#Metal Detecting Service Portland Maine Tag | The Ring Finders

Gold Engagement and Wedding Rings Lost In The Leaves, Found With A Metal Detector, In Eliot, Maine

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Friday night, September 13, 2024, I received the following text,

“Hi Dennis, found you on the Ring Finders website. Would you be willing to travel to Eliot, ME for a service? About 45 minutes south of Saco”

I replied, “Hello, Yes I have and will travel to Elliot. What is the search for”?

She replied, “My wedding and engagement ring went into an area off the side of my house last night. It’s the edge of the property so it’s where the grass becomes a little woodsy, But I can pinpoint the general area”.

I replied, “Ok, I can certainly come and search for you. Is tomorrow morning a good time? I can be there around 8:00am”

She then replied that would be great and sent me her name, Bonnie, and her address, in Eliot, Maine. I then asked Bonnie a bunch of questions, so I could be prepared, for the search, first thing in the morning.

Bonnie then told me that her rings were White Gold and she had lost them, the night before, at approximately 6:00pm. Bonnie had been doing a little yard work and that included throwing many pine cones and downed branches, over the fence, into woodsy, marshy area. That is when they “went flying “, off her finger and into the above mentioned area. I had also asked if any mowing or mulching, had taken place, since she lost them and told her that I have seen rings, damaged by mowers, in the past. Bonnie replied

“There shouldn’t be any damage, the most difficult part is they landed in an area that is a little woodsy and has a lot of old marshy leaf buildup. Luckily the area is dry now and I can tell you the exact direction to look”.

This morning, I left for Bonnie’s house, at approximately 7:00am, arriving just before 8:00am. Bonnie immediately came out to greet me and proceeded to take me to the search area. The first thing I noticed was a metal fence, around the property. This dog fence may be a problem. It is very difficult to search, up against a metal fence. The detector could potentially go off, whenever it comes within 4-5 inches of the fence. If the rings were against the fence, the fence could “mask” the gold tone and I would never hear the ring, being detected. Thankfully, not knowing the exact terrain, I would need to search, I brought 3 of my detectors, with 3 different size coils. I brought my Minelab Manticore with an 8 inch coil, my Minelab E-Trac, with an 11 inch coil and my Minelab CTX-3030, with a 17 inch coil. Better to have them all and not need them, than need them and not have them.

Bonnie pointed out the area she thought, one of the rings had landed, as she saw them go flying towards the fence and woodsy area. One ring went to the left and the other ring broke, to the right.  I would search for the one, that broke to the left, first. After searching for that one, I would search for the one that broke to the right. I decided to start with the 8” coil and get as close to the fence as possible. Even with my small coil, the fence was just to overwhelming and I didn’t hear anything, but the fence. I performed a grid of approximately 30’, along the fence, turned around and headed back to my starting point, after taking a 1/2 step over, towards the lawn. After a couple more back and forth’s and 1/2 steps, further onto the lawn, no ring was found. I decided to try my 11” coil, in the same area, starting out, on the lawn, working my way, to the fence. This way, I would have covered the area twice, with two different coils. I was now against the fence again and about 1/2 way down the fence, I heard just a slight “fluttering “ low tone, against the fence. I then swung the coil, over the area again and this time, a leaf moved and I could see a small sliver of silver. I moved the leaf, off of the target and saw Bonnie’s wedding ring. Phew, One ring down and one to go. I was now approaching 1 hour of searching and felt the Engagement Ring was in the area. Another sweep of the area, found nothing new. Just the same trash targets, I had found, with the 8” coil.

I then asked Bonnie if she had a rake, so we could rake all the leaves, away from the fence, and towards the lawn, where the metal fence wouldn’t interfere. Bonnie raked the leaves and I went on the other side of the fence and started searching the area, that Bonnie thought the engagement ring would be in. There were many more branches and limbs on that side of the fence and I started removing them and throwing them deeper, into the woods. I then took the rake from Bonnie and started raking the leaves, away from the fence, on the woodsy side. Another hour had passed and still nothing. I came back on the house side of the fence and searched the leaves that Bonnie had raked, away from the fence and still nothing.

