Metal Detecting Service North Myrtle Beach SC Tag | Page 3 of 8 | The Ring Finders

10 Day Old Wedding Band Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned Sunset Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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A little after 2 p.m. on Sept 21st, I received a call from Cassandra saying her son, Conor, had lost his wedding band and wanted to know if I could help. First question I asked was how long ago, her response was “just now.” My second question was where he lost it, she responded in the “dry sand and he knows right where he lost it.” I asked about parking and she told me I could park in their driveway and she’d text me the address. She also told me that they were under a cabana at the end of the beach access ramp. These are the responses every Ring Finder loves to hear. I told Cassandra I could be there in 30 minutes, grabbed my gear and was on my way.

When I got there everyone was under the cabana. I met Cassandra, Conor and Christina, the new bride. Conor showed me the 3’X3’ area where he had applied suntan lotion to his chest and the ring flew off. I turned my Equinox 800 on, made the offhand comment of “let’s try and find this in under a minute,” took 2 steps and hit a solid26 on the machine. I asked Conor what his ring was made of and he said “white and yellow gold and stainless steel.” I took a scoop of sand and missed the target; my second scoop had the target. I shook the sand out and saw his ring. I extended the scoop out to him so he could retrieve his treasure. Christina said “that was less than 30 seconds.” Conor’s response was “I thought under a minute was a bold prediction.”  Everything was perfect and made this an easy recovery, he just lost it in the dry sand and he knew the precise area. A little more chit chat and Christina mentioned they’d only been married for 10 days.

Cassandra – Thank you for contacting and trusting me to help find Conor’s wedding band.

Conor and Christina – I wish you all the best in your new lives together!

Jim

   

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Man’s Tungsten Wedding Band Lost for 9 days in the Ocean – Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a text message from Sara on Sept 14th, saying “Hello! My husband lost his wedding band Monday of last week in Cherry Grove beach around 50th Ave N. I made a post about it and a couple people told me to reach out to you.” Along with the text, Sara sent a couple of pictures of the ring. I responded asking if they were still in the area or could send a Google map showing the area. I also asked about the time, whether he was in the water, and if so, how deep. Sara sent a Google map with the spot pinned and said, “He was hit by a wave, and it just came off.” I told her I’d go later in the day, a couple of hours before low tide and see what I could do. In the meantime, I contacted a friend, Mike, who hunts that area quite a bit to ask if he had come across it. I was concerned that the ring had been out there for 9 days, and I know that area gets hunted quite a bit. Mike responded that he hadn’t seen the ring and had been at 50 North that morning. He also said he had met up with half a dozen guys detecting in that area over the last week. This was not what I wanted to hear!!!

About 3 p.m. I grabbed my gear and headed to the beach to look for Sara’s husband, Jacob’s, ring. I was optimistic and kept a positive attitude even with the information Mike had passed along. When you think about it, I’m trying to find a quarter size target on a vast area of beach. Most of the people I see metal detecting start at one point and do a snake like pattern down the beach. When I’m looking for someone’s treasure, I do a grid search to ensure I don’t miss an area. In this case, it paid off. After an hour plus of grid searching, I hit a solid 18-20 VDI (visual display indicator) on the Equinox 800. These numbers were exactly the numbers I was looking for for a man’s Tungsten Wedding Band.  After a couple of scoops of sand and spreading the sand out with my foot, I saw the ring sitting in the sand. I texted Sara and sent her a picture, but she didn’t respond until late evening. When she did respond she stated, “That does look like it might be it.” Now I’m second guessing myself, by the end of the night (2 a.m.), I concluded that we had the right ring. She and Jacob live locally so we set up a meeting spot to transfer her treasure. When we met, she did indeed confirm the ring was Jacobs. She told me she and Jacob were High School sweethearts and they picked out their matching wedding bands, which had a very sentimental importance to both of them. After a 9-day absence, the ring is back where it belongs!

Sara – Thank you for calling and trusting me to find your lost treasure. All the best to you and Jacob!!!

