2 diamond and gold rings lost at Marathon , Keys Florida… found.
I got a call from a very distressed father his daughter lost 2 gold/diamond wedding bands. I spoke to the daughter and after learning the situation. arrived at about 0900 . we went by boat to the location where the ring was lost I found both rings within an hour. the whole family was very happy to say the least . It was a excellent experience.
John was out swimming off Long Beach at Russell in the Bay of Islands, and realising he’d forgotten to leave his gold wedding band behind took it off and dropped it inside his wetsuit for security. All went to plan, until, at the end of his swim and while wading ashore he unzipped the wetsuit and folded it down. The inevitable happened, however it wasn’t until he was back at the car and out of the wetsuit he remembered the now absent ring.
He spent some time looking for his treasured gold ring in the grass in the carpark and retraced his steps up and down the beach without luck.
I came into the story three days later and made the journey over to hopefully reunite John with his lost ring.
John was up to getting wet again, so I asked him to take one of my marker floats out and drop it at his best guess for the start point.
Starting initially with a spiral search pattern in the immediate area out to 5m, I then ran parallel sweeps back into the beach in the direction of his travel back to the car – pausing to brace into the occasional larger breaking waves.
Once in the shallows, I took a short break to remove the wetsuit and switch to dry gear for the remainder of the beach, continuing the overlapping parallel sweeps back to the car – With no luck.
I always aim to run at 90-95% probability of detection, and the fact I hadn’t found it irritated me. I explained to John that the chances of missing it were slim, so there was a possibility it had fallen out on the hard sand or grass and been picked up. The search corridor marked out allowed for plenty of space either side of his track, so I was confident it wasn’t there.
John accepted the loss, we shook hands and he headed on his way home.
After packing the gear away, I grabbed a coffee from the nearby vendor and sat in the car looking at the beach with the search grid in the sand… I wasn’t happy about something, but couldn’t pin it down. I needed to have another go on the “Assume Nothing, Believe No-One and Confirm Everything” principle.
What if John hadn’t come in on the direct line he thought he had? Watching the swimmers and kids splashing around for a few minutes, I saw there was a subtle longshore drift dragging them along the beach. I decided to go back in and extend the search corridor.
Didn’t bother with the wetsuit this time, just grabbed the scoop and detector and headed back to the edge of the previous search area and started adding another 10m to it in the direction of the current.
After maybe 15 minutes, I got that solid gold ‘thud’ in the phones, and the scoop picked it up first time.
I headed back to the car and not having Johns number, phoned his wife to give the good news and ask her to get John to turn around and come back. He was a very happy chap when I dropped the ring in his hand.
Well, I’m not sure if this counts as 2 rings or more but I am sure that Kelly and Bill are absolutely thrilled that I was able to put them back on her hands where they belong. Kelly and Bill have been married for 25 years and have been down vacationing from Michigan. Kelly folded her rings into her swimsuit early in the day for safekeeping and forgot they were there when she got up later to meet her sister. You can imagine her shock when she realized they were gone that evening. Kelly went ahead and called me even though it was nighttime and I’m glad she didn’t wait. Bill had gone out with a sand flea rake for fishing and combed the area already to no avail. I told him later that he had actually just made the rings go deeper and deeper every time he disturbed the sand because of the density of gold. Luckily for Kelly and Bill, I have a wonderful wife and even though we were at dinner 30 minutes away, she offered to ride with me and we immediately went home and grabbed my gear. I met Bill in the parking lot and he walked me down to the area he thought they had lost them. I could see all of the rake marks and I told Bill I would start my search there and then fan out if needed. I absolutely love night searches on the beach. It’s nice and cool and you can hear the waves over the hum of the machine in my headphones. You can enjoy the stars without bumping into sunbathers and it’s just a great time to enjoy what I do. I also knew that I had a very anxious couple waiting on the outcome so I was very glad that as I made my first pass I heard a faint gold sound. I was a little surprised at how deep it was even though I knew Bill had thoroughly raked the area. When my first gentle