May 14th I got a phone call from Julia and she asked for my help to recover her Russia Gold wedding band. I arranged to search the next day.
After meeting with Julia and understanding that this ring had travelled three continents to get to her and now it was lost after only three weeks, I had to put my best effort into recovering it for her.
Well I am glad to say after less then ten minutes Julia is wearing her ring once again.
Lost Gold in Austin, Texas (The Ring Finders Challenge) (www.theringfinders.com/greg.delong)
I was wanting to get to know member Greg DeLong a little better and was planning on trying to meet up with him on my trip to Austin, Greg lives in one of my favorite local destinations and having a friend in those parts could only make things better.
Austin has clean and clear lakes, rivers and creeks, something we don’t get down her in the bayou city, so when we want to beat the Texas heat we often head up to Austin.
I didn’t get the opportunity to meet Greg on my last trip, but I left a couple of items behind at a local park for Greg to track down. This was not going be as good as having a beer and over looking some area of Austin, but I thought it might still be a fun way to get to know Greg,
After returning home from Austin, I sent Greg an e-mail telling him I had buried some gold in Austin, and if he was able to find it, he could claim the treasure as his own. I told him I would also be responsible for our lunch on my next trip if he was successful.
I provided Greg GPS coordinates, and told him his detective skills and his metal detecting experience would be necessary for the recovery on this job. I told Greg he would be searching for a Gold Challenge Coin, 7 gold coins, and lunch if he was successful.
Greg apparently did his homework on the GPS coordinates, and e-mailed me back stating I planted the treasure-loot in an Austin park that prohibits metal detecting. Turns out all Austin parks prohibit metal detecting without an official permit issued by the Austin Park’s Department.
Told Greg, WOW looks like you will be buying lunch the next time I am in Austin. (the challenge) LOL
I asked Greg if he was going to let little things like jail stand in the way of his challenge. LOL, I thought it was funny, I think he thought I was trying to get him arrested.
Word today from Greg, I will be buying lunch on the next trip to Austin. Told Greg, his pictures better match the ones posted here if he was counting on lunch.
Gold Police Challenge Coin
7 Gold US Dollars
John
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
On Sunday afternoon we got a call from a gentleman who had lost his wedding ring. He had been working all day in his yard digging a trench to relieve some standing water. After completing the several hour project he realized his wedding ring was gone. He and his family search for 2 hours and had no luck. He found “The Ring Finders” website and gave us a call. We spent about 20 minutes covering the area which was crazy with signals due to a power line running under his backyard. I decided to re-check the trench with full descrimination, looking only for gold. I got a hit near the end of the 15ft trench about 6 inches down. As I bent down and used my pinpointer through the mud and water in the trench I saw a glint of GOLD in the hole. The wedding ring was stuck in the wall of the trench about 4-6 inches down. I turn and ask the homeowner, I said, “I have a questions for you” “would you like to have this back and I handed him his ring“.
He and his wife were so excited they could not believe we found it… they kept saying “you guys are good, you guys are so good“. The wife came out and gave us hug… it was another successful hunt for the “Dallas Ring Finders”.
Don & Ellen
Lost Ring in Bellaire, Texas (Recovered)
I received a call yesterday from Eric a resident of Bellaire, Texas regarding his lost wedding ring. Eric reported he had lost his wedding ring in his backyard while playing water volleyball in his new pool. Eric said he remembered hitting a volleyball and his ring flying off his finger. Eric reported he searched his yard for several days trying to find his ring. Eric said after unsuccessfully finding his ring he located “The Ring Finders” on a Google a search.
I made the trip out to Eric’s home this morning and was given a walk through of how and where the ring was lost. The backyard was under renovations, a beautiful new pool, landscaping steps, and new and old landscaping underway. The backyard had little grass, so the remaining search area was going to be several areas of monkey grass, small hedges and a few flower beds.
Having the 6″ coil for the CTX3030 was a big factor in this recovery. Most of my work was pushing the small coil through the small tight hedges to work the ground below and around the hedges. It would have been nearly impossible to have accomplished this task with the stock 11′ coil.