Jim

     

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4th Generation Wedding Ring Lost in the Surf, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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On Wednesday, Aug. 3rd I woke up to a text message saying, “Good morning Mr. Wren, A gentleman on the beach (native of Scranton) recommended you. My sister lost her wedding ring in the surf yesterday afternoon. It’s in N. Myrtle Beach, in front of 817 S. Ocean Blvd. If you have time, I would appreciate your assistance. Regards David.” I called the number associated with the text so we could discuss the details. David said that she lost it at approximately 1 p.m. the previous day, which was about 2 hours after high tide. After a few more questions and answers, I told him I’d be there at 3 p.m. After thinking about the summer crowds, I texted him that I’d be there at 2:30 so I could be ahead of the crowds moving down the beach as the tide was going out. About an hour later I got an email from Daniel saying in part, “Hi we need your help to find a wedding ring and my mom lost her ring. She fell out from the sand under water and ring thick gold ring.” I asked him to call me so I could get more details. When the phone rang it was an interpreter for the hearing impaired. Through the interpreter I asked for a hotel name and street address. The interpreter said that Daniel would look up the name and address and email it to me. Meanwhile, I called Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach and let him know I was working on a possible ring call for him and gave him what details I had. When the email came in from Daniel the address was the same as the address David had given me. I called David real quick and asked him if he knew Daniel, thinking 2 lost rings at the same resort was highly improbable. David said Daniel was his sister’s son. This made sense now; I emailed Daniel back and told him his Uncle David had already contacted me and that I was going to be there at 2:30. I thought that was incredible that this young man was trying so hard to take care of his mother and make sure she got her ring back.

I got there on time and met David in the parking garage. We walked out on the beach, and luckily there weren’t too many tourists on the beach when I got there. We made our way to where Michelle, David’s sister that lost her ring, Daniel, and David’s younger brother Andy were sitting. I got the full story from Michelle on what happened and the general area of where she lost it. I grabbed my Equinox 800 and sand scoop and headed in the water. I did a grid search from the top of the slope out to where the water was breaking over the sand bar. I worked my grid to the north back and forth with only an occasional pull tab or bottle cap. When I finished searched of the probable area, I took a break and asked a few more questions. I asked Daniel what he remembered because he pulled his mother up out of the water when she got hit by a wave and knocked over. Daniel moved me further north about 20 yards, so I started from there working back south. Still no luck!!! I took another break while I contemplated my next move. By now I’d been in the water for almost 2 hours, no biggie, but I was running out of real estate to search. I went back to where Daniel had moved me and did a few more grid lines to the north. Still nothing, so I worked parallel to the beach moving out to the breakers and south past where David had set the southernmost border. As I made my turn to head back towards the beach, I got a big hit on a target. Knowing I was looking for a heavy yellow gold wedding ring, I was expecting a VDI (visual display indicator) around 15-17.  The VDI on this target was jumping all over the place but did get an occasional 16/17 as I ran the coil over the target. I did the bouncing trick with the coil to rule out a bottle cap. Convinced it wasn’t a bottle cap, I dug a couple of scoops of sand to get the target out. Once I had the target in the scoop, I swished the scoop around in the water to remove the sand. BOOM!!!! After 2 hours of searching, I had Michelle’s wedding ring in the scoop.

Now for the surprise, I made my way back up to where everyone had been sitting since I started. I asked Michelle to come over to where I was standing so I could show her the area I’ve searched, not that she didn’t already know. As she’s walking over to me, I slipped her ring on my right index finger. When she got to me, I held up my arm to point to the areas I searched, she immediately saw her ring and the tears started flowing as she buried her head on my shoulder. I think we all shed a few tears just seeing her overwhelming joy. There are no words to express how important it is to give something back to somebody that they thought was lost forever, especially when it’s something that has been passed down for 4 generations. Michelle’s husband’s great grandfather gave this very ring to his new bride many many years ago.

