While detecting a local park, I found a 2018 Grad Ring. It had a date, the school initials, a first name and initials. I called the ring company and the school and neither were able to help. In the end, I connected with some students that attended the school at that time and was able to find out who the ring belonged to and in turn, I was able to contact her through Facebook. Here is that return video.
September 24th, 2022
The exchange of vows, barefoot in the sand, had taken place on a Cape Cod beach just hours before I was called. All the guests had made their way to the toasting venue. When I arrived to search for a lost set of rings the wedding reception was in full swing and the toasting to the Bride and Groom had just begun. It was not Brigid or Sean’s ring but one of the guest’s, a set of engagement, wedding and anniversary rings that had been soldered together. Linda had participated in a “barefoot walk in the sand” and was putting her shoes back on when her ring set took flight and buried itself in the sand. The reception venue nor the local police department had a contact number for TheRingFinders.com. But one of the guests had met Eleanor of J&E Enterprise, Yarmouth’s metal detecting sales and called her for help. I, in turn, received a call from Eleanor for help as she was unable to aid in a search for the rings.
With the information I was given I was on my way to keep the enjoyment of a wedding in the correct spirit. I initially stopped at the Cafe’s main building only to find it closed for the day. I had been told the ring had been lost behind the Cafe, so I drove down the road to the beach. It also was vacant. I had no return call that I had made for further information when I remembered that there was a main outdoor dining area beyond the Cafe’s adjacent marina. I drove past several boat that had been pulled for the year and were ready to be racked. Then under a large tent I saw the reception celebration and the “Toasting” was being recited.
The DJ, at the tent’s entrance, knew I was coming and that everyone was waiting for me to show up and find the ring. He escorted me through the center of the tent with great fanfare. Then out of the tent to a sandy area ribbon-ed off so the ring would not be stepped upon. Linda was there and went through the antics of putting her shoes back on and how the rings were lost. Three passes with my detector and nothing. As it usually happened the lost object is not in the exact spot it is thought to be. I moved the search area from the initial area to about 8 feet away and my detector gave me the sweet tone in my ears, signaling the location of the ring. I carefully made a very shallow scoop and just missed the rings. I then saw the shine and picked the family of rings up and gave them to Linda.
Cameras started clicking, cheers from inside the tent took over the music that had been playing. What a joy and pleasure to be part of such a vibrant group that were gathered for a very special occasion.
Congratulations to Brigid and Sean and to Linda. And a Thank You to all those in attendance for making the night very special for each other. I have never seen so many smiles at any ring return I have been a part of. I must wish Brigid and Sean, Linda and Stephen and all other couples to have a long and happy marriage as I have for 55 years.
I had to add this to the posting: The next day, September 25th, Sean lost his wedding band on Corporation Beach. It was the same Dennis Beach where he had exchanged the wedding vows the day before. See the next posting for the full story.
It was on Day 10 of me having Covid that I received a call to help this couple find the husband’s wedding ring. Despite having cabin fever, I tried passing the call off to my buddy Brendon, but he was at a friend’s BBQ so I took a home Covid test, saw that I was FINALLY testing negative, and decided to take a shot at finding this ring.
The owner had been out on the beach with his dog and the ring slipped off as he tried to distract the dog from the washed-up dead bird just a few feet away.
I found the ring pretty quickly, which is good because I was still fighting the Covid-related exhaustion. It felt great to be out of the house, in the fresh air, and to be able to return the ring to it’s owner. His wife was definitely happy. He was one of those guys that doesn’t show a lot of emotion, though he was surprised at where I found it and how deep.
A year had passed since wedding vows were exchanged on a small footbridge and today another emotional moment took place just over the same footbridge, a cherished wedding band was “lost” in the sand. A very stressful hour passed with many hands helping in the search the sand for the ring. A few calls had been made one to the police, one to the beach superintendent two to my wife, Jane, who finally got in touch with me. I had been out detecting and was on my way home. That segment of the trip would have to wait, I was now on my way south, not west to my home. At this point I was unsure just which beach I needed to end up at. Jane relayed messages between Catherine the beach’s gate attendant, Sarah, and me. I arrived at the beach with a big sign telling me were to find Sarah, thanks to Catherine’s foresight as the beach was about to close for the evening.
Sarah had removed her rings to apply sunscreen lotion, putting the rings safely in her pants pocket. Lotion applied, it was the removal and folding of her pants when her engagement ring fell from the pocket into a beach bag, The wedding band did not follow the engagement ring, but rather fell on the sand and disappeared from sight. As it usually happens, many of the beachgoers helped search the sandy area to no avail. The ring would not see the fading sunlight until my third signal when I recovered it. I left the ring in my scoop so Sarah could remove the ring and place it back on her finger.
Several hugs, congratulations, cheers from near-by beach goers filled everyone’s face with a smile. Catherine even showed up as the many Thank Yous continued and the usual picture taking and answering of questions followed. It was time to leave the beach and as we did a nice chat was had between three of us, Sarah, Josh her husband, and myself. It was difficult for me to tell just who had the biggest smile. It really did not matter, the “lost ring” had been found and returned. A beautiful ending to a beautiful day on Cape Cod.
Another quick recovery!!! She lost her earring while playing volleyball and I was able to run right over and find it. If you lost some jewelry on the beach or in the water, give me a call and I’ll go out and help you find it. Louis 305-608-1870
I was frantically called by a family enjoying the beach. Her Cartier ring had fallen off her and was somewhere in the sand. I raced over and was able to quickly find it. If you have lost something and need someone to come out and find it, give me and call or text. Louis 305-608-1870.
