshakes, hugs, fist pumping and of course, smiles, Gary and I congratulated Joe and Andrea one last time. As we drove off I tooted the horn and we could see Joe looking at his ring, back on his finger, just smiling ear to ear. It’s such a great feeling to be able to help others, when they need our services and I don’t think we will ever get old of that feeling. We love our jobs😃❤️🙏