David and Daniel – Thank you for caring so much about your sister and mother that you took the extra steps to help get her ring back to her.

Michelle – I’m so happy I could return your treasure to you.

Jim

   

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IPhone 7 Lost for Two Weeks – Found and Returned Holden Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This started out as a ring search for a young lady’s engagement ring that wasn’t found. As I’m doing my grid search back and forth across the wet sand, I got a loud signal. Not sure what it was but I knew it wasn’t the ring. Because of the size of the target, I thought I either had a pair of sunglasses or a cell phone. After digging the target out from under about 8 inches of wet sand, sure enough I had an IPhone and not in real good shape. I put in it my pouch and continued searching for the ring.

I had actually forgotten about the phone, and it set in my pouch in the trunk of my car for a day. Maybe that turned out to be a good thing and gave it a chance to dry out in 90 plus degree temperatures. I couldn’t get the phone to turn on, so I wasn’t sure if the phone battery was dead or the phone itself was ruined. I found one of my plugs that fit and plugged it in to see if it’d charge. After a couple of hours, the phone was coming to life. After there was enough charge, I started playing with it. Luckily, I got to the password page and saw the “emergency” Icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and pushed it. Up popped a name and other info – Chance XXXX, age 15. Ok, I had something to go on. I first went through a FB search and found a number of Chances and sent each of them a private message. Long shot, but maybe they got a new phone and would get the message. The next thing I did was post on the Holden Beach FB page with a picture of the phone’s main page. I also wrote “Chance XXXX or parents of, I came across your iPhone buried in about 8” of wet sand. Cleaned and charged it and it appears to be working. Wanted to see if I could find you on here before I turn it over to the Holden Beach Police. Call or text and included my phone number.” Within two hours I saw where a lady had tagged a Lena with the same last name as the boy. Shortly after that I got a response on FB saying – “Thank you so much. My son thought it was lost forever.”  I also got a text from Lena (Chance’s mother) who 100% verified the phone was her son’s. She told me the story that Chance was out on the beach looking for shark’s teeth and at some point, the phone fell out of his pocket. She also said that they were on Holden Beach during the week of June 20th. I found the phone on July 8th, so the phone was buried in the sand for roughly 2 weeks. I put the phone in the mail on Monday, Jul 11th and because of the lithium battery it had to go ground delivery through the USPS. It took 2 weeks for the phone to finally get home to Ohio. I don’t know if Chance found any shark’s teeth or not, but my wife has quite the collection and sent along 3 shark’s teeth and an olive shell to brighten things up for Chance.

Chance – glad I could get your phone back to you; sorry it may have ruined your chances of getting a new phone for Christmas. Take care young man!!

Jim

 

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Father’s Yellow Gold Free Mason’s Ring Lost in the Ocean – Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Every call for help in finding a lost ring is just as important as the ones before it or the many coming after it. Each ring has its own story, whether it was passed down from a family member, something someone worked hard for to achieve, or the love of their life slipped it on their finger. Although, all of the rings are very important, once in a while you get the call for something very special that grabs at your heart strings. This was exactly the case for me on this call. Ron called me close to 11 pm on Thursday, June 30th clearly devastated that he had lost his father’s custom-made yellow gold Free Mason’s ring. He told me the ring was specially designed and made for his father by another Free Mason, who was both a friend and a jeweler. Ron’s father has since passed away and this special ring now belongs to Ron. I found out from Ron that he was wearing the ring while throwing a football in the ocean. My first question was if he was right or left-handed, he responded right-handed. My second question was which hand was the ring on. Again, his response was on his right hand. My next questions were what day, time, and how deep was he in the water. His response was that he lost it on Tuesday, around lunch time, and he was about thigh deep. During our text messages he changed the day to Monday. We exchanged other information and I could tell Ron was having a difficult time talking about losing the ring. I found out that he and his family was leaving the next morning. I closed our conversation by asking him to take pictures of the area and send them to me the next morning. After thinking about it, I texted him back and asked him if he could meet me on the beach the next morning at 9 am, he agreed. By meeting him, I could get a firsthand view without having to decipher some pictures.