I then asked Bonnie to go over the event of the losing the rings again. Bonnie said she saw one go towards the left and one went to the right. As I was talking to her, I decided to go back on the woodsy and marshy side of the fence. The ring certainly wasn’t on the house side of the fence, imho. I was also thinking that “What If”, the first ring I found was actually the ring that had broken, off to the right, and it wasn’t the ring Bonnie thought had broken to the left. That would mean the engagement ring may be much further to the left, than Bonnie thought. I went up into the area and again started throwing branches and larger tree limbs, aside. As I followed the metal fence about 25 feet, to the left of the found wedding ring, I was still unable to find it. I then took a 1/2 step, to my right and headed back to the area, where the first ring was found. I had gone maybe 10 feet when I received a solid 12-02 on my E-Trac. That is an extremely low conductive reading and certainly in the gold range, but it could also be aluminum foil or some other low conductive metal. After receiving the tone, I looked around the coil and couldn’t see anything. I then took the coil, located the target, under some leaves and moved the leaves, with my coil. THERE IT WAS, BONNIE’S ENGAGEMENT RING. I immediately looked over to Bonnie, on the other side of the fence and yelled “SUCCESS “. Bonnie came right over and I asked her if she could see the ring. She couldn’t, because I had covered it back up. I then ran my coil of the leaves and Bonnie could hear the target but couldn’t see it. I then removed the leaves and there it was for Bonnie to see. This ring, never would have been found visually. With more and more leaves dropping, it would only have been buried deeper, under the leaves.

So after 2 1/2 hours of searching Bonnie was just so happy to have her Wedding and Engagement Ring, back on her finger, where they belong. The many thank you’s, smiles and hug, I received from Bonnie just had me beaming 😁. Bonnie told me she was “forever grateful” and always will be, for me coming down asap, to find her rings. I also, will always be “forever grateful”, for being able to help people like Bonnie.

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Key Fob Lost In Standish, Maine Found Visually, While Searching With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Saturday morning , May 25th, 2024, I received the following voicemail
“Yeah, my name is Stephanie. I called you yesterday but I’m not sure that I actually got the right number because the number that comes up on my phone is a six. Six number. I’ve lost a Key fob in Standish, probably about a half an hour from Saco. I know it’s a holiday weekend, so maybe this isn’t possible but if you could Let me know if it’s a possibility for us to get together I’d appreciate it you can text me, at your convenience. My number is 2 0 7- ***-**** .
Thanks bye-bye…”

I was driving back from Portland, but immediately called Stephanie back. I told Stephanie that I did not receive her voicemail, from the previous day, but that I would certainly be able to help her. It was now approximately 9:30am and I told Stephanie I would be there at approximately 11:00am, just needing to get to my home, in Saco, Maine and pick up my Metal Detecting equipment and drive to Standish, a suburb of Portland, Maine and Windham, Maine.
I arrived at the location, where the Key Fob had been lost, at 11:20am. Stephanie and her husband Tom, arrived 5 minutes later. Stephanie explained that 4 days earlier she had driven to this location and parked next to the walking and ATV trail. Shen then proceeded to walk down the road, stopping at certain locations, on both sides, of the road, to view and smell the many flowers. When she finished her walk, she noticed the Key Fob was no longer, in her pocket. She retraced her steps, on both sides of the road, including down in the ditch, along rock walls, in areas she had traversed, to see the flowers. She could not find the key fob. She then walked 3 miles home and then back to the car, with the spare key fob. Over the next few days, Stephanie returned and searched the area again, this time, getting down into the ditch and searching through the many leaves and brush. Still not successful, Stephanie was telling a friend what had happened and the friend told her to contact me, The Ring Finders of Maine.

