David’s classic yellow gold wedding band and daughter’s sterling silver peace sign ring buried in the dirt for four years and possibly decades found by ring finding specialist, Brian Rudolph
David happily displaying his two treasures soon after ring finder Brian Rudolph recovered his client’s lost wedding band and daughter’s sterling silver peace sign ring several inches below the ground.
Brian Rudolph, Lost Item Recovery Specialist (Land, Water, Sand, Snow, Leaves, Cliffs, Houses & Vehicles) Will Find Your Lost Keepsake! Call ASAP (301) 466-8644!
David contacted me after searching the internet for a professional metal detectorist. He found THE RING FINDERS website, an elite international directory of metal detectorists who specialize in finding lost rings and other precious items.
David was in need of recovering his lost classic yellow gold wedding band that had gone missing four years earlier. My client explained to me that one night during dinner, David was playing with his wedding band at the dining room table. At some point, he left the room without remembering to put his very special keepsake back on his finger. As it was customary to do, David’s wife Deborah took the dining room tablecloth (not aware that the ring that she put on her husband’s finger nearly 45 years earlier was mixed in with all the crumbs), opened the rear door of the house and shook it out over the ground to the left of the steps.
When David realized what had happened to his ring, he immediately acquired a metal detector to search for the irreplaceable treasure. Sadly, all of his efforts led to no avail. Instead of looking for a new solution to somehow find his lost wedding band, David moved on to other more pressing responsibilities and projects. Four years later, my client decided it was finally time to try again to recover his very precious piece of gold. Utilizing another metal detector to scan the same patch of lawn years that he searched so long ago did not provide for better results. That’s when he found me on THE RING FINDERS website.
As soon as I arrived at David’s home, he took me to the backyard and showed me where his wife Deborah regularly shakes out the dining room tablecloth. It was a very small section of real estate (approximately 3 feet by 5 feet) mostly consisting of old dried out dirt and rocks.
Before I started metal detecting the particular area in question, I thought to myself how hard it was to believe that the ring could have ended up in that tiny section because David should have easily found the ring when he used the metal detectors…and yet he had no such luck.
It took no more than a quick swing with my detector over the patch of dirt before a very attractive target signal could be heard in my headphones and seen on my machine’s screen. I took out my hand digger and broke up the dirt in order to get access to the mysterious object buried several inches below the ground. Then, I used a handheld detector to identify the exact location of where the piece of metal in question was hiding. To my client’s surprise and amazement (including my own shock and awe over what my eyes beheld), the once cherished classic yellow gold wedding band emerged from a broken up ball of dirt that my cutting knife sliced out of the hard earth! There it was! It was there the whole time! David’s ring was finally recovered! Somehow he missed it when using the cheap metal detectors 4 years earlier and most recently!
David’s situation is not uncommon. Many of our clients try to find what they are looking for with a metal detector but they are not experienced in operating the device and or the equipment is cheap in construction and pretty much worthless. Therefore, they can’t understand the beeps, bleeps and numbers that pop up on the machine’s screen. The individual gets frustrated and eventually the search gets scrapped.
I was curious as to why David’s ring came up at such a high number on my detector screen when I initially scanned the spot in question. After having a quick celebration with my client, I decided to place the detector coil back down over the dirt to examine the ground further. I wanted to see if there was additional metal that was in the same vicinity where David’s handsome piece of gold was found. Indeed there was! I picked up more than a few signals but one was right there in the hole where I dug out David’s ring minutes earlier.
It turned out that there was another ring buried right next to David’s wedding band! It was a girl’s sterling silver peace sign ring which apparently belonged to one of David’s children from long ago – perhaps over 20 years earlier! The little ring most likely met a similar fate in the same way that David’s ring ended up outside – it got caught up in the dining room tablecloth and thrown out of the house with all of the crumbs!
It was truly a fun experience for me to recover not only the irreplaceable wedding keepsake that belonged to David, but I was also able to preserve a small piece of childhood history that belonged to one of David’s daughters when she was a young girl! This metal detecting story turned out to have a very happy ending for both husband / father and for daughter, as well!
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Howard’s 10 karat yellow gold family heirloom diamond ring once owned by his late grandfather successfully recovered in the backyard by ring finder Brian Rudolph.
Brian Rudolph’s client, Howard, smiling from ear to ear knowing that his much cherished gold and diamond family heirloom ring was back on his finger!
Brian Rudolph, Lost Item Recovery Specialist (Land, Water, Sand, Snow, Leaves, Cliffs, Houses & Vehicles) Will Find Your Lost Keepsake! Call ASAP (301) 466-8644!
Howard was playing with his boys in the backyard of their house when his 10 karat yellow gold family heirloom diamond ring flew off of his pinky finger when one of his boys bumped into Howard’s hand.
This ring (which he inherited 2 years ago from his parents – once owned and worn by his late grandfather who passed away nearly 20 years ago) meant everything to Howard.
The family searched the grass for a couple of hours, but all of their efforts led to no avail. The very handsome yellow gold and diamond ring could not be found anywhere on the back lawn.
At some point that same afternoon, Howard had the wisdom within to search the internet for some metal detecting help. He found the elite international directory of metal detectorists called THE RING FINDERS. That is when he was able to locate my services and immediately gave me a call for help.
Early the next morning, at 6:00 a.m., I drove to Accokeek, Maryland with the mission in mind to recover and return Howard’s very sentimental keepsake. After showing me the approximate location of where he was standing when the ring flew off of his finger, the two of us asked the Lord to assist me in being able to help my desperate client recover his lost ring. Then, I then began to metal detect the very thick grass before me.
Within a few minutes, I hit a very strong signal that I clearly identified as most likely being Howard’s late grandfather’s gold and diamond ring! I knelt down in the grass, took my pinpointer out, and carefully inspected the area deep below the thick blades of grass. There it was! I found it! Howard’s 10 karat yellow gold halo was a beautiful sight below the grass line!
Howard could not have been more grateful for the work that I did to bring his favorite piece of jewelry (besides his wedding band) back to his pinky finger! My early morning mission was fully accomplished and my client and I took a moment to thank the Lord for helping me with my metal detecting skills to help my new friend Howard recover his very handsome family heirloom ring!
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Jon’s 14 karat yellow gold classic wedding band which metal detectorist Brian Rudolph recovered after it had gone missing for over a couple of months.
Jon excitedly poses with his irreplaceable “symbol of love” after it had gone missing for over a couple of months. Though he began to think that he would never see it again, ring finder Brian Rudolph proved otherwise!
Brian Rudolph, Lost Item Recovery Specialist (Land, Water, Sand, Snow, Leaves, Cliffs, Houses & Vehicles) Will Find Your Lost Keepsake! Call ASAP (301) 466-8644!
Jon was cleaning up a particular area of his backyard when he believed that he lost his 14 karat yellow gold classic wedding band somewhere in the garden bed or perhaps in a pile of wood and kindling.
After hours of searching for the very sentimental keepsake, Jon unfortunately was unable to find his ring. He knew that he had it on his finger upon leaving his house to tend to the tasks at hand that day, but where the jewel had ended up…that was the big mystery.
A couple of months passed by and instead of Jon renting a metal detector, the gentleman decided to search the internet for another answer and he immediately found THE RING FINDERS – an elite international directory of metal detectorists that are specialists in finding lost rings and just about everything else made of metal!
After receiving Jon’s call for help, we went over all of the details regarding the loss of his wedding band and we made plans for me to visit his property
a few days later.
The 1.5 hour scenic drive to Jon and Tina’s Inwood, West Virginia property was absolutely stunning! We sure live in a beautiful country! I enjoyed every mile! When I arrived, Jon took me to the back of his several acre estate and showed me where he had been cleaning up his garden bed, stacking wood and throwing sticks and miscellaneous debris to be burned in a nearby fire pit.