I worked an area of the yard that seemed most probable for Eric’s ring to have landed based on the information of how it was lost. This area was relatively heavy with scrubs and money grass providing a great hiding place for a missing ring.. I thought for sure it would be the spot. After spending sometime working the hedges and monkey grass in this area with no results, I moved to the far side of the yard.
I started in on one of the flower beds, pushing the coil through the hedges blindly when I got a nice signal. I worked through the ground cover vegetation with a pin pointer and uncovered a series of intertwined gold loops. I ‘ll be honest, I initially thought maybe I had found an earring , I was thinking to myself what the heck is it. I knew it was gold, but did not register as a gold wedding band.
I hollered over to Eric who was working in the yard, and held out the dangling loops of gold, I saw a smile on his face, and rest is now history.
Eric explained that the odd configuration (the gold loops) was a Gold Arabic Puzzle Ring, and it had belonged to his grandfather original, passed to his father, and now to him. Thought to myself (priceless) and awesome, that is something you could never replace.
I have picked up a lot of rings, but this was my first ever puzzle ring and what a cool story. It didn’t take long to figure out why they call it a puzzle ring.
The video is a quick clip of Eric putting his ring back together.
Nothing further,
John Volek
281-330-7758
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
www.theringfinders.com/blog/John.Volek/
The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service now in Galveston, Texas
Lost your jewelry in the surf or out on the beach and thought it was gone forever?
Call the Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service
John Volek 281-330-7758
Galveston is one of the most popular year-round coastal destinations in our second largest state TEXAS. It is an island in the Gulf of Mexico. You can still take a road trip here because it is connected to the mainland by a bridge. It is a city that offers many historical and cultural attractions, water sports, and great hotels and resorts. Galveston TX has most of its businesses downtown, but also offers many rental residences with access to the Galveston beaches.
John Volek
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
Member Since 2012
Lost Texas A&M Class Ring Bryan College Station, Texas
Received the following e-mail 03-13-2014 Thursday
Hey John,
I got your contact info from the ring finder website. I recently
lost my Aggie ring. I believe it fell off in my neighbors yard, while I was
picking up some trash that had blown into his leaf piles. I’m 99% sure where it
fell. My neighbor gave me permission to look, but I have not been successful.
I’m a veterinary student in college station, tx. What would it cost to have you
drive out here and have a look? Do you know anyone in this area that would be
willing to assist? The ring is very important to me, and had a stone from my
grandmother in it.
Kohl
Spoke with Kohl on Thursday and he explained the circumstances surrounding the loss of his class ring. Kohl explained the ring was important, but the diamond in his ring had been handed down to him from his grandmother, making it irreplaceable. Kohl and I , worked out some travel expenses issues, and arrangements were made from Sunday morning. I made the 1:45 minute trip out to Kohl’s today meeting him at his residence. Kohl walked the search area with me pointing out the areas he believed he may have lost his ring. The search area was relatively small with several sections of the lawn had exposed dirt surfaces. I knew if the ring was in the remaining grass or leaves it would be a very fast recovery.
These are the difficult stories; the ring was not in the yard. I worked that lawn so hard I may have killed the remaining grass.
Having searched for A&M rings in the past, I knew the school had a lost and found specific to class rings. Even the local area police departments, having checked this for myself, contact the schools when a class ring is turned into them. I directed Kohl to notify the school, and to continue the search for his ring. Kohl advised he would notify me if he finds his missing ring.
Thanks,
John Volek
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
Lost Ring Pasedena, Texas (Recovered)
I received a call Wednesday from Jennifer who had located me on www.theringfinders.com she was looking for someone to help her find her mother’s lost wedding ring.
Jennifer reported her mother Barbara had lost her ring in the front yard of her residence while tending to the front lawn and flower beds. Jennifer said her mother was pretty sure she lost her wedding ring of 20 years while working in the yard today.
I asked Jennifer a few more questions about the area to be searched and recommended she tell her mom not to mow the front lawn.
Final arrangements were discussed and plans were made for Friday morning.
Jennifer called me back a few minutes after our conversation ended; reportin her mother’s lawn service had cut the grass Wednesday afternoon. I told Jennifer we will hope for the best, and if the ring is in the yard I would find it.
I made the trip out to Pasadena this morning and meet with Barbara and was shown the areas in the yard where she believed she may have lost her ring.