Stephanie and Tom took me a few steps up the road, to where Stephanie thought the key fob, may be. It was down, in the ditch and covered with leaves and twigs. As I was searching, I was finding the usual road side trash, of bottle caps, vape pens and cans, but no key fob. As I came out of the ditch, I was walking at the top of the ditch and searching along the path, Stephanie had walked, days earlier. Stephanie was visually searching near me and her husband, Tom was visually searching, about 75 feet ahead of us. I was still only finding road side trash, when we heard Tom yell out to Stephanie to come meet him, up ahead. I continued my search and saw Stephanie and Tom, walking back to me. When they reached me, they showed me the key fob. TOM HAD FOUND THE KEY FOB, while visually searching, about 75 feet, up the road. Nothing like dual optical scanners (Eyes 👀) to successfully find the key fob. Tom had left the road side and saw them, laying next to a rock wall, approximately 10-15 feet from the road. Outstanding job Tom and he was then rewarded with a big kiss.
Another team effort, in locating Stephanie’s key fob. It may not have been found by a Metal Detector but Stephanie doesn’t care. She has it back and didn’t need to replace her Key Fob , at a cost of $325.00. We all left, very happy. And great day and story for my “Book of Smiles”

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Championship Ring Lost In The Old Orchard Beach, Maine Water Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Saturday May, 11th, I started receiving multiple notifications, from Facebook, for my The Ring Finders of Maine page, an Emergency Metal Detecting Service. People had seen a Facebook post about a lost ring, on the beach, in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Four or five people had commented on the post, to contact me, to search for the ring.

I then saw a message, from Nicole, stating,

“Hello! My daughter just informed me that she lost her Championship Ring, in OOB, today. She didn’t want to tell me sooner, because she was embarrassed, by it. I was told to reach out to you.”

The message came in at 5:49pm. I immediately replied with

“Hi, glad to help. It’s a very large beach, does she know which area?”

Nicole then sent me a photo of the Cheerleading Championship Ring and a photo of the area, her daughter had been in, earlier, in the day, with some of her friends. Nicole also told me that her daughter, Alyssa,  said she was on the right side of the pier, when facing the water. I could tell, from the photo that she had been in front of Palace Playland, an amusement park. She then sent me a video of two boys, running down and jumping into the water, for greater clarity and direction , on where her daughter and friends, had been, on the beach.

Alyssa lives in Sanford, Maine, about 25 miles from Old Orchard Beach. She and her friends had stopped in OOB, on their way to a cheerleading competition, in South Portland, where her team was competing, in another Championship competition, this very night. Alyssa is a member of Port City Athletics and competes in their All Star Cheerleading group. Alyssa would not be able to perform, this night, due to an injury to her knee, which will require surgery. Alyssa was very upset about losing the ring, thinking it would bring bad luck to her teammates, that night.

I then asked Nicole if her daughter, had also gone in the water. Yes she had. I then sent a photo to Nicole, showing the beach and asked, which section of the beach she was in? I had broken the beach up into 4 different colored quadrants and Nichole’s daughter said section #3, was where they were laying on the beach. From the photo and video sent to me, I’m thinking it was quadrant #4, not section #3. I then asked if someone could meet me there and pinpoint the area, her daughter had frequented the most. Nicole and her daughter agreed to meet me there and I told her that I would load my equipment up and be there in approximately 30 minutes, at 6:30pm.

I arrived at 6:30pm and Nicole hadn’t arrived yet. I decided to start a horizontal grid search, of the dry sand, in quadrant #4. I had been searching, with my metal detector, for maybe 15 minutes, when everyone arrived. I asked Alyssa, if I was in the general area. Yes and she showed me some of the holes that she had dug, just about 15 feet from where I was.

I continued the search and was finding nothing, but a vape pen, bottle cap and a few rusty nails. While I was searching, Nicole, Alyssa, her father and her friend, were performing a visual search, mostly down in the wet sand, near the water. Nothing was found by them. After I had been searching for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Nicole and the rest of them had to leave. I told Nicole, I would search for another 1/2 hour or so, as it was getting dark and I was getting closer to the water. I continued grid searching, the wet slope of the beach, down to the water area. If I didn’t find it, I would be back, in the morning, for low tide and search the wet sand, that was now underwater. As I was making my way down the slope, I was finding nothing at all. I was approximately 1/2 to 3/4 of the way, down the slope, when I received my 1st and only Non-Ferrous target. It was ringing up a 12-04, on my CTX-3030 and the screen was telling me about 4 inches deep. I dug a couple times and the target was still in the hole. I dug a 3rd time, and as the saying goes, 3rd times a charm. I pushed some sand aside and I saw Alyssa’s Cheerleading Championship Ring. A big smile, broke out, on my face. Now getting dark and approximately 2 hours of searching, has resulted in more smiles, for my “Book of Smiles”. A good day.