When I got the full overview as to where Jon had been working and what were all of the possibilities as to what may have happened to his irreplaceable keepsake, I gathered up my metal detecting gear and then immediately returned to the backyard search site to begin my “investigation”.
I decided that I would begin the recovery project in the most likely spot where Jon might have lost his ring – in the vegetable garden. He had been pulling out all of the weeds and leftover vegetable plant life (since the harvest season was over by several months), and so I thought that it was quite possible that the ring had slipped off in that area and got buried somewhere in the dirt below.
After no more than a few grid lanes of detecting the garden, I was encouraged to get an excellent target signal on my machine. I knelt down on the ground and used my handheld pinpointer to inspect that particular spot where that object had been detected. As it turned out, I dug up a very handsome yellow gold looking object! It was Jon’s lost wedding band! I was so very excited to recover the special jewel that meant the world to this gentleman and to his wife Tina!
When Jon returned home with his wife from a nearby doctor’s appointment, I was able to share the happy news with the two lovebirds who had been married for many decades! They were beyond thrilled to hear that my diligent efforts led to a successful recovery! There is nothing like helping people like Jon and Tina reclaim irreplaceable sentimental objects like the one I found buried in the couple’s garden! I wore a huge smile on my face all the way back to Maryland!
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BRIAN RUDOLPH, LOST ITEM RECOVERY SPECIALIST (LAND, WATER, SAND, HOUSES & VEHICLES) WILL FIND YOUR LOST KEEPSAKE! CALL ASAP (301) 466-8644!
I received an email from a young lady named Hannah who contacted me from Williamsport, Maryland. She was desperate to recover her 14 karat white gold 2 karat diamond engagement ring which had gone missing three days earlier. Hannah was so upset about losing the ring that she couldn’t sleep for days and she lost her appetite to eat. Upon her reading my enthusiastic email in wanting to help Hannah find her missing ring, she typed this:
“You’re literally an angel…Thank you for doing this!! I really hope we can get my ring back. I have been sick over this ever since I lost it.”
Hannah remembered that she went to bed with the ring on her finger. Then, the next morning she hung out on the couch for three hours watching TV before going outside to do yard work. The young lady was accompanied by her fiancé and future father-in-law. All of them worked on raking leaves, loading the piles into a pickup truck, and then dumping the leaves into the woods beyond the backyard lawn.
After a number of hours working outside, Hannah realized that her beautiful engagement ring was no longer on her finger. She was bewildered, not having a clue as to when her beloved ring disappeared and where it ended up. The whole family started searching (even on their hands and knees as they sifted through leaves and dirt) for the missing ring, but nobody could find it. Her future mother-in-law lent a hand in the search efforts along with another friend or two. Unfortunately, all of their attempts to recover the ring led to no avail. No one was able to find the ring.
Hannah shared with me that the ring was a bit loose, which most likely contributed to why the ring fell off her finger. It was also chilly outside and that didn’t help matters with shrinking her finger a bit. In addition, any type of manual labor certainly will complicate matters with the constant thrusting motion of the hand. Her fiancé Levi was determined to do everything possible to recover the missing ring. He contacted his friend from work who owned a metal detector and the two of them searched the entire property for many hours. Another friend of the co-worker also came along and he searched with a second metal detector, as well. But still no engagement ring was ever found. Initially, six or seven hours of detecting went into the search efforts. Then, on Day 2, Levi’s friend returned again, but he still had no luck. Once the co-worker gave up, Hannah’s husband-to-be continued metal detecting that day into Day 3, but that mission failed, as well.
After everyone’s recovery efforts were exhausted, Hannah and Levi sought help online and they discovered THE RING FINDERS website! They searched for a metal detecting service in Williamsport, Maryland and my name, Brian Rudolph, popped up! Next, they sent me an email requesting my help. I immediately responded to Hannah’s email, and happily shared that I would be more than excited to help in the recovery efforts to get that engagement ring back on her finger as soon as possible! We set up a time for me to come out on a Friday morning which would be four days later. Levi would continue to search for the ring during the week and we agreed that he would let me know if he found it. Unfortunately, he still could not find the ring with the metal detector that he borrowed from his co-worker. Then, the night before I was scheduled to search for the ring, I confirmed with the couple that I would be arriving in the morning and we set up a time to start the search.
I recall driving to Williamsport, Maryland with a cheerful smile on my face as I had fun gazing at the beautiful countryside that I was passing through. I would end up driving by some old towns and several farms along the way, and I enjoyed every moment of the journey. I arrived at 9:30 a.m..
I couldn’t wait to start the search and solve this mystery of the disappearance of Hannah’s lovely engagement ring. The white gold band had a very large 2 karat diamond in the center surrounded by multiple diamonds on each side. It was exquisite. I was told that the ring was presented to Hannah while the couple traveled abroad a few months earler. The proposal took place on an old romantic bridge at the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. So, if one does the math, the ring had not been on the bride-to-be’s finger for very long at the time that it went missing. In addition to that disappointment, she was looking forward to wearing the “ice” the day after my search during her wedding dress fittings. So, not only was I trying to recover the ring to continue the beautiful proposal story, but also, Hannah wanted to include the diamond ring in her pre-wedding story with the fitting of her gown the next day. I won’t say that I felt pressure in finding the ring, but I did feel a sense of urgency and an extra bit of passion in my determination to find this lost friend in time for Hannah to have it on her finger for the wedding dress fitting! In fact, I gave Hannah my word that I would not leave their property until her ring was recovered!
Upon arriving, Hannah showed me the areas where she walked and worked outside on the day of the disappearance of the ring. She took me to the side yard just in front of the main side door entrance to their house. There was an area of grass in that region to check. Hannah showed me where she raked leaves in the front yard and then along the other side of the house. We then headed to patches of lawn on the other side of the driveway. Next, we then toured the back of the house. Hannah continued to show me all of the possible places that the ring could have disappeared, including areas located in the woods where the family members were throwing piles of leaves from her future father-in-law’s pickup truck which he backed up to the edge of the grassy lawn.
I reviewed with Hannah all of the possibilities of what happened to the ring and where it may have ended up. This included the need to check Hannah’s car (she recalled having to do an errand that afternoon) and inside the couple’s house (I concluded this because Hannah could not remember wearing the ring on her finger after getting off of the couch to go outside and help with the yard work). The last time she remembered wearing the ring was when she went to bed with it the night before she had done the yard work (now a week had passed since the time that she had lost her ring). Unfortunately, Hannah had no recollection of wearing the ring after she woke up. Therefore, I needed to search in all of the possible locations that we reviewed.
Once we finished going over all of the possibilities as to where Hannah may have lost her priceless ring, the most logical place to start the search was in her car. It would take minutes for me to search every crevice and corner with my endoscope. If it was found there, it would save me hours of detecting elsewhere! Unfortunately, the beautiful keepsake was not to be found in the vehicle and so I eliminated that possibility from the get-go! Next, I needed to take the search inside the home. Hannah and Levi agreed with my plan. So, I bundled up my in-house recovery gear and I headed inside for me to start the second leg of my search for the missing ring.
After spending about an hour and a half searching for the ring in the bedroom, bathroom, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and vestibule areas, the last area inside the house to investigate was the living room. I used my endoscope again in order to view and record video of all of the inner parts of the sofa to see if the ring had slipped off of Hannah’s finger while she was watching television on the couch. Once again, I did not locate the ring, which made me conclude that the keepsake was most likely out on the lawn or in the woods somewhere. There were no leaves bagged up to be recycled, and I requested that the couple not throw away any of their garbage until I inspected it. This reassured me that the ring was still somewhere on their property, waiting to be found.
When I knew that the ring was not in the home, I returned to my car and got out all of my metal detecting equipment to gear up and start searching for the ring outside. Hannah had been working outside in multiple locations on her property, including the sides of the driveway. Therefore, there were all kinds of places that needed to be metal detected to assure that we were not missing any spots where the ring could have ended up.
