How to find a lost ring on Oak Island NC Tag | The Ring Finders

Gold Coin and Yellow Gold Wedding Band Lost, Found and Returned Oak Island, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This little adventure started on Thursday, Jul 25th about 9:30pm when I got a text from Megan. Her text said, “Hello we are inquiring about a lost ring, chain, and coin in Oak Island NC. What is your pricing and are you available tonight or tomorrow.” Her phone number was on the text message, so I called her. She told me, in so many words that her husband Tyler and his brother were having a brotherly love moment when things escalated a little. It continued to escalate across the top of the beach in the dry sand, down the slope and into the ocean. When they finished, both brothers had lost their gold chains. The chain belonging to the brother had a cross pendant attached and Tyler’s chain had a 10-dollar, 14 oz gold coin and his yellow gold wedding ring. Unfortunately, Megan and Tyler were leaving to go back home the next morning, and the tide wasn’t right for a search until the next afternoon. Megan arranged for her father-in-law, Jim to meet me the next afternoon.

My daughter, Lisa and her family were in town visiting and she loves to go on my ring calls with me. I’ve shown her how to use the Equinox 800 and she’s gotten pretty good at using it. When we got there, we met Jim and Nia, the brother’s younger sister. Both Jim and Nia filled in some blanks and showed Lisa and I the approximate route the boys went to get to the ocean. I had Lisa doing a grid line in the soft sand and I started working the slope down to the ocean. At some point Nia had told Lisa that she had lost one of her earrings while taking the family portrait a few days earlier. While I’m detecting, I see Lisa and Nia all excited and jumping up and down in the dry sand. Lisa had found the earring. We both continued our grid lines with no luck. A very short time later a big storm was moving our way with lightening, thunder, and heavy rain. We made it to the car just in time and waited out the storm. There was still lightning and thunder out over the ocean, but I got tired of waiting. Continuing my grid line, I finally hit a solid signal which showed up as an 18/19 on the Nox. Dug out a scoop of sand, spread it out with my foot, and Bingo! I had the 10-dollar gold coin. Lisa joined me a short time later and she continued her grid in the dry sand. I took a quick picture of the coin and sent it to Megan. About another 5-8 yards I got another 18 on the Nox. I dug a scoop and Boom; I had Tyler’s wedding ring. Sent another picture to Megan and then called her. She and Tyler were very excited. I gave both the coin and ring to Jim who was going to get it to Megan and Tyler. Lisa and I continued looking for the chains and other charm with no luck. The next day, I took a buddy, who uses the Deus II back up and we both searched for the chains and pendant and weren’t able to find them.

Megan/Tyler – Thank you for calling me to help find your lost treasures. Best wishes to you both.

Pictured below is the Obverse and Reverse of the gold coin.

Jim

     

 

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Proposed on Tuesday, Yellow Gold Engagement Ring Slipped off in the Outgoing Tide on Thursday, Found and Returned Friday Oak Island, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I woke up to 2 separate lost ring text messages on Friday, Sept 23rd. The first text was sent at 7:56 am from Ryan saying “Good Morning! My girlfriend lost her engagement ring in the sand last night at Oak Island. I have the location marked.  Do you think it is worth looking for it after a tide change when the water came up over the area?” The second text was sent at 8:15 am from Casey saying “Hi Jim! My name is Casey. I got your number from the ring finders’ website. I was on the sound side of the point at Oak Island last night and my ring slipped into the sand, water’s edge as high tide came in. We searched but no luck and I’m hoping a metal detector would help. I have the gps coordinates of where it was dropped.” I figured they were both texting about the same ring, so I called Ryan. First question I asked was is his girlfriend’s name Casey, his response was yes. I asked him a few more questions about location and time. Between him pinning the spot on his phone and Casey digging a hole in the sand in the lost area, they had the spot pretty well isolated. I told Ryan I’d be there at 11:30 am, which was just before low tide. Ryan sent me the address, so I was ready to go.

