metal detector Tag | Page 19 of 51 | The Ring Finders

Not just rings. Keys too!

  • from Cochrane (Alberta, Canada)

Got a call out last night. Lots of snow this week means lots of shovelling and the potential for all sorts of things to get lost. Rings, phones and keys.  Ryan was shovelling his driveway and when he was finished he realized his keys were gone. After checking inside the truck without luck, it left only one possibility; they were dropped between the truck and the house and most likely when he cleared the driveway.  We talked it over and he described his task as basically pushing the snow off the edge. So I checked the edge.  When that did not work, I expanded my search and eventually found the keys. It must have been one of the odd times he threw the snow because they close to 6 feet from the edge. No matter, Ryan has his keys and he can breathe easy. Keys aren’t cheap but even more, the hassle of replacing them is costly as well. Thanks for the generous reward.

Lost Ring Found…..but in the most unexpected way!!!

  • from Cochrane (Alberta, Canada)

I talked to Tina. She was desperate to get her ring back. She had lost it while walking on the Crescent Heights ridge overlooking our city’s downtown. What started as a lovely walk ended in panic when she got home and found her necklace was broken and the ring and cross that hung upon it were gone.

The cross was nice, but the ring, it was the last thing her mom gave her a year ago just before she passed. It was the only physical reminder she had of her mom and now it was gone.

Tina and I walked the route she had taken and the one she had already searched. For the most part it was on a hard packed heavily used path or the sidewalk across the street. I pretty well knew that if it fell there, it was already gone/picked up. There was a section in the park and I promised to search it.

She left and I looked. My friend Perry has a metal detector as well and I invited him to join me in the park as he only lived a few blocks away. We searched to no avail. So there ends the story.

Not so. Perry calls me a few days later. His neighbour messaged him and asked if he knows how to tell if a ring is gold or not.  When he finally gets to see the ring it turns out to be the ring lost by Tina.

It took a while but the ring is back in Tina’s hands. A little worse for wear but with a little TLC, it will be back in shape as a constant reminder of her mom’s love.  Just in time for the 1 year remembrance gathering in honour of her mom.  Tears flowed.

PS  We haven’t given up on finding the cross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tina’s Story

“One afternoon I was walking crescent heights in Calgary with my girls, one of which was a toddler who was on again/ off again getting a piggy back ride from mama. Upon our arrival at home, I felt what I thought was a hair on my neck to only discover my chain had snapped! Well on that chain was a ring left to me by my mother who passed away at the same time last year! I was devastated to say the least, we traveled a pretty vast distance with truly no rhyme or reason to our path. I went into panic mode and contacted the local school, put up posters and walked that area for countless hours- NOTHING!
The next day I posted something on Calgary lost and found to have someone suggest contacting a metal detector group, and from there I met Evan ( angel to say the least) in our chat I discovered he had already begun searching for the ring, not even knowing one another yet! (The school put out a post)
We met the following day, I showed him my route, he seemed doubtful yet optimistic as the distance was vast yet contained if that makes sense…?

This man searched for hours on end, and no ring to be found! Again just devastated. Especially as I was approaching the anniversary of my mother’s passing!

One day closer to the date, I got a message from Evan indicating that someone approached a metal detecting buddy of his and they believed the ring was found!!! My heart was in my throat- honestly.

Evan and his friend rushed to get that ring to me, and although that ring was damaged it was the ring!!! The band was damaged but all stones in place!

Evan went above and beyond to help me find this ring! From his countless hours of search, to holding my hand, and offering encouragement all along, to hand delivering the ring, but days before my mother’s passing anniversary.

In this case the ring finder was so good, the ring found him! I am forever indebted to him, not only for physical efforts but his support! Words can’t express what this man has done for me and if I ever lose anything again (fingers crossed I don’t) he’s the best guy for the case!

On a side note there was a cross on that chain too, and he still continues to search for it! I’m amazed at his devotion ( the thrill of the hunt? 🤔) either way I’m grateful beyond words! “

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Evan!

Lost ring at Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Stephen and his family were visiting from out of town and spent the day at the beach in Coronado. He had removed his wedding ring before going into the water and left it there were they were sitting in the dry sand. At the end of the day, the belongings were gathered and the ring ended up MIA. I got the call the next day and got the particulars on what type of ring, a photo of the ring, and approximately where they were sitting via a Google map, since they had already gone home a couple of hours north of me and couldn’t show me the exact spot personally. Over a Sunday night and a Monday morning, there usually are several people who detect that beach, but, the area where they were sitting wasn’t right in the most common area, so, there was still a chance it was still there. I headed over after all the crowds had left for the day and took a guess as to where to start. I actually started a bit north of where ground zero was supposed to be and was going to work my way south. When I got the the area, I noticed that the beach grooming machine had gone through the place. Yikes, another strike against a successful search. I turned on my light to take a closer look at the sand, and realized that they just ran the big rake through there, and not the sifter. Good! That made me a bit more confident.  I made about three 20 foot passes and got my 4th solid 14 on my Equinox. The previous 3 were pull tabs, as usual, but, this 4th one was Stephens ring! This search could have taken hours, but, sometimes you just get lucky! I sent a photo of the ring to Stephen and he was overjoyed that it was found and he could actually wear it again. Now it’s up to the USPS to do it’s job getting his ring home safe and sound. Thank you for the reward Stephen.