The next morning, we met as scheduled and he pointed out the area. I don’t remember if it was during our texting the night before or he told me when we met that he actually lost it on Sunday, which was 5 days ago. As we’re talking about additional details, I asked him whether he was facing north or south when he was throwing the football and he responded he was facing east, meaning he was facing seaward. In my mind, I’m thinking this is going to be a tough, if not an impossible search. If he was facing seaward, throwing the ball with the same hand the ring was on and it was 5 days ago, it’s difficult to imagine where his ring ended up. But I love a good challenge, so I told him I’d be back around 2 pm to work the outgoing tide with low tide being at 3:48 pm.

As I’m loading up the car with my detector, the sky opened up and it started pouring rain. No problem, I’m going to get wet anyway, as long as there’s no lightening – I’m good. By the time I got to the beach and the search area, the rain had stopped. No rainbows, but I did get a report of a waterspout less than 5 miles up the beach. I swear, the Big Man upstairs was testing me that day! I started on the line Ron had given me earlier that morning. I started my grid line from the mid tide line and walked out to waist/chest deep water working my way to the south. I’m not sure how far south I went but I was sure I was outside of Ron’s area. I went back to my starting point and started working the grid search north. I did about 10 lines and got a solid hit on my White’s PI. The PI is a great machine, but it has no discrimination, nor does it show any target depth, it just signals there’s some sort of metal underneath the coil. I had already picked up a couple of pull tabs, a few bottle caps and 4 fishing weights, so I figured this was one more piece of junk. A couple of scoop and I had the target out of the hole. I took my foot and spread the sand out, I looked down and saw the Free Mason diamond symbol staring at me. Boom! I just stood there and stared; I couldn’t believe it. What a beautiful ring! I picked it up and walked back to the car to get my phone and take a couple of pictures. I sent a picture of me holding the ring and the ring sitting in the sand to Ron saying, “look familiar?” As I’m driving home, I called him and left a message when he didn’t answer saying “check your text messages and call me.” I figured he was still on the highway driving home. Within a few minutes he called me back and he was so excited he couldn’t talk. I wish I would have been able to hand his ring to him and see his expression, but I’m sure it was one of pure elation and surprise. I’ll get his ring in the mail Tuesday and wait for his picture to post this.

Ron – Thank you so much for trusting me to help find your lost treasure, I was so excited to find it for you. Best Wishes!!!

Jim

 

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Yellow Gold Wedding and Engagement Set Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This ring search started with a 10:53 pm text from Monica on Tuesday, June 28th. Her text read “Hello Jim, my mom lost her wedding and engagement ring in the ocean yesterday evening and we cannot find it. Can you help?” My son and daughter-in-law were in town, so, I responded back to her that I was on vacation. I also told her that I had a couple of guys filling in for me, and ask what beach. She gave me all the details I needed to pass along to Mike G., the guy handling North Myrtle Beach for me. I forwarded the info to him, knowing he was probably in bed, but I’d talk to him in the morning. Shortly after getting all the texting done, I found out the kids had plans and I could go ahead and do the search. I sent another text to Mike letting him know I could do the search and to let me know.

This morning, I woke up to a text from Mike saying that he would prefer me take the hunt. He had helped a neighbor look for a lost ring the day before and was hobbling around. I also had a text from Monica asking if Mike had replied. I told her, that instead of Mike, I was going to be doing the hunt. I’d be there at noon to work the outgoing tide. Everything was working itself out.