I was shown an area in the left side corner of the backyard that was adjacent to the neighbor’s yard where Hannah remembered throwing some sticks on the day of the disappearance of her ring. I detected that whole section but nothing turned up but miscellaneous aluminum items. It took a while to clear that area because I was metal detecting under all kinds of tree branches, as well as getting electrical interference from power lines that were under the ground. I then moved my way towards the woods where the leaves were thrown from the truck. Before I searched beyond the backyard lawn, I metal detected several tall leaf piles that were raked up along the left and right sides of the path leading into the woods. That took a long time to level out the piles so that I could detect the leaves properly in order to reach maximum depths with my machine. Nothing worth mentioning was found in the midst of those piles of leaves.
Once I started my way into the woods where the leaves were thrown from the truck, I detected all kinds of metal objects that were scattered about, but I couldn’t detect the ring that we were looking for. There was a lot of little pieces of aluminum that were intermingled with old leaves and new piles of fallen ones, as well. There also was plenty of metal objects buried down in the dirt below the leaves. So, I knew at that point, it was not the time to go through every inch of that area until I first concluded that the ring was not hidden in the front of the house or on the backyard lawn. Metal detecting in the woods would require a lot of extra effort of pulling up one piece of metal at a time to eliminate every possibility that the ring was not in that particular spot. I decided that I would come back to that location if everything else failed.
Next, I skipped the lawn in the backyard for the time being and proceeded to the area of lawn near the couple’s side door (which was their primary entrance). After completing that section, it was clear that there was no ring to be found. Hannah shared that she had been working in the bushes on the day she lost the ring. So, when it was time to detect the front lawn, I carefully inspected all of the front hedges and made sure that the ring had not ended up in the middle of the bushes or underneath them. Then, when I concluded that the piece of jewelry was not lost in that section, I started metal detecting the entire front yard. Gridding from north to south and then from east to west, I was able to eliminate any possibility that the ring was lost on the front lawn and on the right side of the house, as well. White gold is tricky and you must go slow and use high sensitivity on your metal detector because you can easily miss it if you swing the coil too quickly over the target that you’re looking for. There was no ring to be found at this point.
Next, I metal detected the hill that was in front of the yard that dipped down where it met the edge of the street. All of that area was clear of any jewelry. Then, I checked along the hillside that was adjacent to the driveway, but I still found no ring in that location either. The last part of the front of the property that I could check was the opposite side of the driveway where there was a strip of land that separated the neighbors yard from Hannah and Levi’s yard. Unfortunately, there was no ring found there, as well. I followed that section all the way to the bottom of the driveway, but Hannah obviously did not lose her ring when she was raking leaves on that side either.
It was now time to hit the backyard and do a grid search over the entire lawn. From what Hannah told me, she never walked over to one particular side of the property in the backyard. However, I still wanted to make certain that the ring was not anywhere in that region, just in case she didn’t remember raking or walking over there at some point. With many of my searches, I find out much later that someone didn’t remember walking or working in a certain area where the ring ended up falling off their finger!
I worked hard and for a very long time metal detecting every inch of that backyard just to make certain that I didn’t miss the engagement ring. By the time I finished gridding that section, I was pretty convinced that it was not on the grassy lawn back there.
Throughout the search day, as Levi and Hannah were coming and going, I would give them updates and encourage them not to give up as I still had not found the missing ring. Yet, I would keep telling them that I was determined to locate Hannah’s beloved rock and get it back on her finger for the next day’s wedding dress event. She was so stressed by the whole situation that she headed out to the movie theater just to get her mind off of the missing ring story. She was so afraid that it was gone forever and that the gorgeous ring that Levi proposed to her with would never be seen again. I hoped so much to give a happy ending to the lost ring story!
By the time I finished searching the back lawn, I had been working for over 8 hours on their property. This included the hour and a half search inside the house. Night had fallen, the temperature outside was getting pretty cold, and I was physically wiped out. The best thing for me to do at that point was to take a break and get something to eat in town. Hannah was still away and so I talked with Levi and let him know that I would be leaving the property for awhile. Then, I would return to their place and resume the search.
As I put my metal detector, headphones, harness, gloves and headlamp back in the car, I could still hear the words in my head that were shared by Hannah and Levi’s next-door neighbor who was observing me earlier in the afternoon:
He said to me, “If the young lady lost anything out in the woods when they were throwing all those leaves back there, she will never see that thing ever again! There’s so much metal back there that was dumped over many decades before they bought their property. If it ended up back there, they will never see it ever again. It’s a million to one chance of her ever getting it back.”
I told the old fellow that I had seen miracles happen with my metal detecting and that everything is possible for him who believes in God who helps us through these very difficult situations. I told him that God loves the covenant of marriage and the ring represents the promise of commitment to the other person. So I told him that if it’s there, I know I can find it with God’s help!
In all honesty, I was steadfast in my words with what I told the gentleman. But, because I knew how much metal was back in the woods and how high the leaf piles were, his words were messing with my mind from time to time throughout the search. Words are powerful and that’s why we all need to keep listening to the positive and not focus on the impossibilities of our dire situations. I determined within to fight on and to somehow pull that ring from the property upon my return.
By the time I arrived back at the property, it was around 7:30 p.m.. Earlier, I was so burned out and hungry that I ended up taking way more time away than expected. Immediately, I gathered up my outside night gear and strategized my next search method. I decided to switch metal detectors and use one that had a smaller coil at the bottom of the shaft. This helps to detect for small objects, like a ring, in the midst of a debris field of other pieces of metal. I needed to isolate each hit of metal and find some type of clarity in the signals while observing the target below me. It was the only way that I would be able to determine if Hannah’s ring was out in the woods or not.
By this point in the evening, it was very cold outside. I made sure that I put on several layers and that I was wearing the best of the best in frigid temperature attire. Into the night with my headlamp, gloves and hat on, I made my way back into the woods, hoping that this was the location of where Hannah lost her beloved engagement ring. As I started metal detecting, I did notice that the 6” sniper coil was working effectively and I was able to zero in on individual targets rather than my earlier experience with problems interpreting the detector’s readings due to picking up several metal objects clustered near each other in the leaves and under the dirt.
I went from metal object to metal object pulling each target from the leaves. In some cases I would find out that the object was below ground, which I then had to pull the item so that it would not interfere with detecting other objects that I was checking into. I moved slowly down the path, farther into the woods. Every time I was getting a good signal, the target would end up being a small piece of aluminum or some type of wrapper which had aluminum foil on it. I would also find scattered about old broken pieces of household items. It was by far the toughest part of my long search with all of the scrap metal hanging out everywhere below the surface.
I was looking for metal that would give me low numbers on my detector screen; ones that would fluctuate between 4 and 5 and then jump up to maybe 6, 8 and 11. We were dealing with trying to find a lady’s white gold ring which is so much more difficult to detect, depending on how the ring was positioned in the leaves and dirt. Inch by inch and foot by foot, I made my way slowly farther into the woods, carefully detecting all of the possible locations of where the ring may have flown when Hannah was throwing leaves into the woods from the back of the pickup truck. This was my very last location for the day because there was no point in me retracing my steps in the other places that I had already detected. It was getting late and I knew this was the last leg for this particular trip. Hannah had already returned home some time back and had turned in for the night while Levi stayed up and watched television in the living room. I wanted to give this couple something to rise up to later that night!
