Christina McCree – Ring Finder/Metal Detectorist for northern Alabama and southern/middle Tennessee…call or text ASAP, anytime 24/7…610-504-6135
On Wednesday evening (January 17th, 2024), I received a call from Amy stating she had lost her white gold and diamond stud earring (which was a gift from her husband) while shoveling snow from the driveway of her home in Franklin, Tennessee. On Sunday night into Monday evening, Tennessee and Alabama received a snow and ice storm along with artic temperatures that put the area out of commission for about a week. I told Amy that I would make it out for a search once the roads were clear and I had time off from my normal day job. It wouldn’t be until Sunday (January 28th), that I could safely travel the 1.5-hour drive to Amy’s house.
I met Amy at her home in Franklin, TN around 2pm on Sunday. Outside, was a brisk 42 degrees Fahrenheit with no sunshine and occasional drizzle. Since this earring was a stud, I was worried about the amount of metal and whether I could get a reading on my detector. Amy had her second earring, so I scanned it with my Minelab Equinox 900 with the 6” coil. I didn’t get a signal in any of the Park or Gold modes. I then checked the earring with my Garrett Pro-Pointer AT and Nokta AccuPOINT pinpointers. I received a reading on both, but the Nokta had the stronger signal. I planned to use that pinpointer to scan the sides of the driveway. This was definitely going to be a tough search considering how small the earring was, how large the driveway was, and that I had to use an almost 10-inch handheld metal detector.
I had Amy tell me exactly what happened. Amy shoveled her driveway in two sections. First was the steep driveway and the second was the steps to the house and outside the garage. After finishing the first section of the driveway, Amy went inside the house to re-layer, and she put on a sweater. She said she felt the sweater tug on her earring. She went back outside and finished the second section. Amy said the earring backing was still on her ear when she went back inside the house, but the stud was gone. Since fingers shrink when they are cold, I felt her ear shrunk when she went outside, plus the earring was loosened up from the sweater, so I decided to start my search in the second section of the shoveled driveway.
I had Amy show me one more time how far she shoveled in the second section by the garage and steeper part of the driveway. We were walking over, and Amy exclaimed, “there it is!” Amy had eyeballed her own earring laying in plain sight on the driveway! Amy told me that she couldn’t believe it because her husband had checked the entire driveway. He even used a flashlight at night, hoping the diamond would gleam back. Thankfully, the earring was not run over by a car and damaged, or even caught in the tire tread and driven away. Amazing! We celebrated for a few minutes, took some photos, and then I was on my way back to Huntsville, AL.
Maybe it was the heavy rain or wind that moved the earring into plain sight that day. Or maybe and what I truly believe – is that it was divine intervention and the power of prayer. I always pray before I leave for a search and when I get home. I ask that the Holy Spirit guide me to the person’s lost item and then I praise God, the Father when it is found and give Him all the glory. Truly a blessing being a member of Chris Turner’s The Ring Finders and getting to go on these adventures. Looking forward to the next search…
Some searches that seem easy, can take a looooong time. Others that appear to be a losing game from the beginning, end with that miracle find. Today was that miracle find. After a little over an hour, giving all areas a cursory scan, and digging through a few piles that seemed most logical, the keys were found about 30 feet down the road from Bill’s driveway. The next city snowplow may have pushed them miles from this point. What a joy to return this set of important keys!