I then messaged Nicole and told her I had just found Alyssa’s ring, along with a photo. Nicole replied,

“OMG, Thank you so much. That’s insane. I will message you tomorrow and we can grab it! Thank you sooo much.”

Sunday, Mother’s Day became to hectic and I received the following message from Nicole

“Thank you Dennis!  Mother’s Day was a bit crazy and I ended up with a sick bunny and cheerleading watching!

Finding the ring ended up being good luck as her team WON another ring yesterday!!!  ( she’s superstitious and though losing it would hurt them) She has an injury that wouldn’t let her compete but she’s excited for them!

We can pick it up on Wednesday evening if possible???

Thank you again!!!”

We all met up on Wednesday , May 15 and I returned the ring to Alyssa. Just a few days earlier. Alyssa was upset and crying, about losing her Championship Ring. She also thought she would bring her team bad luck, because she had lost last year’s Championship Ring and her team was competing for another Championship,on Saturday night, the same day she lost her ring. Well, no bad omens here! Her team WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN, incredible. Congratulations to all the cheerleaders, once again. Well done!!!

Alyssa is having the surgery on her knee, tomorrow, Thursday, May 16th. Prayers and well wishes go out to Alyssa. 🙏🙏🙏

Every ring, truly has a story behind it and what a great story this ring has. I absolutely love helping people like Nicole and Alyssa.

 

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Gold and Sapphire Ring Lost In Falmouth, Maine Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Sunday October 15, I finished up mowing our lawn and my neighbors. I checked my phone and I saw a message from Jordan. Jordan’s message said,
“Hi there. My mother lost a ring 2 days ago and she did a bunch of gardening and cut down a few trees. She lives in Falmouth. Would you be able to help us look for it”.
I immediately sent a message back to Jordan and told her yes I could and would she please call me. A few hours later Jordan called and we discussed the lost ring. Jordan then told me her parents , Bobbi and Dennis had also taken a few loads of the brush and garden items, to the dump. My heart sank a little, knowing that it was possible the ring very well could have ended up in the dump, 2 days ago. Jordan then gave me her father’s phone number and I immediately called him to set up a time to travel to Falmouth and search for his wife’s ring. A date was set for today, Tuesday October 17th.
I drove the approximately 25 miles to Bobbi and Dennis’s home this morning and they were both there to greet me as I parked in their driveway. After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, I ask Bobbi to go over the events of 4 days ago, which led to the ring going missing. She told me exactly what had been already explained and pointed out some of the areas she had been working. I asked her if she had been wearing gloves, while working and if the gloves had been checked. She had been wearing gloves and they had been checked. She did tell me that she had taken the gloves off several times while working on the property. Bobbi and Dennis also realized the ring very well could have ended up at the dump but were hoping that was not the case. A positive was that the lawn had not been mowed, since the ring went missing. This meant that it would not have been thrown somewhere or damaged by the mower.
Bobbi then took me to the garden to search 1st. It wasn’t a large garden and I completed the search in about 10 minutes. Nothing but a dime, nail and a small piece of foil. She then took me to an area where some of the shrubbery had been cut down. Still no ring. Then another area of cut down shrubbery and my detector wasn’t going to work over the cut down shrubbery so I took out my pinpointer and stuck it down and between what was left of the shrubbery. Still No luck with locating the ring. Bobbi then pointed to another area of cut down and removed shrubbery. Within a minute I received a signal that wasn’t repeating but I liked the sound of it. I looked down but saw nothing but shrubbery clippings, small twigs and leaves. I started pushing the debris aside, with my coil, still hearing a signal but still no target was visible. I pushed some more debris to the side and I saw a beautiful gold ring with a Blue Sapphire starring back at me. I reached down, picked it up, turned around and told Bobbi that the ring had been found. Bobbi looked stunned and was just so thankful to have it back. For a second, I believed her eyes swelled up a little and her smile was ear to ear. Seeing faces like Bobbi’s is exactly what drives me to help people out, when they need my Metal Detecting Services. This ring would never have been found with a visual search. Bobbi and her family had performed a couple visual searches of the area without finding it and I never would have seen it, without a metal detector.
After the fact, I learned that the Gold and Sapphire ring was a 45th Wedding Anniversary gift, to Bobbi, from her husband Dennis. Later that day, Dennis texted me and stated  the following,                             “Hi Dennis. I gave the ring to Bobbi as an anniversary present (#45 I think). I believe that it is a sapphire stone. We can’t thank you enough for getting the ring back to Bobbi. She’s thrilled! We will certainly follow you on Facebook. Thanks again”.                                                                                                    I just love being able to return extremely sentimental items back to the owners. It is a true blessing to be able to help people like Bobbi and Dennis out, whenever I can.