After about an hour or so. I had eliminated quite a few spots where there were plenty of pieces of metal that were coming up in the range of what could possibly be Hannah’s ring. Unfortunately, none of them panned out. However, my “strike-outs” were about to finally change! As I moved the metal detector over a particular spot that was covered with leaves and dirt, I got a signal that was worth looking into. At that spot I was pulling up pieces of metal and rope that were buried in the ground around this particular object. I wasn’t sure if it was all one piece of metal or not. But, after removing one round shaped metallic object along with some more of the rope that was mixed up in the leaves and dirt, I was still getting a target signal, though very choppy sounding. I actually was just about to skip over it and keep moving down the gradual slope that took me farther into the woods, but I hesitated, and then stopped. I wanted to make sure that the target was not the missing ring (even though the signal was so choppy and seemingly insignificant to my search). So, I stayed right where I was detecting moments earlier and continued to move the coil over the location where I was getting that questionable hit. Once I got a pretty good fix on where the target was hidden, I took out my pinpointer and immediately identified the spot where I needed to reveal the object. For a slight second I saw something surface just before it ended up getting covered again in the leaves. It looked circular and silver in color. I thought I had found a lady’s hoop earring just from the initial angle that the object was leaning on. But, as I used my hands to sift through the leaves and dirt, I almost couldn’t believe what I saw popping out from beneath all of the leaves and debris. It was no earring! It was Hannah’s white gold engagement ring with the largest diamond on top surrounded by diamonds along the sides! Wow! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! Because of the hour of night and how cold it was, everything was so depressing and dreary looking back there, with all of the leaves and dirt and the various little objects of metal and trash that I had come across since moving my way into the woods. And now, truly, a spectacular sight had emerged from the rough and darkness! It was like I was having a dream!
All of those hours of detecting in the car, in the house, in the corner of the backyard, in the huge leaf piles, in the woods, in the area near the side entrance, in the front yard, in the backyard, and then again for the second time in the woods…and finally…I found it! Finally! It was as if the moment wasn’t really happening! It was so surreal! I promised Hannah that I wouldn’t leave their property until I found her ring, and I delivered! For a metal detectorist who is searching for something lost, when that object is found there is such a feeling of relief and conclusion, knowing that you don’t have to keep looking any longer! It’s that wonderful feeling of knowing that you can return something so precious and important back to the rightful owner who is feeling like they will never see their keepsake ever again! And in many cases they would not have ever seen the item ever again had it not been found at that time of the search. None of the other metal detectorists, including Levi, were able to find it even after a week of searching. I was able to come into the situation and pull this most precious keepsake from the woods that was surrounded by so much metallic interference! I was so elated at that moment! I could not wait to reveal my findings with Hannah and Levi! The VDI numbers that were on my Equinox 800 screen were coming up just like I was expecting for this 14 karat white gold ring. The numbers were around 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 11. It was approximately buried about 4 to 6 inches below the surface in a pile of leaves and dirt. What made it extremely difficult to recover was the fact that it was mixed with other pieces of metal which were apparently masking the precious metal that I was seeking after. This is probably why none of the other fellows were able to find the gem because there was just too much confusion in the ground at that particular spot, with so many other pieces of metal surrounding the ring.
My search was complete! I was beyond excited at that moment when I found Hannah’s ring! She would be able to wear the ring (cautiously, of course, because it needed to be resized) for tomorrow’s wedding dress fittings which she wanted to make so very special in having the engagement ring with her throughout the day!
After leaving the woods to return some of my gear to the car, I prepared for a wonderful ring reveal in sharing the awesome news with Hannah and Levi! The entire search took approximately ten hours, plus a two hour break! It is always worth the work to see the tears of joy and the shining smiles that I put on people’s faces like Hannah’s and Levi’s! Believe me, it was well worth it all!
“I have nothing but great things to say about our ring finder, Brian! I emailed him while practically in tears at work a few days after I had lost my beloved engagement ring. He promptly responded and we spoke on the phone on my way home from work. He was so energetic and confident that he would find my ring despite the fact that we had already had 2 other people (in addition to my husband) metal detect our property and had multiple family members on their hands and knees sifting through leaves and dirt to find my ring. To be honest, I didn’t think Brian would find it but I wanted someone with more experience with searching for engagement rings to give it a try before I completely lost hope. I wasn’t eating or sleeping and I was in tears every day over losing my ring. Brian assured me that he wouldn’t leave until the ring was found and to my surprise he found it after 12 hours of searching! It is apparent that Brian is passionate and determined in finding lost rings for people. Because of his determination, skills and optimism I get to continue to wear the gorgeous ring that my fiance’ proposed to me at the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany! Thank you Brian, you’re truly a good person for devoting your time and energy to finding rings for others!”
– Hannah
Williamsport, Maryland
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Kristie’s 14 Karat White Gold, 2 Carat Diamond Solitaire Ring with Surrounding Diamonds Engagement Ring
Kristie’s Gorgeous Diamond Ring Discovered Under a Flower by The Ring Finder, Brian Rudolph. Call Brian at (301) 466-8644 to Help You With Your Recovery Efforts!
Brian Holding the Beautiful Engagement Ring that He Had Once Held While Proposing to His Bride-To-Be, Kristie! Now Back in His Care After a Long Night Gone Missing!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
It was after midnight when I received a call from Brian who lived in Ocean City, Maryland. He was completely stressed out because his fiancé’s 2 carat diamond engagement ring went missing somewhere in front of The Bonfire Restaurant located at Coastal Highway and 70th Street in Ocean City, Maryland. The first question that I generally ask my clients is whether or not there was any tension at the time of the ring’s disappearance. I can’t tell you how many times that inquiry alone helps the other person relax and eventually open up about what actually took place when the ring went “MIA” (missing in action). They realize that I can identify with their intense situation based on other similar cases that involve arguments or outright fights. Many of my searches have to do with rings that are thrown in a state of frustration, anger and / or hurt. This story is no different. Brian appreciated what I asked him and he answered with complete honesty.
The story goes like this: Brian and his fiancé were driving down Coastal Highway (which is the main drag in Ocean City, Maryland), located a block inland from the ocean. The thoroughfare is parallel with the coastline. While at a traffic light, just out front of The Bonfire, the couple got into a heated argument which led to the launching of Kristie’s beautiful engagement ring (I won’t share who threw the ring) straight out of the front passenger seat window and onto the property of the restaurant adjacent to the street. Immediately, they came to their senses and Brian pulled the car around the corner and into the restaurant parking lot. Though the love birds were not reconciled at that point, they both realized that a very special, sentimental and extremely expensive ring was left unprotected in a high-traffic area. People of all ages were constantly walking along the sidewalk where the ring was thrown. Pedestrians were coming to and from the parking lot of the restaurant and to and from other surrounding shops nearby. The search for the disappearing ring immediately ensued.
The two of them believed that they saw the ring fly into a flower bed which was adjacent to the sidewalk in front of the parking lot of The Bonfire. However, they searched everywhere within that section of landscaping and they still could not find the classic white gold band surrounded by ice. A few other bystanders who watched the couple search around the street joined in to see if they could help find Kristie’s precious jewel. Unfortunately, they too could not recover the beautiful keepsake of promise.
A couple of hours had passed by, and at that point Brian and Kristie resolved to rent a metal detector and attempt to find the ring with a Garrett 150 machine. Unfortunately, using the metal detector was completely ineffective as they weren’t sure how to use the electronic device, and in the end they were still not able to recover the ring. More time marched on and it was getting later in the evening. The engaged couple started getting nervous that the ring could end up in someone else’s pocket if they didn’t figure out some other plan to find the engagement ring. This is where I fit into the story.
Brian and Kristie tried to take another approach by looking online to see if there were any other ideas of how to find their missing ring. The Ring Finders directory popped up on their Google search and that’s when they looked up the metal detectorist who covers the Ocean City, Maryland area. Brian and Kristie read my profile and immediately called me to seek my assistance.
I could hear the desperation in Brian’s voice when I answered the phone in bed at that midnight hour. Brian explained to me everything that had happened and I responded by asking him some additional questions about the disappearance of the ring. Once I got the entire story from the tired and worn out fiancé, Brian begged for my immediate help that night. He knew that I had already settled into bed for the night and that it would be a three-hour drive to the coast if I were to immediately take on this task. I gave it a quick thought, knowing within that it was a strong possibility that Kristie’s ring would never be recovered if they waited until daylight for me to search for the ring. I could not bear to think that such a precious object in their lives might end up in the wrong hands. I told Brian that I was on my way to the beach! I pulled the covers back, slowly got out of bed, put my clothes on, grabbed my gear and headed out into the middle of the night towards the coast.