When I arrived, both Ryan and Casey were waiting in the driveway. As we’re discussing the loss, neither one of them knew that the other one had contacted me. Ryan texted me from the front porch while enjoying his morning coffee and Casey was in the house texting me. I asked Casey what happened when she lost it. She said that she was reeling in a fish and the ring slipped off her finger. Since Ryan had just given her the ring, she hasn’t had a chance to get it sized yet. We all hopped on the golf cart and drove over to the area. As we’re walking out on the beach, Ryan spotted the mound of sand Casey had piled up the night before while looking for her ring. When we got to the mound, I asked what metal the ring was. Ryan stated yellow gold. This gave me an idea of what number to look for on the Equinox 800. A lady’s yellow gold engagement ring would be somewhere in the 9-13 range, depending on the size and thickness. I turned the machine on and checked the mound of sand with no signal. I then swung the coil over the half-buried hole and hit a solid 13 VDI (visual display indicator). It’s in the range I was expecting, but pull tabs also come in at 13. I dug up the sand, had the target in my scoop and gently spread the sand out on the beach. I took my foot and spread out the sand. Not seeing the target, I ran the coil over the area to pinpoint the location of the target. After I hit the target, I reached in the sand and felt the ring. Casey didn’t react until I cleaned the sand off the ring and held it up for her to see. She was overwhelmed with relief and happiness and a few tears flowed down her cheeks. I asked Ryan to slip it back on her finger where it belonged. I’ll never get tired of seeing the excitement, relief, and pure happiness when someone gets their cherished item back.

Ryan and Casey – thank you so much for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. I wish you both all the best in your future together!! Have a safe trip home.

Jim

   

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Wedding and Engagement Rings Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned Carolina Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This ring search started off as a missed call shortly before 3:30 pm on Saturday, Jun 11th. I called back and spoke to Daniel, who wanted to know if I was the Ring Finder who could help him find his wife Kat’s Wedding and Engagement rings. I acknowledged yes and he asked what information I needed from him. I told him I needed the area and whether the rings were lost in the water or dry sand. He said dry sand, and then I asked him if there was a chance the area would be covered in water with the incoming tide. He responded no that they had set up far enough up the beach that the tide wouldn’t be an issue. Then he asked if he needed to be there. I told him yes and that putting me in the right spot raised the percentage of me finding the rings. He then asked the cost and I told him that I do this on a reward or gratuity basis. He was fine with everything, so I told him to send me an address and I’d let him know an ETA. Once he sent the address and I plugged it in the GPS, my ETA was an hour and a half later.

Once I got there, parking became an issue. Finally parked and then stood there with another couple trying to figure out how the pay to park worked. It wasn’t an easy thing, especially when the kiosk wouldn’t recognize the couple’s debit card. That’s about the time Kat called me to let me know they were there. They took care of my parking and then we headed to the beach. Kat walked ahead to find the spot, while I got my equipment. Once in the area, Daniel pointed out the 4 holes their tent made when they set it up. I asked Kat what the rings were made of and she stated White Gold, one engagement ring and the other was the wedding ring. So I knew I was looking for low numbers on the Equinox screen’s for the VDIs. I started a grid search at the back holes. If you ever notice, when people are sitting under tents on the beach, all their stuff is towards the back. In this case, Kat had taken off her rings and put them in her short’s pocket so she could apply suntan lotion and laid the shorts towards the back of the tent. She and Daniel enjoyed the day, and when they got ready to leave she put her shorts back on, packed everything up and left the beach. At some point after leaving the beach, she remembered the rings were in her pocket or so she thought. When she checked her pockets – no rings! Sometime after that is when Daniel did a Google search about finding a lost ring and one of my blogs popped up. So, I’m doing my grid search and on the 3rd line I got a 5 on the VDI. I was fairly certain this was one of her rings, knowing it wouldn’t be deep: I was being extremely careful and couldn’t get the target in the scoop. Finally on my 3rd try I had her engagement ring. I reached in the scoop, pulled it out and held it up for her. She got excited! I figured if one was there, the other one wouldn’t be too far away. Swung my coil and hit a 7 on the VDI, Boom!! I had her wedding band. She was so thankful she had both rings back. I got a big hug from Kat and a firm handshake and thank you from Daniel. I really love being a part of The Ring Finders, there’s no greater feeling than handing back a treasure that they thought was lost forever.

Kat/Daniel – Thank you so much for trusting me and The Ring Finders to help find your lost treasure. Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip home.