 

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Two Lost Gold and Silver Family Birthstone Rings Found in The Sand and Returned

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Thursday July 20, 2023, I received a text, just after 8:00pm, from Leslie. Leslie’s text stated, “Hi! I’m on my annual girls’ trip. At the beach all day and accidentally lost my two family birthstone rings in sand. Can’t find them. Retraced my steps. It’s getting late and I think they go over sand in the early morning. Can you help me? – Leslie”. She is concerned that the town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine cleaning machine would be there early in the morning and swallow up her rings and they would be gone forever. I immediately made plans to meet Leslie at 8:45pm, at the location where she lost the 2 rings. When I arrived , just prior to 9:00pm, I was surprised to see so many people at the beach, sitting on blankets and listening to music from a local beach bar and awaiting fireworks that were to start in less than an hour.
Leslie explained that there were 11 friends sitting around all day and she had taken the two rings off to apply suntan lotion and placed them in the cup holder, on her beach chair. As the day progressed, she had forgotten the rings were in the cup holder and when it was time to leave, folded up the chair and left. Once she realized the rings were missing, she and her friends searched the area they had been sitting in, without any success. They also retraced her steps after leaving the area with the chair, again, with no success. Leslie then attempted to find and rent a metal detector in a Beach store, next to where she was staying. The beach store owner told her they didn’t rent metal detectors but knew of me and recommended that she contact me and he gave Leslie my contact information.
Once Leslie showed me where they were all gathered and sitting for the day, I immediately started to grid the area. After about a 1/2 hour, I had covered the area they had been sitting in. She then told and showed me thecpath she took after leaving the area, with the folded up beach chair. Unfortunately, the path she took was full of people sitting around , listening to music and waiting for the fireworks to start. Still cognizant of the fact the beach cleaning machine would be cleaning the area, early the next morning, I told Leslie that I would be back down at 5:00am and search the area, before the beach cleaning machines could rake the area.
I arrived back at the beach, just before sunrise and immediately started to grid the area. I needed to be fast and through as I could see a beach cleaning machine just about 100 to 150 feet from where I was. I decided to re-grid the the area I had done the previous night, as this was the area where the cleaning machine would be heading next. Still nothing in the area I had done last night but I received a signal about 3-4 feet outside the area I had gridded the previous night. The signal was jumping all around and was not repeating. I slowly passed the coil lover the area and I received a nice solid 12-13 on the CTX-3030. I brushed some sand around and saw the gold ring. Passed the coil over the area again and received a very strong 12-47 and I just knew it was the silver ring. Brushed some sand away and there was the silver ring. Both rings were within 6 inches of each other. Being it was still only 5:20am, I sent a text to Leslie to inform her of the good news. Leslie replied a little while later and was ecstatic. We then made plans to meet up in the early afternoon and she would be reunited with her rings. Upon receiving the rings back, Leslie explained that the gold ring with three stones were the birthstones of herself, her mother and father. Her mother has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Leslie had expressed her deep gratitude to me for finding her such sentimental rings.

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