Brian was so grateful that I was willing to drive the three hour journey through the night to the beach, well aware that it was possible that the ring had already been picked up by someone else. Though Brian was pretty confident that the two of them saw the ring fly into the flower bed, I explained to him that I have encountered plenty of situations where the ring was initially seen flying towards one place, however, it ended up bouncing into an area where it became visible to pedestrians walking by. Unfortunately, those rings are rarely ever recovered.
I agreed with Brian that we would stand on the theory that Kristie’s ring was still lost in the strip of landscaping along side Coastal Highway and that nobody yet had plucked it from the street! I was kind of surprised to find out that the couple was so confident that the ring was greatly hidden in the plant life in front of the restaurant that they both felt comfortable enough leaving the scene and returning back to their place until help arrived. That showed me their level of conviction in believing that nobody would be able to spot the diamond engagement ring so easily since none of them had found it either! At some point I prayed with Brian and asked the Lord for guidance and for His favor in this extremely vulnerable situation. He appreciated my team efforts through faith and prayer.
The 180 mile trip to the East Coast was not even close to being a burden for me. I love what I do, and I have such a passion for helping people in need, especially when it comes to situations like this one. There was enough tension between the couple before the disappearance of the ring, and then the unthinkable happened on top of their dispute in the car. Therefore, my wholehearted desire was to bring closure to at least one of Brian and Kristie’s tense situations by recovering their lost symbol of love.
On my way to the beach, I traditionally stop and fuel up not only the gas tank but also my body with a large cup of High’s Dairy Store coffee. It’s a tradition of mine and I love stopping by the childhood convenience store in Annapolis, Maryland as I drive towards the shore. I kept myself busy in the car by talking with fellow Ring Finders on the West Coast since their clock is three hours earlier than our eastern time zone. The hours quickly went by, and before I knew it, I saw the sign welcoming me to Ocean City, Maryland. At 3:30 a.m., I called Brian to let him know that I would be at 70th Street and Coastal Highway in just a few minutes. He got out of bed and headed for the restaurant. No more than a few minutes after I arrived at the The Bonfire, Brian pulled into the parking lot and we met out by my car.
From the moment we shook hands, Brian expressed his sincere thankfulness for having me come out at such an early hour in the middle of the night. I told him that I was delighted to help he and his fiancé resolve this mystery as to where Kristie’s engagement ring ended up.
Once I got my metal detecting gear out of my car, I calibrated the machine and asked Brian to show me where all of the events took place earlier in the evening. He walked me over to the long flower bed that stretched across the front of the parking lot that was facing out towards the highway. Pointing to all of the spots where all of the people were searching and where the couple had been metal detecting, Brian explained that he truly believed that the ring was still hidden within the landscaped areas. Yet, for some reason, nobody could find where it ended up. He also said that he didn’t think that the ring flew beyond the flower bed and into the parking lot. Nor did they see the ring bounce off of the curb or sidewalk and land towards the street.
The two of us stood on the sidewalk that was adjacent to Coastal Highway and I continued to set up my detector to search specifically for a lady’s white gold ring, discriminating out all other types of metals that I was not interested in searching for. Because of how much trash gets thrown into the bushes and flowerbeds near most streets, I did not want to have any distractions from various types of aluminum that rested on the surface of the flower bed. I then began swinging my detector from left to right over various portions of the landscaped hill, carefully trying not to step on the pretty flowers that were everywhere in that section of the flower bed. I continued to move the metal detector coil in all of the probable places where the ring may have ended up.
Brian and Brian Basking in the Excitment of Finding the Missing Engagement Ring!
For the first minute, I didn’t get any signals that would indicate that I hit a possible ring target. However, no more than a minute later, I did get the exact signal that I was looking for! The metal detector started sounding off a tone that was in the range of white gold! It was a very bouncy kind of signal, very sharp and definitely a target that was above the ground or at least close to it. I looked at the VDI numbers on my Equinox 800 detector screen and it was telling me that a piece of metal was coming in at a number: four, five, seven, nine, and eleven. In my experience, those numbers are exactly the numbers I look for in discovering a white gold engagement ring like the size and weight that Kristie possessed. I explained to Brian what was happening and what procedures I would take next. I immediately grabbed my pinpointer (a handheld detector) to isolate the particular area where the signal was coming from. I could then determine the exact location where that metal was resting. I placed it down on the wood chips and followed the signal until the handheld detector sounded off. It told me that the metal that I had detected was under one of the flowers that grew just inches away from the edge of the sidewalk. I then carefully moved part of the plant over to the side without breaking off its stem or tearing any of its pretty white pedals, and to my happy surprise, I saw one of the most beautiful engagement rings lying right beside the bottom of that flower! There it was, snuggled up against the stock of that precious little creation of God! The diamonds were sparkling like the reflection of the sun! It was breathtaking! I immediately leaned down and showed Brian what I had found! He could not have been more pleasantly shocked! I picked up the ring and presented it to the man who was beyond relieved that I had found Kristie’s beloved prize! He was beside himself! He could not have been happier and more grateful for what I was able to discover in mere minutes! I don’t think I could have counted the amount of hugs he gave me at that moment! Brian told me how happy I made him and how thankful his wife-to-be would be feeling shortly upon hearing the news that the ring was coming home!
While we were standing there on the sidewalk basking in all of the excitement, I shared with Brian that it was quite possible that this ring could have permanently disappeared by morning based on the location of where it was resting. Had one brief tropical rain storm travel through the area at any point in time during the night or morning hours, it could have potentially washed the ring onto the sidewalk and be exposed to any pedestrian walking by. The ring was only inches away from being lost forever! This made me feel so glad that I traveled through the night to help Brian and Kristie recover this gorgeous piece of jewelry!
What a fabulous time we had out on the sidewalk, celebrating the discovery of this ring! Just as we were about to start walking back to our cars, a police officer walked over to us and asked what was going on. He saw all of this equipment that I had in my hand and I’m sure he wondered what was taking place. Brian explained that I was a metal detectorist who had just found his fiancé’s 2 karat diamond white gold engagement ring! The officer immediately took interest in my abilities and then proceeded to ask me if I could assist the police with a case involving a couple that got into an argument on the beach just a few hours earlier. A young lady threw her rings into the sand and when the couple tried to find the rings, neither one of them could recover them. I looked at Brian with a smile and he looked back at me with an expression that said, “it all sounds way too familiar”!
The officer went on to share further that when the argument began to get heated, the police were called in and that’s when they took note of the need for a metal detectorist when the couple requested help in recovering their rings. The officer asked if I could check out the scene and see if I could find the missing rings for the couple. I told him I would be happy to give it a shot and he gave me the necessary information to start another search later that morning.
After the officer left us, Brian and I headed back to the parking lot where we took a couple of pictures, shared more words of excitement, thanked the Lord for helping me find Kristie’s ring, gave each other a couple more celebratory hugs, and then eventually called it a night and parted ways.
Brian was so grateful for what I had done for the couple that he invited me to his restaurant which he managed and bartended throughout the week. I told him that I would definitely take him up on his offer to have a meal and a drink “on the house” the next time that I would be coming in town. I couldn’t have felt more happiness for Brian and Kristie that night! It was a mission that ended up completely successful and I felt such gratification for driving so far into the early hours of the morning to help a desperate man find something so important as his fiancé’s engagement ring! It was truly a happily-ever-after story in recovering the ring that night! What an experience it was! I packed up the car with my gear and headed over to the beach where the other couple had lost their rings.