Lost cross at Pacific Beach found.

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Reuben called me saying that he had just lost a cross off his necklace while running on the beach in the wet sand, on the slope and in the shallow water.  It was right around high tide when he called, and I was just about to eat some dinner, so, I asked Reuben if he could hang around down there a while so I could gulp down some groceries and let the tide go out a bit. He agreed, and we met at a spot at the north end of the search area around 9:45pm. He explained to me that he headed south from there and was running in a zigzag pattern from the water’s edge to the top of the slope, kind of dodging the surf as it surged in and out. I then asked how far he ran until he noticed it was gone. Well, he had a selfie that he took, at the spot we were standing, showing that he had the cross at that point. He then said that he started running from there and headed south for a good 5 minutes! Whoa, that was going to be a HUGE search area. After more Q&A we decided the most likely area was toward the other end of his run when he discovered it gone after he had jumped over a pile of kelp, but, frankly, it could be anywhere along the way. Ok, let’s start walking to that spot. I figured I’d go ahead and turn on my detector and sweep a bit while we went. I just picked a straight line on the slope about half way between the water and the top of the slope. We walked, and we walked, and we walked some more. Found a few piles of kelp, search all around them, and continued on. I hadn’t gotten one signal thus far. I asked how much further he ran, and he pointed down the beach some more. I was about to say that this was going to be a waste of time as this search area was now almost 1/4 mile long and approaching the edge of Mission Beach (the next beach south), and that I was going to have to get a lot more help to cover all this sand, when we approached another pile of kelp. Searched all around it and continued on a little ways more, when I got my first signal of the entire way. A nice solid 11 on my Equinox. One scoop and Reuben spotted his gold cross (a family heirloom that he got from his father) in the pile of wet sand I just dumped. Talk about dumb luck! We both should have bought lottery tickets right then and there. I’m not sure who was more amazed, but, we both counted our blessings on this one! That potential search area was the largest one I had ever had and would have taken me over a week to completely cover it by myself. We found it in an incredible 20-25 minutes. A pleasure to meet you Reuben and thank you for the reward.

Lost ring at Ocean Beach dog beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Bryan just went down to the water to rinse sand off his hands. He returned to where has was camped in the dry sand and when he shook the remaining water off his hands his precious gold ring he got in Dubai flew off into the sand too. He sifted around with his fingers for a while without success. I got the call and told him I’d be right down. After battling the traffic to get there, I arrived just before sunset and walked out to  the search area where Bryan waved me over to where he was. He moved his blanket out of the way, 10 seconds and two swings later, I get a solid 17 signal on my Equinox just out of the area he had searched with his fingers. I asked if he would like to pick up his ring, or, would he like me to do it. I took one scoop and held it up for him to grab. He took a photo of it in the scoop, pulled it out, and put it back on his finger.  A happy Bryan can now head home. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Lost engagement ring, Pensacola – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

What better way to transition into fall than one last ring return on a Volleyball court. I had just returned home when I got a call from my buddy Charlie who is out in CA. He had received a call from a friend of his named Joey who had in turn gotten a call from his wife Nicole and she was in a panic. Nicole had been playing Volleyball with her daughter at a local park and looked down to notice that her wedding ring and her engagement ring were no longer on her hand. This is about the time the panic had ensued and I think everyone will agree that it was totally justified. Luckily Charlie is a great guy and rather than telling Joey that he was out of town, he tracked me down and put us in touch. We were running out of daylight so I loaded up as fast as possible and called Joey to tell him that I could help and get an idea where to go. I pulled in the park and although there were lots of people there enjoying the playground equipment I had no doubt who I was looking for. As soon as I pulled my gear out, a big group of ladies and young people started waving me down. I noticed that they all had makeshift seines and colanders and I wondered which one was Nicole. Then I noticed the lady who was crying and I knew I had found her. I immediately introduced myself and told her not to worry that I was totally going to help her. She told me that I didn’t understand, they had searched everywhere that it could be with the strainers and they had even found the wedding band but she feared the engagement ring might be anywhere in the park and she was distraught. I asked her if they had been there the entire time and they said yes. I tried again to reassure her as I explained what I was doing and started my grid pattern. I made about one pass but as I was talking to her I could see she was in agony so I decided to take a different approach. I told her to tell me where she had found the gold band, she told me that they had already looked there and I told her to humor me. She did and I asked her if they changed sides at all and she said no. Lastly, I asked her if she wore her band closest to her heart and she said yes. I took a step towards the way I thought the ring first off her hand would fly and I said, “watch this” with a big smile. I went about two steps and got a good tone. I don’t think she realized I had something until I kneeled down with my pinpointer and then stood up saying, “Does it look like this?”  She broke down in tears and I was reminded why I love doing this so much. Congratulations Nicole and Joey. Thank you very much for trusting me to help you. God Bless!  💍

Lost Ring Found at Boat Launch

  • from Cochrane (Alberta, Canada)

Sometimes the journey is what matters. Shane called me about his wedding ring, lost 8 days after his 10th anniversary. He was loading his boat back on the trailer. While winding the winch, he felt the ring go and he was sure it fell into the murky water. After searching for close to an hour, he was forced to give up as he had his 6 year old twins with him.

