#lost ring Maine beach Tag | The Ring Finders

Hearing Aid Lost In Saco, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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“They cost thousands of dollars, look exactly like bark mulch, and completely disappear in thick bushes. When Patricia lost her brand-new hearing aid in her Saco, Maine Saco yard, she thought it was gone forever…”

On Thursday, June 11th, I received a call from Patricia. She was in her yard with Maddie, a good friend and my former neighbor of 28 years. I have also known Patricia through Maddie and see her fairly regularly. My wife, Cheryl, and I always see her while we are all out walking the neighborhood. Patricia lives just around the corner from me, maybe a quarter to a third of a mile away, in Saco, Maine.

Patricia told Maddie that she had lost one of her hearing aids the previous day while doing yard work. She had searched for it but just couldn’t find it on the lawn or in the hedges. Patricia now had Maddie assisting her, but they still couldn’t locate it. They were even raking the lawn and underneath the bushes, but the hearing aid remained elusive. Now that they were both hot, sweaty, and fatigued due to the humid weather, Maddie suggested that Patricia give me a call to search for it with my metal detector.

Once she called, Patricia asked me if a metal detector would even be able to find a hearing aid. I explained that it depended on the type of hearing aid and how much metal was in it. There is usually very little metal in the devices themselves, but I told her that I could check her remaining hearing aid to see if I could detect it. I knew if worst came to worst, I could use my Goldfield program. Once I arrived at Patricia’s, I could see her and Maddie still searching. Patricia had her remaining hearing aid in a small sandwich bag and placed it on the grassy lawn. As I checked it, my detector was barely picking up the target while using my All Terrain Low Conductor program with my smallest and most sensitive coil, the M8. The M8 is just an 8” elliptical coil, but it is very sensitive to small, low-conductive targets.

Once I changed the program to “Goldfield,” the hearing aid came in loud and clear. But, there are drawbacks to using this program. The Goldfield program worked because a small hearing aid contains microscopic electronic components and very thin wires that mimic the exact physical profile of a tiny gold flake or nugget. Standard metal detecting modes are tuned to find larger, highly conductive items like coins. They completely ignore tiny items with very low electrical conductivity. By contrast, the Goldfield mode forces the Manticore to use high-frequency, Multi-IQ technology and an open audio threshold. This makes the detector incredibly sensitive to minute, low-conductivity targets, allowing it to easily pick up the faint signal of the hearing aid’s internal circuitry where other programs would remain completely silent. Because Goldfield is designed for maximum sensitivity with minimal filtering, it is a very “noisy” and chatty program. If you try to use it in a park, backyard, or iron-infested old homesite, the sheer amount of trash, nails, and foil will completely overwhelm the audio. It requires a practiced ear to distinguish the smooth “zip-zip” rise of a gold target from the erratic chatter of ground noise or EMI (electromagnetic interference).

So, with the coil and program all picked out, it was time to search. Patricia told me that her hearing aid has Bluetooth GPS tracking. The hearing aid was not connecting to the Bluetooth once she moved away from the bushes and the lawn area around them. This meant the hearing aid would be in a very small area of maybe 20’ x 20’ at the most. We then tried my pinpointer on her remaining hearing aid, and the pinpointer picked it up with no problem. Even my smallest coil couldn’t penetrate the very thick bushes. After scanning the top and sides of the bushes, I came up empty.

I asked Patricia if she would like to use the pinpointer and probe the bushes with it while I searched the lawn. Patricia jumped at the opportunity. As I was searching the grass and Patricia was probing the bushes, Maddie was still visually searching. It was an all-hands-on-deck search. As I was finishing up the grass area where the Bluetooth would still connect, Patricia was on her hands and knees searching the bark mulch just below the bushes. I decided to start searching the bark mulch on the opposite end from Patricia. Once I caught up to where Patricia was searching, I went to the other side of the hedges and started searching. As I was working my way down the hedges, I heard Patricia excitedly scream out, “Dennis, I found it!” Patricia then picked the hearing aid up and showed both Maddie and myself, and the smiles and happy laughs broke out.