I showed up a little before noon and met Monica, Norman and Tina in the resort parking lot. Tina was the one who lost her precious treasure. What happened was, Tina had gotten into the incoming tide about 5:30 pm Monday evening and was hit and knocked down by a pretty rough wave. When the wave hit her, she fell forward and watched her ring set fly off her finger. The last two days have been horrible for her not having her rings. We walked out on the beach and Tina showed me the area she lost her rings. Knowing she lost her ring about an hour and a half before high tide and I was there a couple of hours before low tide, I figured the ring set would be accessible in the wet sand. I started a perpendicular grid search going out to about thigh deep and heading north. I knew I was going deeper than I needed to but I didn’t want to miss the low tide, just in case I miscalculated. I did about 10 grid lines and hadn’t had one target. I went back to my start line and started working the grid south. I glanced up to see Norman and Tina and their expressions looked like they were losing hope. I also noticed that some tourists were starting to move their chairs down closer to the surf, so I was losing search area. On my 5th or 6th line I got the loud and clear 15/16 on the Equinox 800 VDI (visual display indicator). This was in the range I was looking for. One scoop and I had the target out of the hole. I spread the sand out with my foot and saw the yellow gold shining in the sunlight. I picked the ring up and it was exactly as Norman had described it – BINGO! I looked up at Norman and Tina and Norman was watching so I did my little “found it shuffle.” He popped up out of his chair, said something to Tina who then joined him in a very fast pace in my direction. When Norman got close, I held out my fist holding the ring and dropped it in his hand. Tina was overwhelmed when she saw it but she was so happy.

Monica – Thank you for finding me on your Google search.

Tina/Norman – Thank you for trusting me and The Ring Finders to help find your lost treasure.  Now you can enjoy your last couple of days of vacation. Have a safe trip back home.

Jim

 

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iPhone Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call this morning from Sarah saying that she had contacted Joe Denton, Minelab Distributer in Little River, SC to buy a metal detector to find an iPhone. Joe recommended me and she was wondering if I could help. She said her friend Shelby had lost her phone in the dunes and they knew the exact area using the “find my phone” app. I told her I’d be there in 15 minutes.

When I got to the Cherry Grove Beach, Shelby and Sarah were waiting at the beach entrance. We walked out on the beach and directly to the area where the iPhone was lost. The story was that they were on the beach the night before and Shelby’s phone fell out of its “safe place” and disappeared in the sand. They searched in the dark with no luck and started again first thing this morning. Unfortunately, the phone was lost in the dunes, which can get you a nice little ticket if you get caught by the beach patrol. So, as I detected, I used extreme caution so I wouldn’t cause any damage. There was no doubt that her phone wasn’t there. In my head I thought this would be a quick and easy find, but it never works out that way. I kept expanding my search area north and south but wasn’t finding her phone. Finally, Shelby saw a wrapper she remembered from the night before that she thought was her phone. Sure enough, just a few feet away, buried in an upright position and covered with sand, I got a solid 15 on the VDI. Using my hands to dig under the sand, I pulled it out. Both Shelby and Sarah were thrilled to say the least. After I gave the phone back to her, she immediately opened the case to ensure her driver’s license was still there, thankfully it was.

Sarah – Thanks for giving me a call.

Shelby – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Have a great break from your studies at Duke and enjoy the beach.

Jim

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18k Clemson Ring Lost Throwing a Football at the High Tide Line, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call from Brent, who was referred by Joe Denton, asking if I could help find a lost Clemson Ring. He said his friend, Ed, whose daughter Natalie’s friend Britta had lost her ring within the last 10 minutes Knowing it was high tide, I asked him how deep in the water Britta was, and he replied she was just getting her feet wet. I got the location and told him I’d be there in 10-15 minutes. This being a Saturday and 4th of July weekend the traffic was very busy.

I called Brent when I got close and he was waiting at the beach access for me. As we walked out on the beach he directed me to where Natalie and Britta were standing. I introduced myself to both of them and then got more of the story. Britta showed me about where she was standing when she threw the football, and Natalie showed me about where she was standing to catch it. Thankfully, neither one was in the ocean, but Natalie had been standing close to a buried storm drain pipe. The search area was no more than 20 yards long. Someone had mentioned the Clemson ring was 18k gold, so I knew what number I was looking for on the Equinox 800. I started my grid search parallel to the beach. My fourth line I hit it, a booming 9 VDI. I just looked up at Britta and smiled, I don’t think she realized what the look was for. I took a scoop of sand and dumped it on the beach, moved the sand with my foot and saw the ring. Somebody else in her group saw it about the same time and reached down and snatched it up and handed it to me. Big smiles, a few hugs, maybe a couple of tears, and Britta had her college treasure back on her finger.

