Lost Jewelry Recovery Raleigh Tag | The Ring Finders

I got a call late in the day that a wedding ring had been lost over the weekend. He’d been working out in the compost pile moving things around, moving dirt to the flower beds, trimming branches, etc. All the fun things that homeowners do. At the end of the day he realized his wedding ring had come off. He borrowed a friend’s metal detector, but hadn’t had any luck recovering the ring, which is when he called me. I met him at his house the next morning, and began searching the flower beds, garden paths, and compost pile. The ring turned out to be in the compost pile, amongst the yard trimmings, food scraps, coffee grounds, etc. As with most husband-ring-recoveries, he was happy, but his wife was overjoyed. Glad to be able to help!

I got a call from a gentleman who had decided to wash his dog in the front yard of his house. He took his wedding ring off, set it on the towel, washed the dog, then grabbed the towel before the dog decided to run around and get dirty again. Mission accomplished — the dog was clean and the drying towel was in the washer, but the wedding ring was nowhere to be found. He and a friend searched the yard but were unable to find it. He called and I came out that afternoon to try to recover it for him. After about 45 minutes, I was able to find the ring, but I also found a sterling silver St. Christopher pendant. He was excited to get the ring back, but was amazed to see the pendant, which he and his wife had gotten for their daughter in Italy. It had been lost for over a year!

I was contacted by a man who had lost his wedding ring the previous evening on a sand volleyball court.  His fellow players had searched the court as soon as it came off, they weren’t able to locate the ring in the sand. Although he was pretty sure he knew when and where it came off,  they were still unable to find it.

After meeting him at the court, he showed me where he had been on the court and what he had been doing when it came off. As you can see in the picture, this is not a normal gold or silver ring recovery; in fact, he wasn’t sure exactly what the metal was.

As it turned out, the good news is that it he lost it on a volleyball court — there is usually only a small amount of trash on vball courts. After balancing the detector, it took less than a minute to recover the ring. Glad to be able to help!

I received a call from a woman who had been out on a dinner-movie date with her husband. Somewhere between the beginning of the movie and arriving in her living room, she had lost her wedding ring. There are wedding rings, and then there are WEDDING rings — she was devastated by the loss of this one. Starting at the theater parking lot, her steps were retraced (parking lot, car, driveway, yard, and deck), all searched with no luck. She thought maybe the ring had come off on the deck and fallen through, so the whole under-the-deck area was searched too — still no luck.

After coming up empty-handed, I went back to her house to give it one more try. Based on that second search, here’s what we were able to piece together about the night the ring was lost.  Apparently, when they got home after the movie and their large dog greeted her at the rear of the house, she threw her hands up and the ring flew off her finger. It not only cleared the deck (and just missed the corner of the house) but landed in the side yard, 30-35 feet from where she was. Although it was covered by some fallen leaves, it was an easy recovery once I included the side yard into the search area. She burst into tears when I showed her what I had found in the leaves.

Of all the places to lose a ring, “in the lake” has to be one of the most difficult. The ring moves as it settles to the bottom, you can’t see the bottom, and you need to use waterproof gear.

I was contacted by a man who had lost his wedding ring throwing a football at in a lake in a local state park. We agreed to meet at the lake so he could show me exactly where he lost it and also so we could get permission from the park staff to metal detect — it’s normally prohibited in state parks. (The one exception is to recover a lost item; in that case, the park management will usually allow someone to bring in a detector to recover something lost.)

We met, spoke to the park staff (who were great), he showed me the spot, and we made arrangements to meet back the following morning to search. This particular lake is anything but clear, so you’re essentially relying on the machine to tell you where the target is and then bring up sand from the bottom a scoop at a time until you find it. It took about an hour, but after 3 quarters, two dimes, a penny, a silver locket, and a different wedding band, I was able to pull up his ring.

His very pregnant wife was waiting patiently (anxious, but trying to be patient) on the beach while we searched, and was overjoyed when I was able to bring it up to the surface. I know she was glad that he had the ring back, but it was also very important to her that he would have his ring in time for the upcoming delivery. I was glad to have been able to help make that happen!

It happens. People lose things all the time, but this recovery was special.

I was contacted by a woman who had lost her late husband’s wedding ring. If that sounds odd, it’s because she was wearing it. After her husband passed, she started wearing his ring and her own, with her ring on the outside as a “stop” to keep her husband’s larger ring from falling off.

On this particular day, she had decided to garden in her yard and for whatever reason, had reversed the rings on her finger (so the husband’s was on the outside). Without her smaller ring to anchor it, her husband’s ring came off and she was unable to find it. Given her sentimental attachment to the lost ring, finding it was imperative!

She showed me where she had been gardening, pruning, trimming, and other yard tasks, which turned out to cover a rectangular area about 75 ft x 10 ft. I was able to find the ring buried down in the dirt and return it — a happy ending is always a good way to end the day!

Sometimes, even the most well-intentioned activities don’t turn out the way you think. A young mom had been playing in the yard with her young daughter and thought that tossing leaves in the air would be fun for both of them. It was, or at least it was until she realized later that her ring had come off during their playtime. She and her husband had searched the yard where they had been playing, but no ring. They had also rented a metal detector, but because of the electric lines, cable lines, water pipes, etc., buried in the yard, there was too much interference for them to locate the ring.

She contacted me to come out and it took about 45 min to locate the ring. As you can see, she’s a happy camper!

  

People become attached to things…like jewelry…and especially engagement and wedding rings. I got a tentative call from a sheriff’s deputy in a nearby county. (He ) His fiancee had lost her engagement ring. I’m thinking “OK, it happens.” He described what they were doing when she lost it — taking the groceries from the car to the house — and he knew exactly the path she had walked when taking in the groceries.

When he said he had searched the “she-lost-it-in-this-area” the entire day, but had no luck in finding the ring, it had me wondering why. I drove to their house and we mapped out the area to search. Thankfully, because it was a fairly well-defined area, I was able to find the ring quickly and return it. It turned out that the ring had worked its way down through the grass and was sitting on the soil, so it was maybe 3 inches down — definitely not visible.

Breaking out the detector allowed me to find it quickly, and it was in exactly the location he said. Glad to be able to help out!

The email starts off like this:  “My wife and I have been married for two years, and she’s been after me to resize my wedding band for almost that whole time. I’d really like to make it to three years…” You can’t let an opener like that go by.

I contacted the man and asked him to describe the situation — what was he doing when he lost it, where was he, etc. Turns out he was out weeding in his yard and midway through, noticed that his wedding band was gone. He was pulling up weeds and placing them in a pile, which he then put into a trash can.

After he realized the ring was gone, he searched all the likely places and even borrowed a cheap-o metal detector to try and find the lost ring, but no luck. I came over on a Sunday morning and rechecked the areas he had searched. We started with the weeded areas, checked the weed pile, and lastly checked the trashcan. I found the ring under the “weed debris” that had been in the can. Husband and wife are both happy and the third year looks solid!