lost ring Tag | Page 10 of 152 | The Ring Finders

Details change but the basic story is the same – a loose ring went flying into the water as a ball was thrown.  Anthony was enjoying a Cape Cod vacation with Anisha, his young bride of a little over a month, and friends when disaster struck.  What had been a good time playing in the water suddenly changed to the depressing reality that the precious wedding band so recently installed on Anthony’s finger was gone.  Frantic searching and diving to scour the bottom produced no results (it’s amazing how quickly a ring disappears into the sand!).  The whole incident was observed by onlookers on the beach.  Fortunately one of them was aware of the Ring Finders and suggested that Anisha contact me.  So within a couple hours of the loss I was there with detector in hand and began a search.

Although the area of the loss was fairly well defined, search conditions were less than ideal.  Wind, waves, and, in particular, thick floating and submerged mats of eelgrass and seaweed made it difficult to swing a dectector in a coherent search pattern.  Nonetheless, after 2+ hours I felt that I had covered the area thoroughly at least 3 times, and there was no result.  Sometimes, for no logical reason, a ring simply ‘disappears’ – maybe it was missed by an inch on a swing, maybe it was oriented such that it gave a poor signal as the detector was jerked around in the surf, maybe it sank rapidly into soft sand that was being exercised by the waves, maybe, maybe – who knows?  In any case we were all tired and in the waning light it was time to call it quits.  We were deeply disappointed, but… I told Anthony that all hope was not lost and that I’d be back for another look.  I refused to believe that the ring simply could not be found.

Two days later the conditions were good – light offshore winds, clear water – so I headed to the beach about an hour before low tide.  Again I did a regular search pattern and in about half an hour had Anthony’s ring in my scoop.  It was located a bit outside of the ‘prime’ area but still within the area that I had covered well in my prior search.  Go figure!

Then the part that that I love even more – the call to Anthony & Anisha to tell them that I’d found the ring.  It was too bad that this could not be done in person (they had returned to home in Connecticut), but the exuberant joy on the other end of the connection could not be mistaken and was eminently satisfying.  Arrangements were made to return the ring via their friend’s mother, who travels regularly to Connecticut.  Thus the happy ending of another Ring Finder saga.  And most importantly, congratulations to Anisha and Anthony – may your love and lives be long and blessed.

Anthony’s shiny new wedding band.

Anthony’s ring back where it belongs!

Shelby wisely removed her conjoined engagement/wedding rings and put them in her pocket when she and her family went to enjoy some time on the beach.  Unfortunately, when she later slid her hand into her pocket to retrieve the rings, there was only the heart-rending realization that they were gone.  She had stowed her cell phone in the same pocket, and she felt it was very likely that the rings had come out and dropped in the sand at the same time she had pulled out her phone.  Her mother called Falmouth’s Mitchell Bathhouse to seek help, and they informed her about the RingFinders and provided her with my name.  I received a call the next morning and half an hour later met Shelby and her sister at the beach, ready to hear her story and see if I could replace the gloomy faces with happy smiles.

Shelby and her sister showed me the location where the family had been on the previous day, which now included some morning beach goers.  When these folks heard the story of the lost rings they very kindly moved a couple of times to make sure I was able to cover the full area in my search.  I did several beach-parallel swaths, finding a few trash items, but within a half hour or so heard the sweet signal of success and soon Shelby’s rings were in my scoop.  I walked over to her, letting her look into the scoop and remove the rings while I had the great pleasure of watching the joy burst across her face.

As it turns out, the large diamond in the engagement ring had quite a story.  I’ll let Shelby tell the story:

“As I mentioned yesterday, this ring has been in my husband’s family for over 60 years.  The stone was found when his great uncle was on a walk and saw it on the side of the road.  Being a jeweler he took care of it, cleaned it up, and reset it on a band.  The ring stuck with his family passed down to his grandmother, then his mother, and finally to me.  My husband had the stone reset onto a new band working closely with a jeweler to give me something special for me.

I’ve been wearing this ring for 2 years since our wedding and it means everything to me.  There is simply no replacing it.

I’m so grateful that you came out within a half hour of calling and found it as quickly as you did.  I can’t thank you enough.

We jokingly talked afterward that you’re having found the ring and having so many friendly vacationers cheering and clapping was almost better than the engagement itself (haha).  You are truly incredible.

From being found on the side of the road in California and again on Falmouth Heights beach decades later, I’d call this the luckiest ring ever.”

Thank you, Shelby, for the opportunity to be added to saga of this ring!

Shelby with her ring – a very happy young lady!

Shelby’s mated wedding and engagement rings.

Smiles of success!