Jim

   

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Teardrops Lost in the Tides Ocean Isle Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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On Monday, May 30th I got an alert that I had been mentioned on the Ocean Isle NC FB page. When I looked at the site, I saw a posting that stated. “Hi everyone we lost my late husband’s wedding band in the surf 2 days ago between the ocean isle tower and the beach access, at water’s edge. If anyone has found it please let us know. We would greatly appreciate it.“ Knowing that this ring held a great deal of sentimental value, I immediately responded saying “Call me if I can help,” I also sent a link to my blog page on The Ring Finders.com page. As a follow up I sent her a private message with the same information. I got a text message back from her saying, “I will message you in the morning.” This morning she texted me with a little more information and added, “My son handed it to me. I was almost at water’s edge and it dropped and sank immediately, around 2 pm on Sunday.” A follow up text added “We are in town till Sat morning. My Husband passed away unexpectedly in March, meant a lot to my son so I appreciate you helping us.” We did some more texting back and forth and agreed that I’d be there at 12:45 p.m. to work the outgoing tide. Teresa also stated I could park in her driveway which alleviated me having to find a parking spot, which during this time of the year is almost impossible.

When I got there, I met Teresa, her father Richard, and her oldest son Derek. We all hopped in their golf cart and Derek drove us down to the beach. Once on the beach, Teresa led me over to the spot that was directly in line with where the ring was lost. Once there, Teresa explained that when her middle son, Daniel got married he didn’t have a wedding band to wear. His father’s wedding band no longer fit his father, so he passed it down to Daniel. When the ring was lost, Daniel was wearing it and was afraid of losing it while swimming in the ocean. So, in the process of handing the ring to Teresa for safekeeping, the ring hit her hand and quickly disappeared in the wet sand with the incoming tide. It was definitely one of those shear panic moments. Teresa said she looked for the ring for about 2 hours before giving up and then had a gentleman with a detector look the next day for quite a while with no luck.

It was time to find the ring, or at least give it all I had. From Teresa’s explanation of her husband’s 14K Gold Wedding Band, I knew that I was looking for a VDI (visual display indicator) on the Equinox 800 between 13-18, depending on the size of the ring. I started a little outside of the area Teresa showed me with a grid search parallel to the surf line. On my 5th line I got a loud and solid 16 VDI, I was 99% sure I had the ring. Two scoops and I had the target out of the sand and on the beach. I spread out the sand a couple of times with my foot before I saw the little shimmer of the gold ring. BINGO! I washed the ring off and saw that Teresa and Richard were praying to the Big Man upstairs as they were watching me from up near the dunes. As I’m walking their way, I did a little dance and I heard Teresa yell “Did you find it?” I held the ring up and she was literally overwhelmed with emotions, which made my eyes water a little bit. There’s no way to express what it means to find and return someone’s very special treasure. Teresa and I decided we’d surprise Daniel, so she called him saying that I needed to get some information from him. It took at least an hour for Daniel, his wife Ana, older brother Derek, younger brother Kyle and his girlfriend, Raina to show up. When they did, I showed Daniel the area I had searched and asked him if he thought I was in the right spot and anything else he might remember. Meanwhile, Teresa was standing behind us holding the ring up for the “aha” moment. It worked perfectly and was priceless!

Teresa/Daniel – Thank you for trusting me and The Ring Finders to find your very special treasure. It was truly my pleasure to get to meet all of you. Best wishes and enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Jim

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Man’s Gold Wedding Band Lost, Found and Returned Sunset Beach, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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On Wednesday, Sept 22nd, I got the following text message, in part, from Ben saying, “Hi Jim. I found your site after I lost my gold ring. I lost the ring about an hour and a half ago in a wading pool near the ocean. Would you be able to come see if you can find it asap before the tide change? Thank you.” Knowing the tide table, he lost it right at low tide. I knew by the time I would have gotten there, his ring would be underwater, with an incoming tide and out of reach of me trying to find it. I called him and got some additional details. Luckily, other than losing his ring, he did everything right as far as knowing exactly where he lost it. Unfortunately, he had to leave town for a work meeting, but we agreed I’d meet his wife, Katie, on the beach today at 3 p.m. and she could show me the exact spot. The last thing I asked him to do was pace off the distance from a stationary object at the top of the beach to where he lost his ring and text me the steps. A short time later, he sent me the paces and the starting point.

