lost ring in snow Tag | Page 7 of 10 | The Ring Finders

I arrived at a freshly raked yard. Stan was outside waiting with several children. I asked him to walk me through what happened. He tossed a football and watched his ring fly. It was a yellow gold ring with kangaroos on it.

I started in the pile of leaves. 30 seconds in a get a good signal. move the leaves to find a piece of junk metal. The ring was not at the curb.

I moved to the grass. Stan has a sprinkler system installed. It shouldn’t be a problem. The first target is a dime signal. The second signal is a zink penny signal. The third signal is the sound and number that I was looking for. I separate the blades of grass and see a gold ring pushed down into the dirt. It looks like it was stepped on. I pulled out the ring and showed it to Stan.

He said OMG, I thought that I would never see that ring again! I got a Bro Hug! He was so happy. The ring was bought many years ago in Australia. The kids were amazed and so happy that the ring was found and returned. Smiles all around!

I found the ring in less than 10 minutes. It took me longer to drive to Stan’s then it did to make the recovery. Stan told his son that he has to take the ring off when they play catch.

I LOVE my hobby!!!

I grabbed my gear and started where they sat in the grass for dinner. I did a very tight grid pattern. Found coins, small paint brushes, lots of bottle caps and other assorted junk. A little over 2 hours in, we were getting near where the tempory parking area was. When I hear “Oh my God”, from Joe. He was about 5 feet away from me and now on his knees. He saw a glimmer of gold in the grass & mud. With his hands, he dug out his dad’s ring. It had been pushed into the soft ground by being walked on or driven over.

He had walked over that spot probably 20 times between last night with a flashlight and today, just trying to find the ring. He was elated. He couldn’t stop laughing and smiling. He is the recovery story from Joe:

My 81 year old father and I attended a family picnic for a group we support that took place on the grounds of the Adelphia, NJ firehouse yesterday. We knew he had the ring as of about 4:30 pm, but when we got home at 6 pm it was not on his finger. He has lost some weight recently and knew it was loose, but still wanted to wear the college ring he has worn now for almost 60 years. We went back immediately and searched the area with flashlights since it was now after dark, to no avail. I came home and found Dave on TheRingFinders.com, went to his website and inquired. We texted back and forth and met up at the firehouse this afternoon. I went this morning myself and walked the area again in daylight for over an hour – nothing. Dave then arrived and meticulously searched everywhere my dad could have possibly dropped it, in a grid pattern over a grassy area of what I’d say was more than 1/4 of an acre – maybe 1/2 – no small feat. I walked a few feet in front of him still looking myself, and after about 2 hours, out of pure dumb luck, I saw it there, buried in the dirt where a tire or foot had apparently pushed it into the ground. Another 5 minutes and Dave would have been right over the spot himself. I could have so easily missed it – there was just a sliver showing. Had it not been for Dave’s meticulous searching, I would have given up hours earlier. He did a fantastic job and I really appreciate him coming out immediately to help me and my dad – who is ecstatic to have his sentimental ring back (which I will get resized before he wears it out again).

The best time to search for this ring would be at low tide, which is 11pm tonight. After some adjusting of my schedule, I traveled to Ocean City for the search on 9th st.

At 7:45 the beach was still pretty crowded. I called R and told him that I was there. He said he would come up and show me where the loss occurred. I searched for a while finding just a few coins. After a while, R approached me. I was on the wrong beach. They had entered at 9th street and went right. They were swimming at the 10th Street Life Guard stand.

R gave me the details and the general area. I did a grid pattern and came up with just a few coins. I expanded the search area, and on my 1st pass of the extended area, I had R’s ring in my scoop.

The happiness on R’s face was awesome. I got a firm handshake followed by a “bro” hug. He said he thought that this search was not going to find his ring. He had thought that it was gone forever. I said that you should probably call your wife. He said he would wait to see her reaction in person.

As we were leaving the beach K called asking about our progress. R told a white lie and said that we were still looking. When we got back to my truck, R paid for my parking, Thank You!! He asked for several business cards to spread the word. I found out that R is a 1st responder in PA, he is a police officer. I love helping other 1st responders!!

Update: The Philadelphia ABC Affiliate 6ABC did a story on this recovery. There was supposed to be an interview but the news crew got diverted to a helicopter crash: See the news story here

I couldn’t head up on Sunday due to a half marathon I was running in and it was pouring in the afternoon. I said that I would search on Monday after work. Carrie would have to get permission for me to search the field. Permission was secured.

My wife & I drove to the fields on Monday. We came prepared with boots that we could get muddy, and it was a good thing we did. The field was muddy and had a lot of deep puddles.

Carrie had explained where she was during her time at the field. I decided to search the grassy area 1st as I thought that would be the spot that would provide cover for the rings. Nothing, very few signals at all. They do a good job of keeping this field clean.

Next, I went to the area between the dugout and home plate. After a few iron tones, I got a good tone, Boom! The engagement ring was in the mud about 1/2 an inch down. Wow, only 15 minutes into the search and I have 1 of 2 rings. The other one has to be close by, right?

Well, 20 minutes later I’m starting to think that the dragging machine moved it very far away. I sent a message to Carrie to call me. I wanted to know if there was any other place that she could have lost the 2nd ring. I continued to search.

Another 10 minutes into the search on the 3rd base side of the field, the 1st ring was on the 1st base side. I get a good tone. Boom!! I now have the 2nd ring. It was also about a half inch down. We did the best cleaning we could do in one of the many mud puddles. We took several pictures.

We left a message on the way home, asking for a return call, not letting on that I had found the rings, As I was unloading the truck Carrie called back, Edwina was there with me. I asked Carrie if there was any other location that she could think of that the rings could be. When she ran out of ideas I told her that I had found them. She started to cry, Edwina started to cry because Carrie was crying.

We met after dinner so Carrie could get her rings back. Carrie and her husband were very happy. Another happing ending!!!

The leaves were piled up about 2 feet deep. After about 5 minutes I get my first non-iron hit. It was John’s keys. What a relief. Now to get back up the hill to give John back his keys.

He was very happy and stated that one of the keys would have cost over $200 to replace. Another successful recovery in very short time. I love my hobby!!!