After an unsuccessful search on the beach for the two lost rings (I was convinced that they had already been discovered), I watched our magnificent sun rise over the ocean and then headed for home. During my journey westbound, I received a special phone call from Brian. He called just to tell me that he couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done for the couple in coming out in the middle the night to help them find their missing ring! He said he felt this overwhelming feeling of gratitude every time he thought about the fact that the ring was back in their hands. Brian went on to share that he felt the need to call me and thank me once again. I told him how amazing that was for him to do that and that I would never forget his heart of gratitude! It was well worth all of the lack of sleep and long hours of driving just to help another person out! The whole rest of the way home I had the biggest smile on my face! Certainly finding Kristie’s lost ring was a huge help in patching things up between the couple. They could move forward and focus more on their relationship issues, plans to move into their new house just a few miles from where they were currently living, as well as get excited for the big day approaching when the love knot would finally be tied!
It was a fun ring search and recovery mission in helping to bring smiles back to the faces of those who needed it most that night! I was so glad that I could be there for Brian and Kristie!
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CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
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Emily’s 14 Karat White Gold Engagement Ring with Opal Stone and Diamonds
Emily’s 14 Karat White Gold Nesting Band with Diamonds
After a Week at the Bottom of Frederick Maryand’s Monocacy River, Emily’s Beloved Engagement Ring Set was Found and Returned to the Bride-To-Be by Metal Detectorist and Ring Finder, Brian Rudolph!
Emily and Mark Excitedly Show Off the Bride-To-Be’s Beloved Engagement Ring Set That Was Thought to Be Lost in the Monocacy River Forever!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
Emily and Mark got together with a bunch of their friends and headed off to a fun swimming hole near Frederick, Maryland on the Monocacy River, located not far from Monocacy National Battlefield. It was a hot summer day outside, perfect for couples to hang out, take a plunge in the river and make a fun-filled day outside. Unfortunately, their plans started to fall apart quite quickly when Emily’s two rings went missing some time while they were all out by the water. She was pretty convinced that she lost the rings during the 30 minutes of play time in the river with her fiancé. Mark was holding her up while she was lying in his arms in the river, and she believed it was probably at that point when the rings slipped off her finger. Emily didn’t feel the jewelry come off of her finger, but she believed that it was the most probable scenario that the water had something to do with how the rings fell off of her finger.
In Emily’s moment of panic, as she came out of the water, the young lady told the rest of the group what had happened. Immediately a search began to look for the rings out on the riverbank and in the shallow parts of the water where they could see all the way to the bottom. One of the rings that went missing was Emily’s engagement ring. It was made of 14 karat white gold, centered with a lovely opal stone and accompanied by several diamonds surrounding it. The other ring was part of the engagement ring set, a 14 karat white gold nesting band, very petite in size which held three small diamonds along the top of the ring. The sad part of the whole ordeal was that Emily had just received these precious keepsakes on the day that she was proposed to only a month or so earlier (Her wedding date is scheduled for September 2020!).
The fact that the bride-to-be lost both of her rings was very difficult for her to deal with and you can imagine how upset she was for the rest of that day (and for the next week, as well). Everyone kept searching in the water to see if they could spot the rings, but nothing was found. As the group made their way into the deeper area of the river, there was just no way to see that far down in the water where Emily believed the rings may have come off. Besides the loss of her jewelry, the worst part of her afternoon came when she had to leave the river empty-handed.
The couple was desperate to see what they could do to get the newly engaged lady’s rings back. Emily was not about to give up hope yet, and that hope was about to be called by Mark’s future bride! They looked online to find tips on how to pull a ring from a river, and The Ring Finders directory popped up on Google. Emily immediately contacted me and before long we were talking on the phone to make plans for a recovery effort.
I put Emily at ease by telling her that I had successful recovery stories dealing with finding rings in water. Some people told her that the rings most likely had been washed down river which would make it impossible for them to ever be found again. However, I assured her that those rings did not go anywhere after they fell to the bottom of the water. She was relieved at my words.
Once I received all of the details about the missing engagement band set, I asked her additional questions to help me get the entire picture of what we were dealing with. Because she lost the rings at a state park, I told her that I would need to pursue special permissions from the park service in order for me to conduct a recovery mission. She had lost the rings on a Friday, I believe, and then she first contacted me the following day or so. Therefore, I would have to wait another 24 hours before I could contact the park service to request a permit to search the river on Emily and Mark’s behalf. When we got off the phone, we had a plan in place to begin the process of getting me in the Monocacy River as fast as possible!
Monday came and I was on the phone calling various departments connected to Maryland’s state park service. I was initially bounced around between the county of Frederick and the Maryland park service. But, eventually I was able to talk to the right people who set me up with a top administrator who could affirm that I was talking to the correct people to pursue a permit for Emily and Mark. One employee at the park service referred me to a website where I could apply for special permissions to search the water. Metal detectors are strictly prohibited at this particular park as most state parks prohibit the use of any detector. What was supposed to take possibly up to two weeks or more to “hopefully” get a permit request approved, I was able to get an official permit in hand within three days of filling out the paperwork! I was granted full access to the river! Thanks to the hard work of a couple of top administrators at the park service, they were able to push the paper and “cut the red tape” a whole lot faster than the usual process! I was quite excited with the news that I was free to search the water much sooner than later! Though I was only given a specific period of time that I could search the river and after that I would not be able to continue any futures searches, I felt I had a large enough window to get the job done (if the rings were not already plucked out of the water by other metal detectorists).
Every day leading up to when I received the approval to search the river, I kept giving updates to Emily who greatly appreciated all of my efforts. I was delighted to help the couple in every way possible! The next step was to schedule a time to meet Emily and Mark over by the park where the rings went missing the week before. I looked at my calendar and set up the next possible timeslot when I could conduct the search. I needed them to show me where everyone was hanging out on that dreadful afternoon when the rings left Emily’s finger. Then, I could search all of the probable locations where the engagement ring and nesting band fell to the bottom of the Monocacy. We agreed on meeting that Friday, which was the Friday following Mark and Emily’s excursion when the initial happy and fun afternoon suddenly turned so very sad and disappointing for the couple.
Friday arrived and I headed to the Monocacy River to meet Emily in the park where the rings went missing. Mark was not able to join us due to his work schedule. We met in the park parking lot and then Emily walked me to the spot where the group of friends were all hanging out the week earlier. It was a considerable journey through the woods alongside the riverbank before we got to the place where she lost the rings. When we got to the spot where everyone went swimming that day, we walked down onto the riverbank where there were lots of stones and pebbles – perfect for keeping my gear dry above the water.
Frederick Maryland’s Monocacy River
Emily then showed me where she played in the water and where she and Mark drifted downriver approximately 50 yards or so. She had an idea of where she thought she may have held onto some rocks as the water current was taking Mark and Emily downriver. She thought that maybe the rings slipped off when she was trying to brace herself at that time. Emily couldn’t be certain of her predictions because there were times when she was just floating in the water and the rings could have slipped off at any of those moments. In any case, I was given a very good picture of how things looked on the day that the rings disappeared and I then had all of the parameters to work with as to where the rings may have settled to the bottom of the river.
The water depth was probably around two and a half feet to three feet deep closer to the middle of the river and maybe higher in a few other spots. It was very shallow due to the fact that we had gotten so little rain in the weeks leading up to the search. Though most of my body was above the water, the current was quite swift so I did have some opposition from the speed by which the water was traveling. The terrain at the bottom of the river also made the search more complicated because of how difficult it was to move about without tripping over a rock or small boulder.
My search grid would involve a 50 yard area from left to right (down river) and 30 yards from one side of the river to the other side (though Emily and I agreed that I only needed to search 20 yards from our side of the Monocacy riverbed out towards the middle of the river because she didn’t float close to the opposite end of the riverbank). Once we finished going over all of the details, I headed back to the car to put on the rest of my wetsuit and gather all of my gear so I could soon begin the search for Emily’s missing rings!