Today, I text Katie saying that I was going to be there a little early. I also told her that with all the information Ben had given me that there was no need for her to meet me. Ben had mentioned that he and Katie had an 11 month old, so I didn’t want her to have to worry about the baby just to point something out to me. I paced off the distance Ben had given me and started a west to east perpendicular grid search from the beach to the surf. I met a couple of ladies that had been there to help Ben and Katie search for his ring the day before and thought that they were east of where I was searching. Within about 10 minutes, Katie, her baby, and her mother showed up. Katie also thought they were a little more east than I was searching. So I moved east and changed my west to east search to a east to west search. After about 45 minutes, I got the tone and numbers I was looking for on my Equinox 800 for a man’s gold wedding band. As soon as I got the signal I looked over at Katie, who was standing about 20 yards away with her mother and baby and gave her the “I got it” look. I think she froze where she stood and didn’t take her eyes off me. After 2 scoops, Ben’s ring was lying on top of the sand. I picked it up, washed off the sand and turned around to face Katie, holding the ring up for her to see. She was overwhelmed and her excitement alerted the entire beach that something was going on. She ran over to me, wiping the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. Being just a small part of that kind of excitement is exactly why I do this, there’s nothing better. I took the attached picture and sent it to Ben, with no text. He immediately responds saying, “Hey Jim, I am on a plane and get texts but no pics. Did you find it??” Katie and I agreed that I’d just send him “Wait till u land!” It was kind of mean, but he seeing his wife holding his ring would make it all worth it. It wasn’t long before he sent “Yesssss!”

Ben and Katie – Thank you so much for trusting me and The Ring Finders to help find and return your precious treasure. Your ring now has one more chapter to add to its story. Best of luck to you two!

Jim

        

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Man’s 14K Gold Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned Ocean Isle Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I received a text message from Liz about 10 am on Saturday, Sep 5th, saying, “Hi my name is Liz and I’m at OIB. My husband lost his wedding band in the surf yesterday afternoon. We have a metal detector but haven’t had any luck. Wondering if you might be able to help?” I replied asking her to call me. When she called, I asked her where he lost it. She explained that when he lost it he was about waist deep at high tide. I asked her the time and she said around 3 p.m. I looked at the tide table and saw high tide was around 6 p.m. yesterday, so if he lost it around 3 p.m. then he was about mid tide. I told her I’d be there between 11 and 11:15, which I had to adjust to 11:25 once I got my gear and hit the road. On my way, I thought that if he lost it at waist deep about mid tide, then the ring should be at the low tide line.

When I got to their house, I met Liz and a few family members. Liz walked me out to the beach and said her husband, Bobby, had told her that he was west of their house on the beach. Liz set me up behind the neighbor’s house and said Bobby was from this point – that way, as she’s pointing down the beach. “That way” was a long stretch of beach, so it was time to get started. I grabbed my PI and backed up from her starting point and started a perpendicular grid above the mid tide line seaward to about waist deep. I did that grid search from my starting point to the 4th house west. I wasn’t finding anything, and reached the point of wondering if I was in the right spot, and/or going deep enough to search. I took a quick break and reassessed my thoughts about where it should be. With the information I was given, I was positive his wedding band should be around the low tide line. Did I just miss it, swing left instead of right?  I grabbed my Equinox 800 and started a cross grid search starting about shin deep at the low tide line. As I’m working up the slope of the beach I got a solid 15 on the VDI (visual display indicator). This was in the range of numbers for a man’s gold wedding band. I dug a scoop of sand, had the target, and rinsed the sand out of the scoop in the surf. When I checked the scoop, I could see Bobby’s gold wedding band peeking through the shells from the bottom of the scoop. I had definitely missed it on my first pass. Liz wasn’t out on the beach when I found it, but one of her family members called her, telling her I was done. When Liz came back on the beach, another family member was able to get a video of Liz’s response. Liz was trying so hard to hold back the tears, but she was so excited. Unfortunately, Bobby was playing golf so he wasn’t there to share the excitement, but I’m sure he was happy to get his wedding band back where it belongs.

Liz – Thank you for trusting me to help you find Bobby’s ring. Enjoy the rest of your vacation with your family and have a safe trip home.

Jim

    

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