For reasons that are probably easy to figure out, the weekends can be very busy for Ring Finders like us. This past Sunday was no exception for me. I received two calls within 5 minutes of each other. I had someone working on my house and it was almost dinner time so I sent the first caller to my buddy Brendon. When the second call came in, knowing Brendon would already be on the first call, I asked the woman if I could call her back. I checked with my contractor, and my wife, and decided I could probably make it out to find the second caller’s ring.
Forty minutes later I found myself at Baker Beach once again!
I swear, the sand there just SUCKS rings in like quicksand.
I met these clients on the beach after parking my car. I reviewed with them what they were doing when they lost it and where they thought it might have gone. Within a few short minutes, I had found the ring!
If only all of our ring finds were this easy and quick!
Mike forgot his clam rake when he went to the beach, but that didn’t stop him from digging for quahogs. The only implements available for digging were his hands, and he made good use of them until he realized that his gold and diamond wedding band had been left behind somewhere in the muddy sand. He took careful note of the area where the ring likely was lost, probably some 50-60 feet offshore, obtained a non-waterproof detector and made an attempt to find the ring but had no success.
Browsing the web, Mike’s wife found my Ring Finders page and contacted me several days later. I talked to Mike and we made arrangements to meet so he could show me the area to search. At the beach he waded out to where he thought the ring might be, and I marked it with a buoy and started my search. After some additional thought he moved the buoy and I searched that area for about 50 minutes until it seemed clear that I was getting out of the zone where the ring might be. I moved back to the original area and sure enough, within about 10 minutes had the ring in my scoop. With some huge smiles, handshakes, and hugs the ring was soon back on Mike’s finger where it belonged!
Thanks Mike, for the opportunity to help you out and get that beautiful ring out of the mud and back in its rightful place!
Mike’s gold & diamond ring.
A big smile from Mike.
Brooke contacted me even though she was in Nashville and I was in Chattanooga. There are two ring finders in the Nashville area, but neither of them were available. I agreed to go, even though it was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive for me. She had lost a gold pendant while she was competing in a charity event at a local golf course. The pendent was from her late grandfather, so it had a lot of sentimental value. I left early enough from the Chattanooga area to get there by 6:00AM so we could get started before the course opened. That event was a sack race. They were not on the fairways, but in the grass off to the side. I’m not familiar with the course layout, but I think it was off to the side of tee box #10 where they had the sack race. Brooke had previously gotten permission from the course manager. The first thing I did was scan the edges of the cart paths, and it was not there, except for a square pull-tab. Yep, those are everywhere we go. Fortunately, someone had taken a video clip of the sack race, and I could clearly see she had the pendent on during the race. But more importantly, I could use that to hone in on where the race took place. From the viewpoint of the video there were several small trees on the left background. In the left foreground there was a grassy hill that had been scalped on the top by the mowers. On the right very edge of the screen I saw a homeowner’s metal fence that was bordering his back yard. So, using those landmarks I was able to pinpoint exactly where the sack race took place. Most of the grass there was short enough to see the pendent if you walked close to it. Some of the grass was tall enough to hide an object that small, so that’s where I focused my detecting first. While I was scanning the taller grass, Brooke asked if there was anything she could do. I said most of this grass is short enough that you could most likely see it if you walked right over it. So, knowing exactly where the race had taken place, I had started scanning around halfway to the finish line where the taller grass was, and Brooke started walking ahead of me near the finish line where the shorter grass was. After around twenty minutes or so, I saw Brooke lean over and pick something up, she said, “I found it!” It was visible if you walked right over it, so someone else could have seen it before we got there. Fortunately, it was still there.
August 20, 2022
I was called to find a bracelet but as I was searching, I was asked “Had I found the phone? What? No, I was looking for a bracelet. I saw disappointment in the inquisitive face. I could not let it go, I said where was it lost and was it waterproof? Here and yes, it was waterproof. OK, I will search for both.
After about two hours of searching and finding only two beer bottle twist off caps and two pull tabs I was beginning to think there may be something wrong with my detector. No, it was just that the beach was heavily detected, and all good targets had been removed. Then my ears began to ring with a sound like I had just swung the detector’s coil over a large beer can. But I had to scoop carefully just in case it was a precious object. Yes, it was the yellow phone. Mike came over to me and in disbelief said: “It is still working!”
A couple of quick Thank Yous and he was off toward the shoreline. I continued to search for the Bracelet. A few minutes later Mike and his niece Pina came back into the water and thanked me again.
I had no means of taking any information so I asked if they would please text me with the information I needed for this blog. It is so wonderful that I get to see many smiling faces and hear cheers form the beach goers when I get to return a precious item and in this case an item filled with many photo memories, ones that could not be replaced.
Unfortunately, I have not yet found the bracelet that I had initially been called to help find. I had stayed well after dark on Saturday and returned Sunday morning for another two-hour search. I will return mid-week and expand the area of search. It is not time to give up hope, there are other detectorists I will keep in touch with as one might just find the bracelet before I do. Until then I will keep Pina’s smile in my phone and perhaps it will bring a bit of good luck for me to locate the bracelet.
Mike: thanks for not giving up on your family’s and your searching efforts. Had you left without giving me your contact information, I may not have been able to unlock the phone and retrieve information that would have led to Pina. And I would not have a wonderful smile to remind me of her hope to have her phone returned.