Thanks to all for trusting me to help find Britta’s ring.

Britta – I wish you all the best on your future endeavors.

Jim

      

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Lady’s Black Onyx Silver Ring – Lost, Found, and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Tuesday afternoon I received a FB text from Crystal saying, “I lost my ring at Beach Cove Resort: 4800 South Ocean Blvd. I know the area right where it is but haven’t found it yet! I’ve been trying to find someone with a metal detector but we leave Thursday, and they are few and far between”. I replied saying call me with my number. When she called, I got a little more detail and told her I’d be there in 15 minutes.

When I got there, I called her from the lobby. Shortly after, she walked off the elevator and we introduced ourselves. On the way out to the beach, she told me she had lost the ring the day before.  I was a little nervous, and hopeful the beach cleaning truck or a person with a metal detector hadn’t already found it. She said the ring was a black onyx silver ring, and showed me the small area, maybe 10’X10’, where she had been sitting. I turned the Equinox 800 on and started a grid search. On my second pass, I got a strong 25 on the VDI (visual display indicator) and I knew I had a solid silver target. I looked down and could clearly see the ring sitting on the sand; Crystal saw it about the same time. She said they had been looking off and on for the last 2 days for it.

Crystal, Thanks for call me to help find your lost treasure. Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip back home to Virginia.

Jim

    

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Lady’s White Gold Wedding and Engagement Rings Lost in the Dry Sand – Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Tanna called me shortly before 1pm from a number that showed Vancouver, WA. She said she had lost her rings around Windy Hill in North Myrtle Beach. When I started asking about the location, she put her grandfather on the phone who gave me the exact location. When Tanna got back on, I asked her whether she had been in the dry sand, wet sand, or the ocean when she lost them. When she responded she lost them in the dry sand, I got really excited. It’s not very often I get a call for lost rings in the dry sand; they’re mostly lost in the ocean. During the back and forth with questions and answers, I ask if she could Google earth me the beach, with the area circled. She could and she did! When I asked how she lost them, she told me she had put them in a little pouch connected to the beach chair, and then forgot about them. Later, she told me she didn’t realize they were gone until around 8pm as she was helping her grandmother with dinner and the dishes. So far, this was sounding like one of those searches you dream about. I grabbed my Equinox 800 and was out the door.

When I got to the beach about 1:30, I called her to confirm a couple of small issues, mainly about where they had been sitting. One thing she brought up is that they had been sitting behind the life guard stand. Unfortunately, the stand had been moved to the top of the beach near the sand dunes. But, it gave me a better idea of where to search. I started a grid line from the guard stand to the wet sand line working my way south. After the sixth grid line, I moved back to my starting point and starting working my way north. On my third line, I got a solid VDI of 6 on the detector which was what I was expecting for a lady’s white gold ring. I took a shallow scoop of sand and laid it out on the beach and saw a beautiful diamond looking up at me, with the rest of the ring still buried. After picking her engagement ring up, I ran my coil around the same area and got another 6 on the VDI, I knew this one was her wedding band. I took a picture and sent her a text saying “BOOM!” with the picture of both rings. I called her, and I could tell she was very excited and grateful. Finding out she was only an hour and a half away, we agreed to meet halfway at a McDonalds. When we met, I was able to meet her husband, Alex. I got the biggest hug from Tanna and a firm handshake from Alex, both of which validates exactly why The Ring Finders exist!

Tanna and Alex – Thank you for trusting me and The Ring Finders to help find your lost treasures. Be safe and take care of each other.

Jim

    

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