I was just so happy for Patricia. She has only had her hearing aids for 6 months, and if you have ever priced these things out, you know how expensive they can be. It’s just amazing how difficult it is to see them. It blended in with the bark mulch perfectly. It felt great to be able to help a friend and neighbor here in Saco. It doesn’t matter if the lost item is an engagement ring, a property marker, or a hearing aid—if it matters to you, it matters to us. We have the best job in the world. I love my job.

 

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Gold Wedding Ring Lost In Cape Elizabeth, Maine Leaves, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Tuesday, May 26th, I received the following voicemail,
Hi, my name is Missy D******. Um, I have a ring that needs locating. If you’re available, Um, it is a men’s, um, pretty heavy gold wedding band that was lost on Sunday afternoon. I know the general area where it may be. And yesterday we looked ourselves with the metal detector, but we only found like keys and nails. Um, so we’re hoping you might have some better luck. Uh, we are at ** ******* in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Um, and the phone number is 410-***-****. hoping you can help us out. Um, looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you. Bye.
I called Missy back and she told me that just a few days earlier, she and her husband Joe, had been doing yard work, on their property. Joe had been raking leaves, pulling dead vegetation and picking up downed branches, from the winter. Joe would then take those items, load up his John Deere Gator, and drive them to the composting area and dump the contents. At the end of the day, around 6-7pm, Joe noticed his wedding ring was no longer on his finger. Remembering some photos that had been taken around lunchtime, Joe and Missy looked at the photos, to see if Joe had his wedding ring on, at that time. Sure enough, at approximately 11:45am, there is a photo of Joe with his wedding ring ON his finger. Now, just 6 or so hours later, it was gone. After asking Missy many questions, Missy to me that Joe’s parents live next-door and at one point went over there and was inside their house. Joe had also gone inside his house and played with his 2 1/2 year old daughter, Imogen. Other than that, Joe had been outside for hours and hours, cleaning up their property. I told Missy I could search first thing in the morning. Missy would show me the areas Joe had been working in most and I would go from there. Joe and Missy had already borrowed a metal detector and had searched the most likely areas, the previous day, with finding the ring.
Once I arrived, I wasn’t prepared as to how big of an area needed to be searched. The most likely spots the ring would have come off, was around the house, where Joe had been collecting leaves and the other vegetation. Rings, typically don’t just fall off your finger. You are usually doing something like picking up all the items Joe had picked up. Joe was also tossing those items, into the Gator and there was a good chance his ring had come off around the house or dumped out back, near the composting area. Missy showed me the area around the house Joe had been working and the composting area. She and Joe really thought it would be in the composting area, among the branches or leaves and I wasn’t going to argue. It is definitely and area the ring could be hiding. I decided to start my search down in the composting area, since I was already there. The area had multiple areas where I could see where leaves, branches, grass clippings and food had been dumped. Not all were recently dumped and I decided to check all the areas. The area had already been searched with a metal detector, by Joe and just like Joe, I came up empty handed. I then decided to search the areas around thee house, where Joe had been picking up all the yard debris and was throwing it into the John Deere Gator. Again, I came up unsuccessful, in locating the Wedding Ring. I then started searching the entire property between the man made pond and the house. This is some of the area that Joe would have driven the Gator, to and from his work area, to his dump area. I really wasn’t confident the ring was going to be found, in this area. It’s not an area Joe had been working in but only traveling through. But, in searches like this, you need to be thorough , just in case. The yard was full of metal an I mean full. There seemed to be wiring, pipes and other assorted metal. I would find out later that in fact there was metal, buried all over the property, from years of different kinds of projects. This slowed me down immensely and I was able to search about 1/2 the yard, when I decided