scoop to five inches came back empty I thought to myself that they were very lucky they called me and I had the machine that I was using. The second scoop was the charm and I reached down and dug the first ring out of the scoop to make sure I didn’t scratch it. When I saw that I had them both in the scoop, I smiled and handed them to Bill. With a shaky hand, he asked me to hold the light and he took a picture and sent it to Kelly in the room so she could stop worrying immediately. We walked back up and told my wife that I was already done in less than 10 minutes and Bill asked us both to come up and meet Kelly. When we walked in the door I was quickly reminded why I do this. Bill and Kelly both got choked up remembering how much those rings had been a part of over the last 25 years. I was glad that my wife got to witness that and I hope Bill and Kelly have many, many more happy years together. 👍😃
Susan called to ask for help in finding her husband’s lost tungsten wedding band. It was slung off his wet finger a month before when opening their camper door. Carrie and I left the next day for the 70 mile trip. On arriving, we found the grassy search area to be small in the RV lot. We began the search of the lot. Next to the grassy area was a fenced area for a water system. Sid hunted the fenced area facing the RV. After 2 hours of searching and re-searching the yard and rock driveway, we had not found the ring. Susan, Carrie and Sid had gathered up near the rear side of the water system to discuss the next step when Carrie saw a sparkle from the rocks around the water system. In plain view laying on the rocks was the ring. Lost items are not always where you expect them to be. After the happy trio took pictures, we were on our way back home. Thank you, Susan, for your generous reward.
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Got a message from Geoffrey that he’d lost his wedding ring while swimming at Kai Iwi lakes, near Dargaville, in the north of New Zealand. While this was out of my regular area, there was definite urgency as the lakes are heavily patrolled by holidaying metal detectorists at this time of year. So coffee in hand, I lurched out the door the following morning at 4:30am for the two and a bit hour drive across to the other coast to meet them when the gates opened at 7.
Kai Iwi lakes are real gems, classified as perched dune lakes, these unique features have warm, gin clear water with no organic tint on a white silica sand base, definitely one of the more pleasant places to hunt. Certainly worth a visit if in the North of New Zealand.
Geoffrey, really nice chap, had called in a sick day for work and was settling in for a long stressful day of waiting. We discussed how it had been lost – that old, old story of sunblock and cold water, along with his movements in and out of the water. He waded out with me so I could get him to visually line up some reference marks he remembered at the time of loss.
Based on his recollection of “looking at that yellow boat”, and “That hill over there” coupled with “I was about this deep…About here”…I dropped the PLS (Point Last Seen) marker float.
Originally I had planned in my head to use the spiral search pattern, although went with a linear search as the water was so clear I could save the hassle of an extra line and see the scoop drag marks on the bottom.
Switching on, I started the first line running out to deeper water, before turning and coming back in towards the beach, this alignment allowed me to use some very easy markers both on land and out in the lake to ensure a good coverage. I had just turned and started the second run when I heard what I wanted.
I gently shaved the surface of the sand off with the scoop and as I lifted it I could hear the ring bouncing around in there. I got Geoffreys attention, then held the scoop up with a big smile and gave it a jiggle. His eyes lit up in disbelief when he heard the rattle.
I held the ring out to him as he waded over, his grin getting progressively bigger and the “No Way!” comments getting louder as he got closer, I suggested there was maybe still time for him to get to work after all 🙂
John had lost his white gold wedding ring in the sea a few days before I heard of it.
At this time of year, the popular tourist beach concerned is heavily patrolled by holiday detectorists, so time was of the essence – more so as the detailed location had unfortunately been posted on Facebook.
Even though I was in the throes of a major lung infection (Thanks very much, Santa!) I had to try and recover this one as soon as possible.
I met John on the beach in the evening, he indicated the highest probability area before settling down on the sand to watch, and I set to work.
First priority was to clear the heavily trafficked area in the shallows and on the beach – these areas would almost certainly see a detector overnight.