Barbara returned inside of her residence while I searched the front yard and flower beds. About 15 minutes in, a good solid signal with a depth rate of one inch, I knew I was on the ring.
I packed up my gear and knocked on the front door a few minutes later. Barbara called out, come on in. As I made my way to the living area of the house I heard Barbara say “you couldn’t find it”?
I held out my hand and presented Barbara her missing wedding ring which resulted in some big hugs and smiles.
Thanks,
John Volek
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
Equipment Used:
Minelab CTX3030
White’s TRX Pinpointer
The TRX is looking really good performance wise and performed well on its first field use.
Recent Discovery #3 Anderson Detector Shafts
Product Information:
Anderson Detector Shafts: http://andersondetectorshafts.com/
The fine folks at Anderson Detector Shafts sent out an Excalibur II travel shaft for long term testing and evaluation 🙂 The product looks and feels very well built and should be a nice upgrade for traveling with an Excalibur II.
Anderson Detector Shafts also builds some really nice looking Carbon Fiber shafts, and a variety of other quaility detecting products.
Ryan at Andeson Detector Shafts will be your point of contact.
Thanks,
John Volek
Andrea and Travis were making a video and re-enacting a scene from The Lord of the Rings movie. Andrea finds her “Precious” ring on a log and then tosses it to one side. It was meant to land on a bank with almost no grass where it would be easy to see, however it landed short where the grass was a bit longer and they were unable to find it.
Andrea’s Ring
I thought this was going to be an easy, quick find as it was a very small area to search. I ran my CTX3030 over the area but couldn’t get a signal that remotely resembled a gold ring. I extended the search by quite a distance and we even reviewed the video to get an idea of where it may have gone. I then got Andrea to re-enact the throw with one of my test rings. Each time it landed in a similar area so I had another sweep.
Over a clump of grass I got a very weak signal that looked more like trash than a ring but I checked it out with my pinpointer. It was indicating something in the middle of the grass but it wasn’t until the pinpointer actually touched the ring that I could see it. It was sitting vertically on its edge right at the bottom of the grass.
Andrea’s ring safely on her finger
No one could believe that they hadn’t found it when the were looking for it but they all agreed that we probably wouldn’t have found it without the detector. Hugs and smiles all round.
Now, Andrea was a bit embarrassed by all this but when they showed me the video it looked pretty cool, and this will certainly add to the story.
They also gave me a generous reward for which I very grateful.
Received the following e-mail:
Hello John,
I saw your info on theringfinders.com website. I lost my wedding band this past week and was looking into renting a metal detector in hopes of finding it, but then I found you in a Google search. Would you expect the same payment whether the ring is found or not? I’d be willing to pay $**** if found, but $**** if not for your time. I don’t know if that’d be worth your while, but just wanted to be honest up front about what I’m willing/able to pay. If that’s
reasonable for you, please email me back and we can try to arrange a time to meet at the park. Thank you for even considering!
Best,
David
I met with David and his son at a local park in Sugar Land where they had played baseball a few days earlier. David said, he and his son were throwing the ball and he was pretty sure his Platinum Wedding Ring came off of his finger when he had taken off his baseball glove. David pointed out an area in the park where he and his son had been playing, and then walked the area with me, highlighting the areas he had remembered pulling off his glove.
The search area in the park was about 100′ by 100′ of flat level grass. I was pretty sure this would be a quick easy find, thinking this should be a really low trash area and the ring should be a fast find. Well the park had a lot of false signals requiring me to stop and dig through the grass frequently checking for the ring.
After about an hour, and moving another 10′ outside of the original search area, success a good solid signal. I looked into the grass and saw the ring. I had given David’s son one of my handheld Pin-Pointers to play with, and I could see he was about 20-30- feet away digging in the grass looking for treasures of his own.
I called him over, and asked him to check this particular area for his Dad’s Wedding Ring. After a few minutes of working his handheld in the grass, the handheld sounded and he found the ring. It was pretty cool seeing David’s son finding his father’s ring. It was a Kodak moment.
Thanks,
John volek
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
Equipment Used:
CTX3030
Minelab Pin-Pointer Pro (times 2)