Lost Keys in Grass at Local Park .. San Clemente, CA. .. Found after Three Days
Rick, a detectorist friend of mine called me with a referral to help Joan find a set keys lost three days ago. When I talked to Joan on the phone it seemed like too much time had passed to locate the set of keys that had to be laying on the surface. It’s not possible to make that judgement without taking a look and discussing the details. One of my mottos is ” I will try anywhere “, so I met Joan at the park in the afternoon.
Three days before she had been walking her dog when she lost her car ($275 replacement value). She remembered where she had last seen it and when she realized it was missing. After trying to rake the grass and methodically walking the area for two days. She called asking for help.
We walked the area before I set up my detector to start a grid search. I purposely started a search outside the area she had raked and searched. I covered almost 50 x 75 yard area with no success.
When Joan returned I gave her the bad news. I showed her the exact area where the key could not be. We discussed options she could try to locate the keys as we walked back through an area 50 yards from where she thought she lost the keys. Then she lets out a scream of joy! There they are, laying right on top of the grass.. Anybody could have seen them if they passed within 20 feet.. It was great to be able to help Joan find her keys, but it shows how you have to stay positive and think outside the box.. Joan gave me the credit for helping her find her lost item.
Matt and Tiffany were walking the beach at low tide watching the sunset. Matt had intentions of proposing to Tiffany by presenting her with a engagement ring. It is a very flat beach and they were well away from the waterline. Matt came up with an idea to put the ring under a shell, so when Tiffany picked it up, she would find the ring. Even though they were away from the waterline, a small surging wave came up washing over the shell and the ring. The ring immediately disappeared. As soon as the sand gets saturated it is actually like quick sand, the ring sinks out of sight. Most times it doesn’t go very deep at least for the first few days. They spent a couple hours searching frantically as the tide was coming in and darkness overtook them. After returning home, Matt went online to research buying or renting a metal detector. That is where he found theringfinders.com locating my contact information. We met for a few minutes the next day at the next low tide. After hearing a detailed story and checking the past tides, I set up my grid pattern.. Matt was very positive about the location of the loss. My concern was the size of the setting may help the waves move the ring great distances. After 4 hours with no success I had to abandon the search till the next low tide.. The next afternoon I started 3 hours before low tide working an area south of the yesterday’s search. Then reworking the original location finding very few targets. Exhausted with the tide coming in, I was making plans for the next day’s search. My plan was to return with my Excalibur detector and search waist deep at the next low tide. It was dark, so just before leaving I went 100 yards. north swinging randomly. That’s when I got the sweet sound of gold.. Five or six inches down I scooped the beautiful white gold diamond ring.. I sent a photo of the ring in my hand to Matt in a text.. He said he almost dropped his phone when he saw the picture. We met the next morning at Starbucks. Tiffany and Matt came together . I had put the ring in a jewelers ring box with a sea shell. I gave it to Matt and he gave it to Tiffany.. This was the first time she had seen the ring other than a photo.. What a beautiful day, I will never forget.. Thanks to Matt and Tiffany for sharing the special moment with them.. I love my service.. Ring Lost Thurs. 10-27-15 — Ring Found Sat. 10-30-15 — Using Minelab CTX3030 metal detector 