Emily wasn’t sure if she would ever get her rings back, but I kept telling her that all things are possible if she would keep believing the positive and not doubt. I shared with her that in life, we must doubt our feelings of doubt and believe the impossible can happen. The Bible says, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Yes, it was a large area to search. Yes, it is hard enough to metal detect that amount of space on land, let alone the degree of difficulty in searching a moving body of water like the Monocacy. Yet, I was determined to find Emily’s lost rings. And I didn’t just want to return to her the opal engagement ring, but also the other white gold band, as well! Before I headed out into the water, I prayed that the Lord would favor my search and to give Emily some hope inside to believe for the impossible! God loves the covenant of marriage, as He created it, and her engagement ring was a symbol of promise (betrothal) unto marriage! Therefore, I always know that I have favor from above when searching for lost engagement rings and wedding bands!
Emily’s Rings Lost Somewhere in the Historical Monocacy River
As Emily hung out on the shore, reading and doing some work on her tablet, I began my hunt for the missing rings. Because the items were very petite in size and made of 14 karat white gold, picking up the target signals on the detector would not be easy. Having a small, white gold object lost at the bottom of a body of water is not a good combination. The signals are light and very difficult to hit effectively, especially if you swing the metal detector coil too fast. Every step taken and every decision made out in the river had to be slow and very methodical in the way that I conducted this search.
My first grid was about 20 yards downstream, starting where Emily pointed out the first hotspot to investigate. There were rocks of various sizes covering the bottom of the river and there was nothing but stones in between the larger formations. Not only did I have to metal detect over and around and underneath all of those obstacles, but I would have to deal with many pieces of garbage that were discarded in the water over a long period of time. I found old beer can pop tops along with torn up cans, miscellaneous pieces of aluminum and much more throw-away items of trash. I would end up using two of my Equinox 800 machines with two different size coils. I used a 6 inch coil and an 11 inch coil as well. The smaller coil was helpful to get around some of the larger rocks and downed trees. The larger one was helpful to cover more territory in the river, as long as I wasn’t slowed down by metal trash that was settled close to other pieces of garbage at the bottom of the water.
I believe Emily hung out for a couple of hours before she needed to pack up her things and head on out. She kept a great attitude even though I had not yet found her rings. By the time she started walking back to the car. I told her from the water that I would be relentless in my search in finding what had been lost. Just before she took off, I asked Emily where Mark proposed to her with the rings.I wanted to get the whole story behind these precious pieces of jewelry that became extremely sentimental on the day of the proposal! Everything about the location of where Mark popped the question and how he proposed to Mark was absolutely beautiful and so fairytale like. This only propelled me even more to do whatever necessary to get these rings back on her finger! We said our goodbyes and I assured her that I would give Emily an update upon leaving the park.
If one were to observe the amount of territory that I had to search in this historical river, it would only emit stress on that person and bring lots of second-guessing to the mind based on the difficulty of finding such petite pieces of white gold at the bottom of the water. There were so many places that the bands could have ended up. There weren’t any clues to go by as to whether the rings came off at the same time, or if one came off in one location and then the other slipped off sometime later. Honestly, I loved the challenge and I was just so happy to give it my all in attempting to return these sentimental pieces back to Emily.
The main strategy that I implemented was to continue searching all of the hotspot locations where Emily may have lost the rings and focus my efforts on gridding each pass, heading downriver and then back up the river, approximately a distance of 20 feet for each pass. The width of the grid parameter was probably around 20 yards left to right.
While I was out there in the middle of the river, I couldn’t help but be so grateful for the beautiful weather that I was experiencing. It was warm outside, with no chance of rain in the forecast. To be surrounded by such amazing creations of God, there was just nothing like it! Then, add to the experience the whole idea of searching for lost items that mean so very much to another human being, it makes life so fulfilling and fun!
I had given myself a good five or six hour window to search the river that day. Afterwards, I would need to head north to Pennsylvania, near historical Gettysburg for a wedding that I was attending. I had been invited by a grateful couple that I helped in recovering the bride-to-be’s engagement ring that was lost 40 yards out in the Atlantic Ocean just two weeks before the wedding! She lost the ring on her bachelorette party weekend! I was quite honored to be a part of the festivities! It was kind of special that at one point in the day I was searching for a bride-to-be’s engagement ring set, and then later that night I would be celebrating the wedding of a bride who would be wearing the ring that I was able to return to her from the depths of the ocean! I thought that it would make an even more enchanting story if I was able to recover Emily’s rings before having to continue north towards Pennsylvania that afternoon!
Four hours passed by and I continued my detecting efforts in the water for the missing rings. Each time I covered a section of the river, I was only encouraged that I had eliminated more possibilities as to where the jewelry could have ended up. I had not lost any of my drive and enthusiasm for finding Emily’s rings. I kept swinging my detector in straight lines going up and down the river and then side to side. I was continuing to cover a distance of about 20 yards wide and search in 20 yard sections of the entire 50 yards, up and down the river.
At some point, I was finishing one of my grid passes when I hit a signal that was in the range of Emily’s lost rings. This was not the first time that day that I had gotten other potential targets to check out. In fact, I had plenty of them. In those first many hours of searching, I consistently pulled pieces of trash out of the water, but no rings had been found. This current signal was yet another one that I needed to check out. I knew the exact range of VDI numbers (these are numbers that help to identify the type of metal the target could potentially be) to look for on my machine and this piece of metal was showing the kind of target that got me curious! The numbers on my Equinox 800 detector screen were dancing around a number: four, five, seven, nine, and I believe eleven, as well. I was looking for such low numbers on the scale of my detector and I knew that the signal that I wanted was not going to pound hard in the headphones. Rather, it was going to be light and questionable. These rings were very petite, and therefore there wasn’t a lot of white gold on them at all to be detected easily. Like I did with many other potential signals that day, I reached down into the water, right over the spot where my metal detector had picked up the signal, and I surveyed the metal object with my Garrett handheld detector called a “pinpointer” in order to isolate the location where the object was resting. Once I was confident of the exact area where I knew the object was hiding, I placed the handheld detector off to the side (which was attached to a cord and clipped to my harness belt), grabbed a cluster of stones and sediment in the vicinity of where the buried object was and brought it all up to the surface for review. I have to use this type of method in rivers because it is impossible to use a scoop in this type of environment due to the quantity of stones and rocks that are stuck to the bottom of the water. Therefore, I have to use my hands to bring up the objects that I am potentially looking for. Next, I grabbed my pinpointer again and scanned over the contents that were in my hand to see if I found the metal object that I had detected moments earlier. To my great surprise, my eyes first focused in on the loveliest opal stone, then some small diamonds surrounding it came into view, and finally I saw the white gold band! Indeed, I had found the engagement ring! It was a fantastic moment! In this vast area of water, I had recovered this small precious keepsake! Like a needle in a haystack!
Though I had nobody around to share the excitement with, I expressed all of my joy and happiness into my GoPro video camera that I had been using to document the entire search up to that point! I gave thanks to the Lord for giving me the ability to find the ring and bring it up from the river where it had been resting at the bottom for over a week! I was thrilled at finding the band! Between the two rings, this one was the most important one to Emily because it was her engagement ring. Yet, I was not going to stop at that point. I would continue searching for the nesting band once I secured the recently found item in my zipped up case attached to my metal detector harness. I made sure that Emily’s opal ring was not going to be lost again in that river!
Discovering one of the sought-after pieces that went missing was such a boost of encouragement to me! My search methods that day were working effectively! So far, I had not believed that I had overlooked either target that I was after! Could I have missed the other ring due to it consisting of a thin band of white gold? It was possible. But, I kept my mindset on believing that I was thorough and accurate in my grid moves. When one is detecting in water, there are no cones or tape to keep you walking in a straight line! You have to be extremely careful not to move too far to the right or to the left, or sweep too short on either side of your body as you move forward with the detector.