While searching for ideas on how to find a lost ring, he came across the ring finders and my bio. We talked for half an hour and came up with an elaborate plan on what we would do when we got there. Starting with the detector and finishing with using a wet vac to suck up the gravel from under the corrugated concrete.

When we arrived at the lau

 

nch after a 90+ minute drive, we hopped out. His first comment was how much lower the water was and how much clearer it was.  He and I walked down the ramp and started to visually look for it. About 1 minute in, Shane bends down and picks up his ring. High fives. He has found his custom made rose and white gold ring..

The next 45 minutes were spent trying to learn how the simple metal detector he had purchased earlier worked. The end result….it doesn’t.

Thanks Shane for the opportunity to make you smile!!

Lost Phone at Ocean Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Keanna spent the day at the dog beach in Ocean Beach with friends, both human and furry. Sometime during her stay, her phone came up missing. She and her friends sifted through the sand trying to find it, but, we know the results of that effort…..nada. After an online search with her friend Kristen’s phone, The Ring Finders website came up and my info. Kristen contacted me on her phone asking for help. Being early afternoon on a Labor Day weekend, trying to make to their location right away would be almost impossible, so, since they planned on being there for a while, I told them I’d come later in the day when people started to leave the beach and I would actually be able to drive to the beach and find a parking spot. I arrived a bit after sunset and met up with Kristen in the parking lot. We trekked over to the area where the phone was lost, and where I met Keanna and the gang. Maybe a minute went by on my search and I get a fairly deep and large signal on my detector. Not wanting to accidentally damage her phone, I used my pin pointer to probe into the sand for the target. I wasn’t surprised to find her phone, as this was the signal I expected, but, I was surprised that it was 8-10 inches deep. We guessed that with the dogs digging and other activities around the camp that it must have ended up in a hole that got covered. The phone was still up and working, so, a happy Keanna and her friends could head home after a long day at the beach. Pleasure meeting you all and thank you for the reward.

Lost Ring, Perdido Beach – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)


Sometimes everything comes together and no matter how lost something is, it’s just bound to be found. That was the case for this young lady on the beach yesterday afternoon who had lost a very important ring. It was already very late after work but I decided to hit the beach anyway. I had already gone to one parking area but after I walked all the way to the water I realized that I left my battery in the car. I walked all the way out and decided that I should head down the beach a bit because of a storm that was on the way. When I got there I decided to turn towards the rain cloud so that if I got caught in the storm, I would have the wind at my back running to the car. All of these things seemed to innocently transpire all to have BrieOcea come running up to me after only about five minutes on the beach. She asked if I was holding a metal detector and she looked hopeful when I told her I was. I asked her if she had lost something and she replied that she had dropped a ring that had been in her family for generations. I told her that I would be glad to take a look and asked her what the ring was made out of and when she lost it. She said it had almost been a week and that she thought it was silver. I think she saw me start to lose some confidence because she quickly assured me that it was a very small area. I asked her a little more about the ring and she said that there was a large black stone with a diamond in it. I made a note to dig everything because while possible, especially on older rings, diamonds are usually not on silver. I started gridding back and forth and it wasn’t long before she came over and said that her boyfriend had called from the condo and told her that we were slightly in the wrong spot. I made the adjustment and went back to the search. I found a coin or two and got my hopes up. Then I got a signal that could be trash but I knew it could also be gold. I went ahead and dug it because of my earlier thoughts about the diamond. I am very glad that I did because I pulled out a beautiful gold ring with a black stone and a diamond in it. When I called her over, she placed it back on her finger and she was just thrilled. She mentioned that she had made up her mind to not worry and let things work themselves out. When I told her the events that led me to her she said God must have sent me her way. Indeed!  I am so very glad that I could help reunite you with such a special ring. 😃

Lost Diamond Earring found in Calgary

  • from Cochrane (Alberta, Canada)

Got a call!  Tom’s wife lost a diamond earring when it got caught in a badminton net she was moving. They looked for it without luck. That’s when they called me. Stud earrings are small and hard to find with a standard coil. I swept the second area with my usual coil but found it wouldn’t pick it up. So I swap

ped to my sniper coil and started the search. It didn’t take too long. Key to the success was the fact they knew where and when it was lost.