to call it a day. I had now been here a little over 3 hours and I would like to return to finish searching but would also like to have Joe there with me and point out the exact areas, he had been. I also wanted to break down some of the piles of leaves, branches and any other piles that could be hiding the wedding ring. Since the area was much larger than I anticipated, I also wanted to bring Gary Hill with me so that not only could we recheck areas already searched, we would search the remainder of the lawn and around his parents property. I let Missy know of my plan and she told me Joe would be home all weekend and he absolutely could help by breaking down the piles of debris. We decided that this up coming Sunday would be the day to resume the search.
So on Sunday, May 31st, Gary and I arrived nice and early, at 7:30am. Joe came right out to meet up and walked up around the property. Joe told us he remembered that he had also thrown some branches and brush, into a marshy area, behind one of yhe piles dumped leaves and branches. Awesome, a new area to search. Joe had to get back up to the house and do somethig, so Gary and I started searching the new area that Joe had thrown some branches. After searching the very wet area, the ring remained elusive. I started breaking down a pile of leaves, to flatten it out. The piles were deep of fresh and old leaves. I also threw a bunch of branches out into the marshy area, to get them out of the way. Gary would start searching some of the other piles. After 30-45 minutes, Joe returned with a rake and saw the one pile I had broken down didn’t need to be broken down any further. Joe thought for sure the ring would have been in that pile of leaves and branches. Joe then took us up to the area around the house and showed us where he was standing, when the photo, showing his ring at noonish, had been taken. Gary and I searched the area again. I had searched it a few days earlier and Joe had searched it almost a week ago. Still no wedding ring. I asked Gary to search the area of Joe’s Parents property, that Joe had traversed across. I would pick up where I had left off, in my previous search. With Joe still walking along with us, visually searching, I told him that Gary and I were out of options. I wanted to check the piles of leaves one more ime before we finished. This time I started on the pile to the far right. I was a large pile of leaves that had been searched with a metal detector by Joe, myself and Gary. As I was finishing up the area, Joe asked if he should level the pile down even more, since it was still a large pile. I told him to go for it and I would be back in a few minutes, after I searched the next pile of leaves. Just about 3 minutes later, I hear Gary yelling, Dennis, Dennis, I got it. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I rushed over to where Gary was and he to Joe and I that he has a solid low tone, ringing up as a 34 on his TID. Definitely in the gold range. Gary said he saw just a glimpse of gold when he heard the target but the object had disappeared back in the pile of leaves. As Joe and I stood there watching Gary, Missy and Imogen heard the commotion and were comng across the lawn. I moved up to the pile as Gary was probing the pile with his pinpointer. We then heard the pinpointer go of and Gary started removind a few leaves at a time, so as to not move the target once again. Finally, a white gold ring appeared. After almost another 3 hours of two of us searching, Joe’s Weddind Ring had been found, by Gary. Just crazy that this pile of leaves had been searched 4-5 times but until Joe was breaking it down, the ring had stayed hidden. Joe di tell us that a week ago he had moved some of thee leaves and may have pushed the ring either deeper into the leaves or to the back side and only now reappeared as he was breaking the pile down further. To Gary and I, it didn’t matter. The ring had been found. We left the ring where it was found and let Imogen “find” the ring and give it to “Daddy”. A very sweet moment, captured on video. Everyone was in disbelief that after maybe 11-12 man hours of searching a very large property, Joe had his wedding ring back, thanks to our newest ring finder, Imogen.
So, Gary and I don’t like giving up and continued to searh and it paid off. With Imogen, Joe and Missy’s help, another ring was back on the finger. A true team effort. “We have the best job in the world. I love my job. If it matters to you, it matters to us.”
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Heirloom Engagement Ring Lost In The Buckfield, Maine Grass Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Monday evening, October 13th, I received the following text, from Tony