Once I found the first of the two lovely rings, I was back at it again, searching for the second one, which was even thinner than the engagement ring. I had barely gotten a decent signal off of the last ring and so I was confident that this one would be even harder to recover. I believe I had another 30 minutes or so for me to try to strike gold, but at the conclusion of that search day I was unable to walk out of the river with both rings. I had no time left and it was imperative that I got on the road and start heading towards Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the wedding that would take place later that evening.
Before I made my way out of the river, I took note of where I had found the first ring and I would resume my search the following day. How could I have not been pleased with the results so far? I was able to recover half of what I was sent out to help with and there was still more work to be done! I walked out of the water and gathered up my gear and returned back to the parking lot, packed my things in the car, changed out of my wetsuit and then headed north.
During the whole drive to the hotel, I couldn’t stop thinking about how blessed I was to recover the engagement ring! I couldn’t wait to get back in the water and search for the nesting band! In keeping my word to Emily, I called her but I had to leave a voicemail message. I was vague about my search, hoping I could surprise her the next day with the news that I had found both rings, and not just the opal engagement ring. That was my hope!
The next morning, I left the hotel and drove south to Washington D.C.. I had received an urgent call from a desperate husband who shared that the day before his wife had lost her wedding band at the National Zoo. I immediately headed to the Nation’s Capital to help the couple out. Once I completed the search in D.C., I drove back north again, which was 45 minutes in the direction towards the Monocacy River.
Upon arrival, I once again setup all of my gear along the river bank and quickly made my way over to where I had found the engagement ring the day before. I knew the location because there was a particular formation of rocks along the side of the river, and I had lined up that formation with the place that I had found the first ring in the middle of the river. I knew that if I started walking from those rocks straight out into the middle of the river, I would end up at the location where I found the first ring. Secondly, I could feel a certain rock with my dive boots that was below the surface of the water and it was near that rock that I had found the engagement ring very close to that particular formation. From that point, I counted approximately 30 feet down the river and that was where I had finished my search the day before. I was now ready to begin the second chapter of my recovery efforts
For me, I love the thrill of the challenge to find what is not easily obtainable, especially out in the middle of a river. The current was much faster than the day before, so I needed to work smart and place my feet in certain positions where I would not lose my balance from the swift movement of the water. It was another lovely day outside and once again I could not ask for better weather conditions.
My strategy of the day was to not change anything with the way I searched the day before. I kept doing my grid lines with the same method that I had implemented on Friday and I worked my way farther down the river and then back up again, pushing my way against the stubborn water flow. Then, I would move back down the river and continued to do this in straight lines. Not knowing when the two rings came off of Emily’s finger, it led me to tighten up my mental focus. I had to tell myself that finding the other ring was obtainable just as I found the first one, even though it was a lot more petite and the gold was even thinner than the band of the first ring. I had no idea what the distance was between the first ring falling off and when the second one hit the bottom of the river. However, I wasn’t going to be intimidated by how much more territory needed to be detected!
Approximately 45 minutes into my second search that day, I had searched approximately 20 square yards of river from where I found the engagement ring. Like before, I moved the metal detector slowly so that I would not miss any potential signals that I might swing across. So far, all of the targets that I pulled out of the water that afternoon were small pieces of aluminum – still no ring to be found. At some point, as I continued down the river, slightly detecting to the right side of the water, I hit a signal that was extremely light and almost unrecognizable on my detector. I moved the coil back and forth a little bit more and I was still picking up this particular target that matched white gold. From certain angles I was not getting any reading on my detector screen, so I had to move the detector coil at different positions just to see if I was getting a false reading or not. The signal still showed up and that’s when I started getting more curious. Most detectorists would have moved right across that target because it really didn’t appear to contain much of any metal to consider pulling it up. Someone else would have mistaken it as a small piece of aluminum foil. Because I knew better with white gold targets, I was not about to pass it up. I took my pinpointer and placed it down into the water right over the spot where my detector coil was resting. Then, I removed the coil from the area and immediately the pinpointer found the metal object. The target was obviously just inches from where my hand was positioned! Also, I could tell that it was a small target by the way the tip of the pinpointer was sounding off. Next, I removed the pinpointer out of the way and quickly grabbed a handful of sediment and rocks where the target was resting. Bringing my handful of stones and sand up to the surface, I immediately scanned the contents for the mysterious metal object. I believe that my first attempt came up with nothing and so I repeated the steps over again until I was certain that this time I hadn’t left the item at the bottom of the river.
I once again used my pinpointer to detect the clump of stones and sediment that was in my hand, and finally the piece of metal was detected by the pinpointer! Whatever it was, I now had it inside my grip! I knew the object was very small because it was surprisingly hidden in the midst of all of the river stones and sediment. I moved my finger through the items and it was then that I saw it! It wasn’t a scrap piece of aluminum from a drinking can, nor was it part of an old used ketchup packet or flimsy milk peel top! Not at all! It was a petite, white gold ring with a very thin band holding 3 small diamonds that were spread out along the top of the precious metal! I immediately knew that I had found the second missing ring because I recognized the details from a photo that Emily had previously provided for me! I did it! I found the nesting band that was part of the original engagement ring set! I could not have been more surprised by my findings based on how weak the target signal was! What an awesome moment!
Unless you are a ring finder like those found in The Ring Finders directory, it’s hard to describe the feeling inside when you discover the very object that you were on a mission to recover. When you find the sought-after keepsake that means so much to someone else, there’s almost a feeling of electricity that works through you! There’s such a rush within that excites all of one’s senses when the missing item is found and then returned to its owner! With search and recovery missions like this one, the degree of difficulty is so large that when one finds the lost property (like in the case of these two missing rings), there is just no greater feeling in the world! Taking on a challenge like this and being able to deliver to the distraught owner, not just one ring, but to find both rings in separate areas in the river, 20 yards apart, there are few words to accurately describe the entire experience!
Metal Detectorist, Brian Rudolph, Successfully Returned Both Rings to Emily and Mark! Call Brian Rudolph to Help You Find Your Lost Keepsakes at (301) 466-8644
I was so thrilled and overjoyed to find this second ring! I held up the nesting band and kissed it, yelling out loud, “Yes! I did it! I found it! Yes!” All kinds of words of excitement and relief flowed from within me, realizing at that moment that I was able to successfully fulfill this mission! I remember just standing there in the middle of the river, holding Emily’s ring in my hand, knowing at that point in time that there was nothing left to recover from the water! My search was over! It was extremely gratifying for me to leave the riverbank with my equipment in one hand and the recently discovered gold band that was zipped up in my harness case! I couldn’t wait to surprise Emily and her fiancé Mark with the good news! As I walked through the woods along the path leading back to the parking lot, I could see the river through the tree line, and I thought to myself, “I did it! I conquered the Monocacy!” At that moment I could only give thanks to the Lord for something as extraordinary as what had just taken place in the last 24 hours!
If you would like to see the video of me revealing the rings to Emily and Mark, please subscribe to the YouTube channel link provided below, and you will receive a notification when the video is uploaded in the next few months. It is worth waiting for! I promise!
Emily Couldn’t Have Been More Happy to Hold Her Missing Rings Once Again!
Emily and Mark were beyond excited to receive the missing rings back in their possession! My efforts to recover the special keepsakes in the Monocacy River were 100% successful and the couple was pleasantly shocked with surprise at the outcome! The look on their faces when I returned both rings will always be fixed in my mind! They were so happy and relieved at the sight of those beautiful bands that had disappeared below the water over a week earlier and located 45 minutes away from where Emily and Mark resided! Now, the engagement set was returned home for good! Emily’s finger was finally reunited with its newly found friends (the ring set), and together they now await the arrival of yet another ring this autumn…the wedding band!
CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!
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To receive a NOTIFICATION letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE: go to YOUTUBE by CLICKING THE LINK BELOW or OPEN your YOUTUBE APP on your device, go to the SEARCH BAR, type: THE RING HERO, click SUBSCRIBE and lastly, CLICK ON THE “BELL” to receive NOTIFICATIONS when this latest search video is available to view! 
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