Recovering Lost Treasures: A Story of Honor, Redemption and a recovered ring at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station


If you leave 3 guys alone on the beach to have fun in the sun on Cape Cod…What can go wrong?
Sharks for one, sunburn for two and the dreaded lost wedding band for number three. Surely the three physically fit men should be able to find a very special wedding band in a bit of sand. But from the time of loss to the setting of the sun, it proved to be too big a task for them. It was now time for a woman to take charge.
Allissa, Brenton’s wife, reach out to a local detecting group in my home state of Connecticut. She was given good information; get in touch a group called TheRingFinders.com. Within a half an hour after receiving an E-mail I had a game plan set into motion. Being the loss occurred on Federal Property and it is illegal to detect there, special permission would be required from the proper authority. But with Corvid-19 closures in force it seemed to be impossible. No one was answering phone calls or E-mails. A call to the local police did yield a number to call at the National Park Service Headquarters.
Brenton requested permission to let “Ring Finders” utilize metal detectors during a specific time and for the specific lost ring. It took almost 24 hours of searching to obtain the permission. Brenton did not give up and was responsible for our search to happen legally during the next daytime low-tide. On the beach two Ring Finders, myself and Luke, were ready and with all the given information and our gear. It did not take long, maybe 5 minutes and the search was over, Brenton had his ring back on his finger.
It was great to see the three guys go from doubtful of to being amazed of how two guys would come out, look for a lost ring, find and return it within such a short time. Then it came to light, Brenton’s lucky number is 33. This return for me was number 233! It is our hobby that brings unique people that we would otherwise not have met into our life and proves good thing can come from an adverse situation. We love what we do.
Several people deserve big Thank You including Allissa for contacting TheRingFinders.com, all 3 guys for marking the area of loss, the two Ring Finders and especially the Supervisory Ranger for granting permission to conduct the search on Federal Property. OH, I forgot special Thank You goes to Benton for making this story happen. He accomplished the near impossible.
Cristin was strolling along Wequassets’ sandy beach when her daughter brushed a diamond stud earring from its adoring place in Cristin’s ear. Hours of searching did not locate the sparkling jewel from its resting place.
I was just sitting around enjoying the Fathers’ Day activities when a call for help rang in on my phone. The tide was on its way in and the bags and car were packed ready for the day’s drive home after what was a beautiful mini-vacation had been. Only one thing was missing, the earring. The last chance to find the earring. It would be up to my skill and my up-to-date technology filled metal detector. Mind you a stud earring is a very small target on a very large beach. In hopes the many variables in detector setting would be ample to locate the missing earring or it would be a sad trip home for Cristin.
A short walk to the isolated section of beach and I was searching like a blood hound. Every so often I stopped dropped the lost earring’s mate which was now safe in a plastic bag and tweaked the detector’s settings for the best possible signal response from the tiny object. About 20 minutes into the search I heard the signal I was waiting to hear. I moved a bit of sand and saw the small sparkle in the sand. A quick pinch and I lifted the small metal setting with diamond still in tack. I then let Cristin listen to the signal difference between her stud earring and my wedding band. She was amazed at the very faint signal of the stud and how I could pick it out from the many similar signals.
The return ensured a happy and enjoyable memories of the family’s first stay at the resort. It also will be part of my many memorable searches and returns I have made over the past 38 year of enjoying my hobby, metal detecting, and helping others.

Amy emailed me to see if I could help locate her husband Matt’s custom made white gold wedding band, which was lost as he swam in front of their Hopkins Pond Camp, in Clifton, Maine. Despite very clear water and minimal bottom silt, the search area was challenging due to being strewn with rocks and boulders. Upon exhausting my first tank of air, I began to fear the ring may have slipped into one of the many deep crevices and out of detector range. Shortly after starting my second dive, my Minelab Equinox 600 located the ring in 9 feet of water, buried in a thin layer of silt. A portion of the generous reward received will be donated to The Landing Place in Rockland, Maine to help their efforts to combat homelessness of local teens and young adults.

Received a call regarding a men’s gold band that “flung” off while shaking out a blanket on the beach. The client explained that he and his wife were in town celebrating their one year anniversary. Took a short ride over and met up with client, his ring was recovered several minutes later.
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Received and email from Jestine on June 17, 2020 asking for help with a lost ring. Apparently she was holding the beautiful, vintage gold band for a friend while playing Cornhole in her backyard. Turns out the ring was a family heirloom that went back generations. After purchasing a metal detector and trying to find the ring herself over the course of several hours she gave up and consulted the Ring Finders directory. After getting the call and heading in her direction, she lives in Aldan, PA, I gave a call to my bud and fellow Ring Finder, John Favano to see if he wanted to join me for the search. We met there 30 minutes later and met Jestine in her backyard….it was a small backyard with high grass. She walked us through step by step what happened with the lost ring and we got to work. I had barely turned my machine on when I saw a funny smile on John’s face…it took him less then 3 minutes to find the ring! It was a beauty as was Jestine’s reaction when we put it back in her hand.

Bob was cleaning the gutters on his house in November, 2019. As he grabbed handfuls of leaves and threw them down, he felt his 14 Carat gold wedding band slip off his finger. He searched for the ring and even rented a metal detector to try and locate it.
His wife found me through the Ringfinder site and we agreed to a time for me to look. After one 2 hour session, I had no luck locating the ring.
I returned and broadened my search to be further from the house. Within 1/2 an hour I received a strong signal and there 35 ft. From the house I found the ring about 2 inches below the soil.
They were elated to get the ring back ! Another recovery by the Ringfinders!!
I had been called for help to search for a lost item, the location was a so far away and as I had not seen a detecting friend for almost a month due to “social distancing”. I ask Leighton to join in on the search. He agreed so off we went. The search was unsuccessful, but hope was that the ring had gone down the swimming pool’s drain and we would return with more gear and an underwater camera to continue the search. On our way home from the search Leighton received a message from an old friend about his mother’s lost gold necklace. Leighton made a few calls, got a name, address and more information about the chain. We were now on the way to help find Nadine’s chain. The chain had been her father’s and she has worn it as a bracelet since her father’s passing. It had Great Sentimental Value, one lost item that needed to be found and return.
Upon arriving at the address, we had to wait on Nadine’s grand entrance. Never have we been greeted by such a big bucket loader, one that Parker on Gold Rush would be proud to play with in his search for gold. Nadine was in the family’s new “toy”. A toy that I really hoped we would not need to move dirt around while looking for the necklace.
The area to search was small, and we had finished searching it in just a few minutes with no results. A barrel of clippings was nearby and beckoned to be dumped and searched. Now, knowing a chain is a difficult target for any metal detector to respond to, I was listening for any small signal. Two non-productive signal were examined and then one I heard a signal I just could not ignore. I did not visually see the chain, but my handheld pinpionter was surely telling a metal object was there. A push with the pin-pointer to move clippings around…there it was, the glint of gold.
The next happenings were hugs and Thank Yous, disregarding “Social Distancing” were in order. Corvid-19 would not dare to invade moments that just happen when such a sentimental item is found and returned. Photos and more Thank You words followed before Leighton and I were on our way home where we will wait for the next call requesting a metal detectorist’s help.