“hello there I wanted to reach out my wife lost her wedding ring and band it’s 3 rings in total we were able to find 2 of them but the one that is still missing is very dear to us as it has my moms diamond in it who passed away when i was a child and we just are lost on what to do so we wanted to see what it would take to get your services we live in Buckfield, Maine”

I replied , a short time later

“Hi Tony, So sorry to hear this.

A few questions first, if you don’t mind
1) How long ago was the ring lost?
2) Where was the ring lost?
3) You said you have found two of the three rings. Were they all lost at the same time, same place?
4) Did your wife see or feel the ring coming off?”

Tony replied

“The ring was lost yesterday in our yard. I found two about 15 feet apart. We bought a metal detector that found them, but the most important ring to us we haven’t been able to locate. She didn’t feel them come off, she was playing outside with the kids and doing hard work.”

Wow, His deceased mother’s Diamond Ring is lost. We need to find this extremely sentimental ring and fast. Thankfully, the ring is on their property, so no one will be able to find it, before we arrive.

Tony and I agreed that I would  travel to Buckfield, Maine and search for his mother’s Diamond Engagement Ring, now worn by his wife, Ashley. I told Tony that I would give Gary Hill a call and see if he could help me search, the area on Tony and Ashley’s property. Gary was available to help me search and I told Tony, the next day, that Gary and I would be at his property, on Thursday morning, between 7:00am and 7:30am. That was agreeable to Tony and the search was scheduled. Tony told me he wouldn’t be home but that Ashley would be and she would show us the area they thought the Engagement Ring would be in.
Gary and I arrived just after 7:00am, this morning and Ashley immediately came to the door. Ashley walked us through the events, of last Sunday, when she had lost all three of her ring. Ashley told Gary and I that she had been outside, playfully running around, trying to catch her children as they played in the yard. She had also been throwing a ball back and forth, with the children. When they finished playing, Ashley realized all three of her rings were missing. A visual search yielded no rings and Tony then went and bought a metal detector. They were able to find two of the rings , but not the Heirloom Engagement Ring, that was his mother’s. Unable to find “the important ring“ and becoming frustrated with the metal detector, constantly making “noises”, Tony gave up and sent me the text.
One of the rings, that had been found, was found close to the middle tree and the second ring Tony had found, was found about 15 feet away, between the middle tree and tree #3. Gary and I decided to start our grid search, at the two far trees, of the three trees, in the area. We would work our way towards each other, as we grid searched from the driveway, to the fence, along the hayfield. As we grid searched the area, we were receiving a few non ferrous targets but they were all deep, in the ground. There was also a lot of ferrous items, in the area, but we just ignored them. These ferrous targets are what was driving Tony crazy. If you don’t have any metal detecting experience, these constant noises will drive you crazy and you end up checking every little ferrous noise out, where Gary and I can skip over these ferrous noises and focus on the non ferrous targets, that would include all the precious metals, that rings are made of. To complicate the matter, the fence, at the edge of the hayfield, was barbwire and there was another wire, laying on the ground that was constantly making our detectors off and was registering as a low conductor, non ferrous target, just like gold. Gary and I really needed to slow down and listen intently, when we were up near the fence and wire.
As Gary and I were getting closer, to each other, Gary told me he would stop at the fence, to the hayfield. He would start searching, at tree #3 and work his way towards the road, and I could finish the small area left to search. This was because if Gary and I get to close to each other, our metal detectors will interfere with each other. It’s better to keep a distance. As Gary was grid searching towards the road, I arrived at the open gate. I was receiving many non ferrous low conductor signals. The signals being detected, were mostly coming from a thin wire, heading towards the road. I slowed down my swing speed, so I could hear and differentiate different tones. While doing this, I did get a repeating target about a foot or two, just off of the wire. I just knew this was a great target and a good chance it was the ring, we were looking for. I took my pinpointer out and searched the tall grass, until I found the target. As I pushed the grass around, I saw the ring, all the way down, on the ground. It was completely hidden, by the tall grass and it would never been found visually. Gary then went and got Ashley and when she arrived, we had her watch, as Gary relocated the ring, with his pinpointer. As she looked on, anxiously, she suddenly saw the ring appear and said, “It’s right here. Thank you guys so much. Oh my goodness, thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it, thank you so much. We looked everywhere and it was right there.” I told Ashley that “You never would have seen it. It was under the grass.” As Ashley now wiping away a tear, from the corner of her eye, she replied, “No, That means a lot, thank you guys.” It feels so great to see smiles, happy tears and happiness , when we are blessed to find these very precious and sentimental pieces of jewelry. As we left, I wished that Tony had been there to see the recovery of his mother’s Diamond Ring. Unfortunately, He had to work, so I sent him the video of Ashley see the ring, for the first time, since it had been lost. Tony replied
“Thank you Dennis so much!! It is a blessing we couldn’t be more thankful you guys are awesome again thank you for your time.”

You know you’ve had a great day, when you can put a smile on their face, a happy tear, in their eyes and a ring, back on their finger. We love doing this for others and I will say it again, “We have the best job in the world”😀❤️🙏

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