Digging an ancient corroded iPhone suggested that no-one had searched here recently, so there was a high chance of recovery, however the beach was gaining sand with each tide and I suspected I’d need to return at the next days dawn low with the 15″ coil.
I discussed this with John, and now the tide had receded somewhat, had another go at establishing where he was in relation to the low/high water marks and thus the theoretical position he was in before I decided to go another 30 minutes through to dead low before calling it a night.
Changing the sweep pattern to perpendicular to the beach, I headed out far enough to ensure I was well overshooting the likely area in order to eliminate any ‘memory drift’ as to what depth he was in, before sweeping back into the beach.
It was on the third pass that I heard that solid, repeatable gold tone and caught the ring in the scoop on the second dig, lying on the eroding edge of an offshore sandbar – I suspect he had been standing on this sand bar, hence the perception he had been in shallow water.
Holding the ring in the classic victors thumb/forefinger pose, I turned to show John it was a happy ending, only to see the rest of the family had arrived – Perfect timing.
Happy faces all round, and a pose for the cameras before I headed home to crawl back into bed…
Last week I received a email from Stephanie stating that her husband Thomas lost his wedding band while recently doing some yard work. We then made plans to meet up the next day to try and locate the ring.
Luckily Thomas had a good idea of exactly where he was in the yard when he believed his wedding band came off. When I arrived leaves were everywhere despite only 2 days had past since he lost it. Thomas directed me to three areas of the yard that he felt were strong possibilities of where the ring might be. I then put my metal detector to work and about 10 minutes later while searching the second possible area, I found this under some leaves…..
I immediately called Thomas over asking him, “Is this yours?” knowing quite well I just recovered his missing wedding band!
Success happened for two main reasons. Stephanie and Thomas quickly contacted me and Thomas took good mental notes of where he was and what he was doing when he suspected the ring came off. By doing so he made my job a lot easier. It is great to see the ring is back where it belongs!
I received a call about a lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in a sand volleyball court. While he was playing the next thing he knew was the ring went flying and disappeared into the sand. He friends helped him search and search for the ring with no luck. Once I started searching I received my first hit. I took my sand scoop to move the sand around and starting sifting through it. Then I heard a ting from the sand scoop and there was the ring. He was very happy to have the ring returned to him.
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Columbus, OH. “FOUND”
I received a call about a lost wedding ring in the grass after they had fun watering sliding down the hill.
I was able to come and perform the search the next day. The ring was located and was no longer hidden a short time after starting the search.
He was very happy to have the ring returned to him. He is pictured with his friend.
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Laurelville, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Laurelville, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Laurelville, OH. “FOUND”
Lost Man’s Titanium Wedding Ring in Laurelville, OH. “FOUND”
Was asked to locate a couples’ buried investment recently, due to the delicate nature of the job I have to keep most of it in confidence – I have however been given permission to publish the following though. A tale of a modern pot of gold…
Let’s call him “Bob”.
Bob contacted me asking for help locating a cache of 1oz gold coins he’d buried many years ago…and now was unable to remember exactly where!
Oh dear.
After some background checks to ensure it was all legitimate, I met up with Bob and his wife and they showed me a patch of pasture with several excavations. Looking at the scene, I could almost sense the growing panic with the turfs transitioning from neat squares to less organized lumps and becoming more scattered around the holes…
I switched on the detector, tuned it up, and started to work the pre-dug holes to ensure it wasn’t just a case of not going deep enough. As each was cleared I moved further along the line, eliminating a few false hits which turned out to be flakes of scrap. I reached the end of the last excavation and just past the far edge, got that “Dig Me!” solid tone.
Bob went in with the spade and quickly exposed a flash of red plastic – just under the grass! I’m sure everybodies voices went up a notch as it was progressively unearthed.
Now, the fundamental rule of detecting is to always check the hole, and to ensure no coins had been lost from the now damaged jar I stuck the pinpointer into the hole. It twittered away excitedly, so I scraped the soil with the pointer and exposed more plastic!
Turns out there were two containers, not just one as first thought.
